The Late Bus

Well, I survived. Maddie's first after-school German class was today. She's taking German with a brother and a sister who are from Germany and who actually live near here and ride the bus with her each day. If you stay for an afterschool activity at ACS, you have the option of taking the late bus. The late bus leaves school at 5 p.m. and doesn't do door-to-door like the regular bus. It drops off at certain points where parents have to meet the bus.

I offered to come and pick her up, but she was all about taking the late bus with her friends. The whole idea kind of freaked me out, which is weird because I usually don't worry about stuff like this. I've seen that the school has the whole process of keeping up with which kid is supposed to be where down cold. It's really impressive. But the idea of my seven-year-old leaving on the bus at 7:30 in the morning and returning to Chiswick Park Station 5:40 at night in one of the world's biggest cities made me a little apprehensive.

But it all worked out okay, and Maddie had a great time riding the late bus. She also got to hang out in between German class and the bus departure at the high school library where she played with the i-photo program on the computers. There's a teacher who supervises in the library and makes sure all the kids get on the right bus. Maddie was supposed to get her home work done during this time, but the lure of the computer was just too great. She's off the hook since this was the first day, but she's been warned to buckle down come next Wednesday.

Of course, I got to the bus stop way early...just in case and had a chance to look around the area. I drive past this part of town, but haven't ever been on foot. It's right before the grocery store where I do most of my food shopping. It's a funky little corner by this train station. There's a little antique furniture shop that also sells guitar strings. Don't know what that's about. A Chinese restaurant. A completely overstuffed party supply store and a barber shop that also sells vacuum cleaner parts and bags. An array of services in a very small space.

I'm still not doing a good job of getting out and seeing London during the week, but I am making plans to do so. Especially now with the late bus option. That gives me a long period of time to see the sites! But mostly, I've just been going to the gym. That's even weirder than my anxiety about the late bus.