Buses

I am writing this in March 2005 in a small Greek island. Unusually for the winter season, there is a printed bus timetable. The timetable shows that on weekdays a bus leaves the port for Chora, about 6 kilometres away, at 10 a.m. on weekdays. The timetable is for the week ending 18/02/05. Today is Monday. On Thursday the bus left at 11 a.m. What time will the bus leave today? [The answer? Probably 7.45 a.m. and 4.30 p.m.! The following Thursday the bus left at 11.30 a.m.]

On the same island, this time probably in the autumn, a bus was parked in the usual stopping place, with a timetable stuck on the windscreen. The timetable showed that the bus left the port for Chora at 11.30 a.m. A small cluster of people stood around the bus and waited. 11.30 a.m. came and went. 11.35 a.m. came and went. 11.40 a.m. came and went. No-one was too concerned, we were on holiday and in Greece. 11.45 a.m. came. The bus driver appeared, ripped the timetable off the windscreen and replaced it with a timetable showing the bus leaving at 1.30 p.m.

Some tips for using buses:

• always have a Plan B, both for what to do if the outbound bus doesn't leave, and for getting back to base if the return bus doesn't materialise.
• if you want to travel to another port, is there a ferry you can use for one or both legs of the journey?

check the phone numbers of the island taxis!