Everyone on the bus was staring at this submerged car.  It was almost totally under the water due to the floods.  It was halfway round a roundabout and everyone on the bus was looking at this submerged car.  But all I could look at were this couple who were observing the scene from the window of one of the flats that the bus was parked next to.  At first, it was just the woman who was looking out.  She was in her 50s or 60s, perhaps, and she had grey hair and glasses and a yellow top on and she looked very tanned, as if she took around three foreign holidays a year.  Or maybe she just had a sun bed.  Eventually, after the woman had been looking at this car for a long time, her husband came and stood next to her and he was really tanned also.  He had a blue vest on.  They both stood looking at this thing for a long time, almost as long as we were there, waiting in the bus, stuck in traffic.  Everyone on the bus was looking at this thing as well, even though nothing was happening.  It was just this car under the water.  Eventually, a couple of fire engines came and they tried to get the car out of the water.  They tried to suck up the water but it didn’t work and everyone kept looking at it and we were still stuck.  But all I could look at were the couple with the suntans staring out of their window.  I was more interested in them than the car under the water.  More and more people came out of their houses, even though it was pouring with rain and hailstones.  And all of the people came out to look at this car under the water.  Everyone seemed amazed and transfixed by it.  There were little kids with plastic bags tied to their feet, to keep out the rain.  People of all ages.  They were all out there.  Most of them had umbrellas, but some didn’t, and they were getting soaked.  All they were doing was standing in the street staring at this submerged car.  And I wondered why.  It wasn’t doing anything.  It wasn’t like there was anyone drowning, it was just something slightly different from the norm.  I wondered why I felt so detached.  Everyone was phoning their friends and their families on their mobile phones, telling them they would be late home, telling everyone what was happening, that all the roads were blocked.  Maybe all these people really had to be home and were calling so their loved ones wouldn’t worry.  I don’t know.  Some people phoned several times, giving updates on the situation (which still hadn’t changed).  No one was expecting me anywhere, so I didn’t phone, although I did have a mobile phone on me.  Maybe that was why I felt detached.  It was almost a nice thing for me to be stuck on a bus on a Friday afternoon, with thunder and lightening and rain coming down outside.  I’d gone for a piss before I’d got on the bus, I’d eaten, I’d had a coffee.  I was comfortable.  It was kind of peaceful and a nice respite from life.  You were in limbo, totally alone.  I didn’t speak to anyone on the bus, although a lot of people do tend to speak in these situations.  But I didn’t.  The people around me didn’t speak either.  Eventually, the bus driver moved out, found an alternative route and we got home only a couple of hours late.