An alternate missing bus theory...

I think I still have another Thailand post or two in me, but I had to convey today's latest development in the case of the missing bus.

Since I got back from Thailand, I think I've taken the 3:25 bus every day, and it has, without fail, been there at or shortly after 3:30. So, today, I'm standing there waiting. By now, I pretty much know the order in which I will see buses from the time arrive at the stop. My bus (A) comes behind bus 18, unless something weird happens. So, today, I saw bus 18, and then a few minutes later a bus turned the corner. I expected it was mine, so I was about to start walking to the curb, when I looked at the display board on it, and did not see the standard display for Route A, but rather, "Garage Coach". So I stepped back away from the curb. However, the bus slowed down and stopped in front of me anyhow, and I saw that the bus driver was the woman who usually drives my bus. So I hopped on, and was about to confirm that this was the right bus, when she reached up to change the message display.

So, now I'm wondering if what happened those couple days that my bus "never showed up" is that it did show up, but was mislabeled. At that first time, I had taken the late bus several times voluntarily, and so I hadn't established myself as a "regular" who the bus driver recognized. Today, had I not been such a person, she almost certainly would have driven by and not realized her display was wrong. But she knew who I was and knew I was waiting for her. I've been trying to flashback in my mind and think if I saw any buses go by that day that I haven't seen on other days, but it's really too long ago for me to remember. Regardless, I'm 6 for 6 on getting the early bus (yesterday I missed the bus in the morning and drove to work) since returning from Thailand, so life is good in that area.