Early morning encounters

Every morning I take the quads to kindergarten and Jakob to school (next door). On my way from school, almost every morning, I meet the same woman. We greet. That is - we bare our teeth and grunt... Mine mean "I don't really know who you are, but I assume you work in school and therefore I ought to say something" and I suppose hers mean "since you're coming from school I probably work with your child so I'd better say something". It's ridiculous, really, but I can't seem to stop it. I'm a nice person, right? When someone says hello (grunt), so do I..

From school I take the bus 2 minutes down to the boat (I ought to walk, of course). And every morning the same woman comes running wildly, crossing the street in between traffic, a little after the bus leaves the stop. And most mornings the driver stops anyway, and lets her board. I really don't know how she can be late - by exactly that many minutes - every day?!?! When I see her like that, out of breath, hair in all directions, handbag with stuff sticking out - I really want to tell her to set her alarm five minutes earlier the next morning. But I can't do that, we're not even at grunt level, let alone talk...

It must be said, though, that by the end of the boat ride, her hair looks fine, make-up is in place, her handbag's neatly shut, she's had a coffee and looks generally awake. Thank goodness she's not taking a crowded bus or train to work!