The Bus System Stikes Back

Yesterday at about 3:45, I went to the bus stop. I was planning to go downtown, just for a change of scenery and maybe to do some shopping at the market. Based on the bus schedule, it looked like there would be a bus arriving at 4:00 or so.
At 4:00, there was no bus.
At 4:15, there was no bus.
At 5:00pm, there was still no bus, and there was a huge crowd of people standing around at the stop, looking increasingly disgruntled.
At 5:05, some students from the International School came by, discussing the fact that apparently, there was a bus strike on. Well, I guess I should have figured that out after 20 or 30 minutes of waiting, but somehow I didn't. I just figured that since all of those people were waiting for the bus, it must be coming. After all, they are presumably more capable of reading the Greek news than I am, and would be more likely to hear about a strike.
So I walked into Pylea, our local town, and did some shopping there. Unfortunately, on the way back, I ran into an old friend of mine known as Πολυ Μεγαλοσ Σκυλοσ, or Very Big Dog. Very Big Dog appears sometimes on the road between Pylea and Anatolia, and he barks and snarls, and once even chased me for several blocks, growling and yipping and making all sorts of menacing noises. I realize that, like many dogs, his bark may be worse than his bite. But I do not really want to investigate the matter personally. I'd rather just steer clear of either.

Unfortunately for me, there were only two ways back to school that I knew of:
a) Walk Past Big Scary Dog.
b)Take the bus

Luckily, I discovered another possibility:

c) Walk along the highway and pray that cars will not hit me.

Sometimes I really, really, hate that damn bus. Especially when it's not there.