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Julia Ogden: on travelling by bus
THIS week I have started doing something I haven't done since I was a child... travelling by bus.
THIS week I have started doing something I haven't done since I was a child... travelling by bus.I wish I could say I am doing it in a bid to lead a greener, more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, but that would not be strictly true. I am actually doing it to save money.
About a year and a half ago my husband and I bought a Mazda RX8 – we chose it, even though we knew it was a bit of a gas guzzler, because we wanted something which looked "cooler" than the cars everyone else we knew were driving, namely family estates and people carriers (boring!) Unfortunately, although The Bullet (as we affectionately call it) looks the business, it is ridiculously expensive to run, so the time has come for us to part company.
Although we will get another car I have decided that because of the price of car parking in Peterborough, I would get the bus into work every day.
Before this week, the last time I had travelled by bus was about 30 years ago. All I remember of that time is that they were invariably late (we always seemed to stand huddled under a vandalised bus stop in the pouring rain) and incredibly smelly and dirty. Despite this, the experience was always a pleasant one, mainly because the drivers were always jovial and the conductors friendly and chatty.
But this week I have found the exact opposite to be true.
Although the buses are clean and punctual – the shelters are still vandalised, but you can't win them all – the drivers I have met so far have been downright rude.
Every morning and evening I greet them with a cheery "hello", and count myself lucky if I get a grunt in response.
The other night the bus I needed was already in the bay at Queensgate when I got there. As the door was open, I asked the driver if it was OK if I got on. He looked at me as if I was something unpleasant on his shoe (you know what I mean) and said: "If you want."
So I handed him my return ticket and then walked up the stairs only for him to shout "Oi" at me, really loudly several times. When I returned red-faced, he handed me back my ticket, sneering: "I don't want this, do I?"
"Oh sorry," I said.
Nothing in response.
Now, I know we can all have bad days, and maybe driving from Peterborough to Bourne and back again several times a day is not the most inspiring job in the world (although I think it looks quite good) I would just like to know what is wrong with good ol' common courtesy?
I know I sound like a real moany old mindy but I just think it is so sad today that people are often so rude to one another.
How can we expect our children to remember their manners when we adults forget ours so regularly and treat each other with such disdain?
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: -5 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
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