October 5, 2015 afternoon

Good afternoon. Currently 64 degrees and mostly clear. Evening shadows hang low over the city. 6:30 sunset this evening. Waning Crescent Moon rising around 12:51 AM. 51 degrees and mostly clear at 9 PM.

Days seem to be getting shorter much too quickly. The warm late summer has delayed the changes in the color of the leaves but the sunset at 6:30 seems much too early. I guess it’s October and to be expected.

I smelled something burning getting onto the CDTA Route 719 bus and I figured that wasn’t a good sign. Smelled like burning brakes, like a dragging brake shoe. As soon as we got on the Interstate 787 I heard the low air pressure buzzer, and looking out the back window I saw prestigious amounts of smoke coming from the brakes. Being there no shoulder for breakdowns on the road, the driver limped it along until a quarter mile before 9W. While I’m sure that the brake was glowing by the time we stopped, we made it safely through the congestion. Apparently not hot enough to start a fire. This time, CDTA was able to find another bus within five minutes and it looks like I will be home only 10 minutes late. It’s been a while since a bus has broken on the Route 719 — better maintenance and a newer fleet has reduced the formerly regular breakdown on the express bus home.