So since I’ve retired I’m the proud owner of a bus pass, and time to use it
Every Wednesday I ride to a nearby town to do Tai Chi, craft club, food co-operative and a bit of shopping
And what an interesting thing a bus ride can be, always someone wants to chat
So today I met:
Sad looking skinny lady, about 10 years older than me
She’d just been to the doctors and was angry because they made her phone on her mobile for her next appointment, even though she was standing in the surgery!
She was very angry about “Indians” taking over everything. When people use “Indians” like that it always makes me want to giggle because I picture Native Americans and Tescos taken over by Sioux
Then there was Mrs Bus Trail Tracker, obviously used to being in charge, phone out, tracking the exact position of the next bus and giving me a blow by blow, by the minute breakdown “it’s still at Asda”…. I felt positively disorganised!
Then a bouncy lady delighted that she had the same shopping bag as me who volunteered at the hospice shop and thought the town was OK if you wanted vaping, tattoos or drugs. She did crack up when I said that sounded like quite a morning and I wasn’t sure if I was up to it!
So what about you?
Do you use the bus and do you meet any interesting characters?
Not now but every day going to and from my first job.There would be virtually the same passengers every time so everyone got quite matey,Being worried if one of the regulars hadn’t turned up,etc…But we never actually met off the bus.
I was returning from town on the Bus , when an Oriental young girl of about 20 asked which stop she had to get off for Trent Bridge, as no one answered her I piped up I would tell her when to get off ,.
She struck up a Conversation ,telling me she was visiting relatives in West Midlands and they told her Nottingham was nice .
She kept thanking me for being nice , which worried me in that she could have spoken to the wrong person , and where she was going could have dodgy people .
When it came for her to get off , she waved as the bus drove away , and I thought to myself ,I hope she gets back to town alright .
I also thought to check i still had my Purse , which i did …
Nothing came up on the local news of a body in the River, or a mugging . And I looked back on that bus ride of her innocent wittering and smile , I wonder how many others she brought a smile to .
I get a bus up the West End, Hyde Park, Ken High St, a couple of times a week. Never speak to a soul, never saw the same person twice. It’s not the done thing.
I used to get a bus to and from work. Then, when it got stuck in traffic, I could get off and walk as it was only a short journey. Of course then the traffic would suddenly disappear as the blockage ended and the bus would go flashing past me still walking. So annoying!
One time the bus driver took the wrong route, went up a hill and tried to turn around at a mini roundabout. The system seized up and the bus was stuck halfway round. Eventually it freed up and was able to return and get back on the correct route. A novel excuse for being twenty minutes late at work. ‘Bus got lost!’
Being in Wales I’ve had a bus pass since I was sixty-so over six years now.
I encountered my current barber on the bus.Not sure how we got talking but I ended up deserting the barbers I had been going to since I was a kid.
The regulars on the local bus that runs around my estate have all got to know each other…for some reason we were belting out the song’Stay,just a little bit longer’,the other day!
And we know the drivers names.
And bus tracking folk are very useful…would have been
nice to know a bus I was waiting for was 25 minutes late the other day.
And I’m on the bus for frequent trips to Cardiff in the Summer and the new late night buses we have here( what service cuts?)are saving me a fortune in taxi fares.
My senior rail card is basically only used for trips into England.
Seeing what @greengage wrote reminds of the time the driver turned right instead of left.
We all shouted wrong way!He insisted he was correct and turned left down a cul-de -sac.
Which led to amused and bemused locals emerging from their houses.
And when getting off a bus in Cardiff (and Bristol )you have to say “Cheers Drive”
In the days of the trolley bus,the last one on a Saturday night was always full of friendly drunks singing rugby songs.
I thoroughly enjoy using the bus. When in London I was always using them, especially around central London. Here in Lowestoft we can be in the countryside in minutes on the way to the hospital, to Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, and even down to Southwold. So lovely to sit back and enjoy the views.
I’ve always enjoyed using the bus it gives me time to have a look round instead of having to concentrate on the road. I always go upstairs on a double decker, much to the disproval of Mrs Fox if we are together, who struggles with the steep stairs. I obtained my bus pass in 2010 and used it quite extensively until covid. Sadly I haven’t traveled on a bus since. I keep threatening to, but to be honest, I haven’t done any adventures either. I used to do long walks out in the country or along a cliff path and take the bus back to the car or visa versa, but I only walk local walks now when I’m able.
Living in a small village means that just about everyone on the bus is a familiar face, I prefer to look out of the window though and not engage in small talk but sometimes it’s unavoidable.
Our local service has been cut to the bone and you can only expect a bus to town and back every hour, but going to town is something I avoid now since it’s been occupied by scoundrels and immigrants looking to steal your wallet, watch or phone…And there are hardly any shops that interest me anymore.
It’s useful if you are walking in the country or by the coast to set up a kind of circular route so that you can walk along the beach for a few miles, have a lunch, look around an old town and then get the hopper bus back to the accommodation.
