I always enjoy taking the bus. However, on this cold Saturday morning life was seemingly against me. After oversleeping, forgetting my iPod, realizing I didn’t do the homework for my course, missing out on a ride, and watching three busses pull away as I ran full tilt towards the bus stop, I was pissed. Getting onto the bus eleven freezing cold minutes later, I climbed to the back, wondering whether the rest of the day would be as bad.


After several minutes I heard a faint noise behind me. I turn around to look seeing nobody but a thirty-something Asian guy with big head phones, lost in his own world. Turning back, I continued my contemplation on life’s misfortunes. After another minute I heard it again, louder this time, sounding something like a song. The guy behind me was singing some unintelligible song under his breath, not quite normal bus behaviour but not unreasonable either. The warbling strains continued to grow louder, and his voicereached a pitch at which I began to appreciate his lack of singing ability. All of a sudden the chorus of the song came in loud and clear; “We found love in a hopeless plaaaaaace!” Grinning like an idiot I listened to the rest of the song before being treated to Kelly Clarkson’s latest hit.

The man on the bus made my day. I’m not really sure why. It definitely wasn’t his singing ability or his choice of song. He was just an ordinary man, but I think that’s what made him special. A typical Torontonian, sitting on the bus, singing at the top of his lungs, unaware of the world, and unashamed. In a cold world where most people have blinders on, staying separate from everyone else, someone singing their heart out to complete strangers is a rare thing.

We reached the station. I looked back at the unassuming man who had brightened my day and I got off the bus.