Riding downtown; another "interesting" character

Today I rode the bus from home to an early morning meeting downtown. What a pleasure! I caught the bus half a block from my house and it took me within one block of my destination. I read the newspaper during the trip, and saved about $30 parking! After the meeting I walked 3 blocks to the 720 Rapid Bus that took me in minutes within 2 blocks of my office on Wilshire. Very cool.

On the morning ride downtown, there was another "interesting" person sitting next to me (see January 23, 2006 post). Nice enough fellow, clean, sat quietly. The buses all have GPS controlled next stop notification systems. As you approach a bus stop a deep, male voice says "Next Stop" -- and gives the name of the street intersection coming up. Then it says "Followed By" -- and gives the name of the next stop, so that you can get prepared to get off if your stop is next. Each time the recorded voice would say "Followed By" the guy sitting next to me would say in unison "Followed By." He'd say a bit louder than the automatic voice from the system, so the whole bus could hear it. Not threatening, but definitely unusual. That was the only weird thing he did the whole trip all the way downtown.