A post from basil.CA’s third year:

27 February 04: On Tuesdays and Fridays I have a long commute from the West End of Vancouver to the pastoral town of Langley, where I teach university part-time.  I pick up my first bus at 5:42AM, switch to the Skytrain downtown, then zip off to Langley from the Surrey Station in a bus that’s getting less and less quiet. With the sun rising earlier, I’m enjoying the trip more, listening in to conversations. Tuesday:

“My son said ‘motherfucker’ yesterday.  He’s three years old!  Monique told me I should put hot sauce on his tongue every time he swears.”

“Won’t work,” said a cherubic toughie whose lips held an unlit cigarette for the entire trip.  “I tried it once, and the next day I came into the kitchen and my little girl was drinking hot sauce from the fucking bottle. It’s beyond hope.  Last week we’re in the car and we hear a siren, and she goes, ‘Shit!  Cops!’  She’s still in diapers!”