Tuesday, June 26, 2018 6:05 AM

My bus crawls along the well-lit street, honking as it goes. We are stuck behind two bicyclists riding next to each other, effectively blocking both lanes. They don't seem to notice us or much else as they meander along, staring into their phones. As we creep forward, a man in a security guard's outfit stands and yells at some people seated behind him, who appear to be ignoring him. I have no idea what he's saying. I do notice that he is making an "sh" sound in words where I would expect an "s." I don't know if this is a speech impediment or part of a dialect that I haven't heard before. Fortunately, at a large intersection, we turn left as the bicyclists go straight and get out of our way. Once past them, though, we get stuck again. The right lane of the road past the mall is only open to buses, but there's no way in. A tractor blocks the entrance. Cones line the inner edge of the lane. Our driver pulls up alongside the cones, stops, and honks again. The man in the tractor gradually looks up, puts down his sandwich, and lopes over to the bus. He and the driver gesture at each other without speaking. He removes some of the cones, and we pull into the bus lanes. Beyond the next stop, workmen under bright lights dig a hole the size and shape of a grave. I hope they are just burying cables.