I took a public bus to summer camp the summer between 1st and 2nd grades. Granted, the bus was between Somerville and Medford, but still. Once I fell asleep and woke up in Harvard Square!!!11! But it was still OK.

And anyway, that kid was a New York City kid who rides the subway on a regular basis. It's not like some tourist kid who would freak out! He had the tools he needed to get home.

Shit, when I was 12 or 13 (so older than that kid, but not by much), my best friend and I decided the fun way to spend our day was to get on the subway and get off at a stop we'd never been to before!

I first rode a city bus alone when I was 13 or 14. Actually, it may have been the first time I rode a city bus at all, and I know it was the first time I lived anywhere served by a city bus, so my experience wasn't necessarily typical.

Also part of the "not a parent" crowd, but I'd probably let an intelligent 9 or 10 YO ride alone on a fairly short trip througn a familiar route.

I was 20 before I ever took public transit by myself. 'Cuz that was when I first needed to, and lived in a city that had it.

My parents' farm is 1 1/2 miles from our small town. I think I was about 9 or 10 when they started letting me ride my bike to town, along the moderately busy 2-lane highway that our farm is on.

Is Waking the Dead all done?

Done done? I don't know. BBC America has been very lax with the mysteries recently. I am assuming that the current Wire In the Blood is repeats, though. I should check.

You watched the Frankie Munoz Criminal Minds right? They're not usually like that.

Yeah, that was bizarre. So, second chance.

My unresearched answer would probably be that if, by providing the safe deposit numbers you knew the object of the conspiracy was to rob a bank, then yes, it's possible to be charged with felony murder. Aiding and abetting, that I'm not sure about.

Providing the list is more culpable than aiding and abetting? What's an example of A&A?

Kids are so different, you know? My one sister and I could have done the subway home thing alone at nine or ten. The other sister was pretty shy at that age and would NOT have enjoyed it. She could probably do it, but it would have been very upsetting for her.

I know I was 14 when I started taking the subway into the city for school. But I'm pretty sure I was hopping the subway to Queens Center Mall long before that.

Kids are so different, you know? My one sister and I could have done the subway home thing alone at nine or ten. The other sister was pretty shy at that age and would NOT have enjoyed it. She could probably do it, but it would have been very upsetting for her.

Good point. The son of the essayist really really wanted to, and has been begging his mom for a while to let him have his solo subway adventure.

Also, in England they let a cat take a bus alone....

Small-town AK, but I still made my parents drop me off at one of the few pub. trans. lines so I could take the bus somewhere else. Also, I routinely got lost in the acres and acres of woods around my parents' house.

Also, in England they let a cat take a bus alone....

But they don't let the pigeon drive it, do they?