When is a wrong bus not a wrong bus?
I knew it wasn't the right bus. But it wasn't the wrong bus. Really.
It wasn't the bus I wanted (the number 8) which was ages away according to the app.
The 14 didn't go the right way, but I knew it was not the bus which would take me REALLY the wrong way.
The bus driver frowned at me as I hesitated to get on - I wasn't quite sure where the 14 went. But I knew it was generally right: I could get on and evaluate what to do next.
On the bus I had to stand. I had some time to suss out that I needed to get off soon and walk longer than i thought. But it as a nice day, and a vibrant bus: full of parents and young kids going to school. It was a happy bus.
But more was to come. Serendipity
What was the gift that serendipity present to me? I discovered a new street that I had never seen before: Connaught Place down by the bike path. More importantly I saw that it actually joined up to the bike path at a place I knew well. A bit of the mind map that was shrouded in fog was revealed like a morning mist burning off in rapidly rising morning sun. I "get" that bit of Edinburgh more - though I have lived here for 13 years.
I arrived to where I wanted to be. I wasn't late. I used the Lothian bus app as well as Google maps to plot my walk.
But more importantly I took a "bounded chance". And I won more than a trip.
It wasn't the wrong bus.