Weeping Cherry

(Photo by Linda Hughes.)

Our weeping cherry is at full-flower. (See picture above.)
The reason we have one is because of my driving good old 1703 in the late '80s, a bus-trip on the 1700 line to Pittsford via East Ave.
This was during my time driving bus for Regional Transit Service.
It was a really nice ride; I drove it three years.
The clientele was great, mostly working stiffs from Pittsford.
They all got on at Midtown Plaza, and rode all the way to Pittsford.
This is opposed to stopping at every stop to let passengers off one-at-a-time.
I drove it in the afternoon, taking those working stiffs home.
Inbound was the domestic help that cleaned the homes of those rich Pittsford residents.
They got on in Pittsford, and I'd take 'em all downtown.
I also got good equipment. Transit wasn't about to put junk on the 17.
There were only two things wrong:
—1) It was three trips, which is one too many.
—2) It started accessing the two colleges on the line, St. John Fisher and Nazareth.
Nazareth was the biggest problem, but only because people kept parking illegally in the bus-loop.
The bus-loop was a circular driveway with a grass median in the center.
Many times I had to go inside the college to get people to move their illegally parked cars.
I'd harass the receptionist: “I'm blocked again. I can't loop without driving on the grass.”
An all-call was broadcast, and the miscreants would appear angrily badmouthing my driving ability.
“Ya know, I ain't drivin' a snake,” I'd say.
“That thing is 40 feet long; its wheelbase is 33 feet.
It ain't a trolley-car. Only the front wheels steer.
If I don't pay attention to where the rear wheels go, they climb a curb or take out a pole.
Or in this case, go all over the grass to get around illegally parked cars.
In which case the college blows me in for driving my bus on their precious lawn.
I can't avoid the grass unless you move your illegally parked car.
That's why parking here is illegal, so we can avoid the grass.
There already are ruts there.
They were probably put there by buses trying to get around an illegally parked car.
Ever notice how a semi crabs across a corner? It's trailer wheels don't steer.
They crab well inside the steering wheels of the truck.
My bus is like that. It's rear wheels don't steer, and can crab onto the grass.
Its rear wheels are 33 feet behind the steering wheels.”
Scenery out in Pittsford was fabulous.
Especially south of St. John Fisher.
East Ave. in Rochester was nice too, but it was nicer in Pittsford.
I'd pass a house out there that had a weeping cherry out front.
It was a harbinger of Spring.
Every Spring it would begin to flower, and become gorgeous.
When we moved to West Bloomfield I said we have to get a weeping cherry.

• “Linda Hughes” is my wife of 42+ years. “We” is my wife and I.
• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (“Transit”), the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY.
• “Pittsford” is a ritzy suburb southeast of Rochester.
• St. John Fisher College and Nazareth College.