nostalgia is a thing of the past
Every morning, without being aware of it, I thank the bus driver as I hop off. A polite habit that isn’t universally shared.
Today I was the only one to do this at my stop, which got me thinking. Memory broached the darkened, oily waters.
Back 30 years to the cool old Otago Education Board red and cream Bedford school bus. We lived on a sheep station in the hills, and the trip to school totalled an hour and ten minutes one way – so long that for my first year at school I used to attend only four days a week, taking Wednesdays off. And in the wintertime the teacher would prepare homework for me to do for when the inevitable snow blocked the road.
The bus driver was a Mr Morrison, a gruff but kindly chap (as many bus drivers seem to be). Occasionally he would have to growl at the rowdiness down the back of the bus, but he would only really get grumpy when a kid vomited in the bus. Which I did twice, during my three years of travelling, holding it in for as long as possible and then forlornly trying to catch it in my cupped hands before it spattered the floor.
The bus would pull up to each family’s mailbox – in most cases large enough to hold the milk and bread the the Rural Delivery person would also deliver – and on jumping out the kids would sing-song chorus:
Thanks for the ride, Mr Morrison!
But enough of this.
Next: I pull my slippers on and develop an obsessional interest in listening to Wayne Mowat. And insist on blogging about it.
Sarah
17 July 2004, 13:06 #
Not thanking the bus driver is just wrong. Even the lowliest Hutt girl would never dream of getting off a bus without a "Thanks Driver!" on her way down the steps. I think you may be living in a very uncouth suburb indeed.
Sam
17 July 2004, 16:03 #
I used to (and still do occasionally) get really wierd looks from people when I thank the bus driver. Kids these days, got no manners at all.
Alan
17 July 2004, 18:02 #
Admittedly it was weird when I was the only one doing the thanking - it wasn't typical. But on the other hand, maybe our suburb (or the ones I pass through on the way to town) are full of impolite people...
Patrick Quinn-Graham
20 July 2004, 01:09 #
I try and thank the bus driver most of the time, which considering I hardly ever catch a bus. Ah Wayne Mowat, I quite enjoy his radio programmes, having listened to a few sitting in a car while a parent was visiting people (for work! And this was during my last trip to Auckland.) Hmm. Yes.
stephen
20 July 2004, 11:51 #
Whenever I took the bus from Newtown into town - the number 1, the 4, the 22 or 23 - there would be a chorus of "thanks driver" at most stops. And you could number me in that chorus. Since I moved to Auckland this year it seems to be just me who thanks the driver.
Jessie
21 July 2004, 19:38 #
Perhaps people are lacking in grandparents. In my childhood, and adolescence, they were the ones that upheld standards of courtesy and respect. Things like standing up when an elder person enters a room. You get looked at strangely for doing that in some circumstances these days! Yikes, I wonder if this makes me an adult. I hope not.
Alan
21 July 2004, 22:56 #
I think it's probably just a local culture thing, where it seems that (mostly) in Wellington you do, but perhaps in bigger urban centres you don't. I used to do it in London, but I definitely was a rarity there.