One thing you won't see much in rural Ireland is a bus! I like public transport when its not too packed like the Bristol to Dorchester train I went on last June. It was good of Southwest trains to put on three carriages at rush hour!
I thought I would post some of my bus tales for you. Hopefully you will join in and tell us some of your public transport tales too.
Here's the first one:
I once had a friend who went on a coach holiday on his own for a week. He was sat opposite a fellow traveler. So he decided to start a conversation or may be even friendship for a week? So he said to the man:
"Hello. Where are you from?"
The man across the aisle replied:
"What's it got to do with you?"
That was the one and only conversation they had ALL week!
Here's one of Birmingham's finest take on buses or some of the characters you meet.
"Eeeek! As anyone seen my camel?"
I thought I would post some of my bus tales for you. Hopefully you will join in and tell us some of your public transport tales too.
Here's the first one:
I once had a friend who went on a coach holiday on his own for a week. He was sat opposite a fellow traveler. So he decided to start a conversation or may be even friendship for a week? So he said to the man:
"Hello. Where are you from?"
The man across the aisle replied:
"What's it got to do with you?"
That was the one and only conversation they had ALL week!
Here's one of Birmingham's finest take on buses or some of the characters you meet.
"Eeeek! As anyone seen my camel?"
Haven't watched the video yet but loved the story. Short and witty.
ReplyDeleteClicking on the video mow
Thanks LA. I am often told: "It was funny the first one hundred times you told me the tale!"
DeleteI love humorous anedotes. Thanks!
In my youth (long ago) buses were my only mode of travel. I was once requested by the conductor to sit next to a large man who was having a mental episode and so for seven long miles I had to sit there and try to keep him calm... can you imagine how perturbed I felt ?
ReplyDeleteConductors? Yes I remember the Clippies Heron. I bet you breathed a sigh of relief when you got off the bus?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
A regular bus conductor on my hour long bus ride to school was a very cheerful chap and always used to sing as he went up and down the stairs collecting fares. One song he used to sing, I remember, was Fly Me to the Moon. Some years later I started work on a psychiatric ward. On my first day there, walking towards me in the corridor was the bus conductor tapping his thigh to the beat, singing “fly me to the moon”. He had early onset dementia. His memory was gone, did know where he was nor was able to hold a coherent conversation but he was just as cheerful as I remembered him years before.
ReplyDeleteThanks Philip. I often sing some of that song myself. Its lovely that he remembered the song he use to sing. Thanks for sharing that with us.
DeleteSomeone saying that is a great conversation killer and you know where you stand. It doesn't happen very often but when it does you know what's what, that's for sure. Thanks Dave.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel. Yeah I suppose you can't be too inquisitive asking strangers questions. I would talk to anybody if they spoke first. But I probably wouldn't talk first. Your Bertie Wooster gave me an idea for this post. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a small child a sign on the back of the seat in front of me caught my attention. It said: Lower your head when leaving your seat.
ReplyDeleteAlmost religiously I read it every time I was on the bus and I never figured out ye reason for it. I never thought yo ask anybody. But one day I decided to do it and I lowered my head as I got out of my seat. I must have looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame. Needless to say I was told off for being 'silly'.
Thanks Gwil. It's weird what you remember. I think of packed buses driving through the incessant rain, people smoking and the windows steaming up like chip shops use to do. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThere were pieces of metal you could strike a match or use as a stubber. NO SPITTING signs were prominent. You could run after a bus which always set off slowly, grab the pole on the platform at the back and leap on board. Or you could casually, almost nonchalantly, drop off as the bus began slowing before your stop. There was not even a door to worry about. And there was a mirror so the conductor could keep his beady eye on what was going on on the top deck. No need for security cameras and warnings about suspicious persons and packages. It was very civilized in
Deletea sort of way.
Yes and there was a bell in the ceiling you could press to tell the driver you wanted the next stop. Like you say: civilized in a sort of way.
DeleteI have had many a bus journey! You probably read about them on my blog previously.
ReplyDeleteHi Sol. How's things in Scotland? I always look forward to your blog posts. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI was always taught not to talk to strangers... I've grown up now, I'll talk to anybody.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was a conductress during the war. I liked that, it meant free rides.
Hi Valerie. I'm a bit backwards coming forward. But if you get me talking I don't shut up. I often say hello to people when I am out walking.
ReplyDeleteI bet your mum had lots of bus tales?
Thanks!