A check engine light landed Gina Davila at the corner of Bridge and Main streets in Ansonia recently, catching the F bus to work in Milford. A win from the Chicago Bears the night before, however, turned her dreaded morning into a celebration.
“I am literally so happy right now,” said Davila.
Davila’s lively spirit could be seen from the outfit she was wearing. Clad in neon green and black shoes with a matching sweatshirt, she seemed to radiate her good mood onto anyone that talked to her.
“You know, this morning actually started off very bad,” Davila said, “because I never take the bus. I haven’t even taken the bus since I was a teenager, and I’m 46 years old!”
But when Davila woke up, she found out she had won $85 after the Bears turned around the game and won on Sept. 14.
She and her husband are huge sports fans, and every year participate in a football pool with their friends.
The night before, Davila was rooting for Chicago, but it seemed like they were losing.
She went to bed early in order to wake up to catch the bus. She turned off the TV, thinking they would lose. The team ended up beating the San Francisco 49ers 28 to 20.
“The entire way here I was telling my husband how I’m ‘en fuego’ and I’m nasty,” Davila said.
Davila used to ride the bus frequently when she worked as a bank teller during high school.
Once she got a car of her own, there was no need to take the bus anymore. Fast forward some 30 years, and now Davila drives herself to work at A+ Exteriors, a construction company in Milford where she works as an office manager.
“The only reason I’m even taking the bus this morning is because the engine light on my car has been on for the past couple of weeks, and today was the only day I could take it in,” she said. “My husband has to be in to work the same time I do, so unfortunately he couldn’t take me.”
Davila’s husband works for Basement Systems in Seymour and is usually in by 6 a.m., so he dropped Davila off at the bus stop before he went to work.
“We live kind of far away, right across from Assumption Church on North Street, so I’m glad he at least dropped me off so I wouldn’t have to walk a long way,” Davila said.
Davila is normally a talkative person, but said she likes to zone out alone in her own thoughts during her commute. She wanted to try to do the same on the bus.
“I really don’t like the bus because I don’t like people,” said Davila. “I like the comfort of my car and just being able to be by myself in the comfort of my own space.”
Once the bus came — right on time, at 6:38 a.m. — Davila reverted back to her commuting personality, sitting alone and staring out the window.
The CT Bus Diaries project is a collaboration between the New Haven Independent, the Valley Independent Sentinel and students from the multimedia journalism class at Southern Connecticut State University. The students are blogging about experiences on CT Transit’s bus lines in order to give a glimpse into the commutes of the people using the bus system.
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