That Friday Feeling

Where does the time go in the morning? One minute we're on time leaving for the child minders the next we're running late and hubby has to drop me off several stops up than normal so I can catch a bus on time! Always amused that because of the interesting winding route of buses you can usually catch them up.

Several people were at the bus stop before I turned up so kept a mental note of who they were so I could make sure they got on the bus before me, nobody likes someone that pushes in. A bus finally arrives, it's a single decker and I naturally wait for the people that arrived before me to get on the bus but for some puzzling reason a man who turned up after me seemed to think he was in control of the queue and indicated that I should get on first. Not sure why this would be but after a moment's hesitation I realised that if I didn't shift no one was going to get on the bus!

Once on I was pleasantly surprised to find there were double seats available so sat down enjoying the space for as long as I could. Never lasts too long though and soon a studenty type sits down next to me. She was much more sensible than the other studenty types that decided to congregate around the drivers cab again even though there was loads of room and they were talking to their mates half way up the bus anyway! Even worse than yesterdays girly gaggle! So much worse in fact that the driver has to ask them to move down the bus please!

Oh and just in case you were wondering that bell sound you occassionally hear on buses means that someone intends to get off at the next stop. Not only is this a clear auditory aid for the driver the standees could also use this to get out of the way! As my cleverer than some studenty type finally squeezes her way to the front of the bus with many an excuse me (sigh) I'm joined by a broad bloke.

Just a tip when sitting next to someone on a bus if their skirt or jacket is on the seat it would be considerate to ask them to move it so they don't have to yank it from under you, and, if you sit down and your thigh's touching the other persons thigh then you are probably sitting a little bit too close. Whats more if the person doesn't move when you sit on their thigh it tends to mean there's no more room for them to move into! With this in mind I'll not go into the remainder of the journey.



This afternoons journey home was longer, my hubby went home sick so I had to catch the bus all the way home, almost an hours journey, but less eventful.

A family friend got on the bus just after me so it saved any problems with seating, might as well sit next to the person you know rather than some random. I never did understand why people were happy to talk to each other over the back of the seat and sit next to people they don't know when they quite clearly know the person behind them. I remember sitting next to a woman who's boyfriend was sat in front of her and they were messaging each other on their phones instead of talking to each other. Very odd!

Seeing that this was gonna be an uneventful journey blog wise I thought I'd pose the question of what would you do to improve the bus service to my friend and he came up with some great ideas I'd like to share with you now!

1. Having a conducter at peak times to keep passengers from getting too rowdy on the upper deck.
2. Get someone to clean the interior of the bus during the day. There is always so much rubbish by the afternoon that some seats are avoided cos of the volume of stuff from drinks bottles to Metro's! It would be nice to know you didn't have to check your seat for Muller corner residue!
3. Some way of communicating between drivers on the same route, so if buses are delayed (should that be when?) they can work out a plan to get the buses back on timetable. It would save that whole 4 buses turning up at once if they had a strategy in place instead of leapfrogging each other at every other bus stop!
4. Wifi on the bus so you could do work during the hour journey to work. Trains can offer such services maybe buses could try something similar.
5. A reliable system at every bus stop that tells you how long the next bus will be. I think this one is a complete dream cos the system that they had has just been scrapped because it was completely useless and inaccurate.

Anyone have any other ideas? The whole laptop thing got me thinking that perhaps there could be drop down tables a la train as well.

Well that's it til Monday x