Germ Vector of the Day

Allergy season is upon us. RantWoman supposes that one way or another global warming is somehow to blame for Seattle being awash in fruit tree pollen weeks earlier than we want to be used to. Never mind the cause, though: with the pollen come allergies and with the allergies endless iterations of sneezing, snivelling, hacking coughing respiratory distress.

Many at RantWoman's house of worship are so afflicted. Both last week and this, coffee hour conversations featured frequent interruptions so that one or another or sometimes all parties could cough into their elbows.

Many of those RantWoman meets aboard Metro's rolling anthropology projects are also similarly afflicted. That is, the annual allergy season afflicts Metro riders either with reflexed related to coughing and hacking all over the place or at the very least with adamant need to comment about same.

At the beginning of the month, coincident with the full moon, RantWoman was riding a route especially rich in anthropological experiences. RantWoman coughed. RantWoman's elbow was plausibly within range of the cough but there was still space. RantWoman was sitting behind some other passengers and she apologizes for any germs landing in her fellow passengers' hair.

RantWoman, alas, does not even apologize for the distress her cough caused someone who was several seats ahead and who, as soon as RantWoman coughed, began a long tirade about germs all over the bus and how her father drove bus for 25 years and had to put up with all kinds of stuff. RantWoman had all she could do not just to blurt out "oh get real. All those germs obviously have not done you in yet!" The best she could manage was to keep the germ covered elbows of her coat out of anyone's face as she disembarked!