So, this week I'm going back to New England for ten days.

It's a bit of a funny feeling. It's been ten months since I moved back to Canada. I don't know how it will feel to go back.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone to the woman whose home I lived in when I first moved to New Hampshire. It seems like only yesterday, though it was over three years ago, that I got her and her family's names by email and tried to imagine what it would be like living in this strange place, on a farm, with these people I'd never met.

Now it's three years later. I'm back where I started, in Canada. In Toronto. And yet I'm not. I'm a completely different person than when I left for New Hampshire. Much of that is due to the things that happened there. It was a difficult time of my life, one that I wouldn't want to repeat. It's had some good results, that I wouldn't want to erase.

So, it will be interesting to go back. I find sometimes you can't understand your time in a place until you do. I'm wondering what I'll find out this time.

One of the interesting things about commuting daily by subway and bus is other people. And even more specifically, what makes it interesting is the people you see every day.

I've been commuting Monday to Friday by TTC for almost 3 months. And without fail, some of the same people are nearly always on my bus.

Some of them stand out more than others. First, there's Bus Guy. I'm sure Bus Guy has a name, but in my mind, he's Bus Guy.

I first noticed Bus Guy (B.G. for short) on my very first commute. He's skinny, with short-cropped hair and a scruffy beard. His eyes are always hidden behind brown aviator sunglasses, and iPod wires snake from his ears to somewhere in his pocket. He has two Chinese characters tattooed on his neck. He often wears a hat. During the winter, he wore a long brown leather trench coat and ripped jeans; now that it's warmer he favours light-coloured checked button-down shirts and ripped jeans. His shoes are black-and-white Pumas.

Then there's Bubble Girl. It's not a flattering name, it's just how I think of her. The reason I call her that is that she wears huge bubbled-out sunglasses and has a very full lower lip that sort of echoes them. She always wears black leggings, black shoes, and a cropped black jacket. She works somewhere in the same complex I do.

Then there are others. Korean High School Guy. Old Bald Indian Guy with Briefcase. Older Guy with I'm Lovin' It jacket. Some of them are there day in and day out. Others appear, disappear, reappear. Some for whatever reason commute regularly for a time and then are gone.

It makes the bus trip more interesting. Because, you know, when you spend an hour commuting every day, you've got to do something to keep yourself occupied.