Life on the Buses

One of the things I've noticed when travelling round Norwich, is that the bus users are generally quite polite. When the bus stops and passengers get off, most say 'cheers' or 'thanks'. Which I never thought about it particularly until I got on a bus in London. Not only do people ignore each other completely, staring fixedly at the chewing gum splodged on the floor, and avoiding all eye contact, but when someone acts courteously, like giving up a seat for an elderly, or pregnant woman, there is a round of tuts of disapproval.

This week, I saw a harrassed mother to a small child trying to manage said child, collapsable and unwieldy buggy, plus three large bags of shopping. Two other passengers got up, one lifted the buggy out, the other grabbed her shopping, while she convinced her small child that they really needed to get OFF now. The bus driver joked with her as she tried to get to grips with everything; no one looked grumpy, or put off by the small delay. Only when she finally got small child strapped into the re-assembled buggy and drapped her shopping over the handles, did the bus driver pull away. He had wanted to make sure she had got everything. I like living in Norwich.