Eavesdropping On The Bus

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

It is nearly a year since I went off on my own ........ just catching a bus from our bus station and going off to our local sea side using my bus pass.

Last Saturday, I felt the need to do this and whilst feeling a bit guilty about leaving Harry behind and wondering if he would be alright, I made the decision and left home at 9.30 am.

The bus journey takes about one hour on the fast bus but much longer on the meandering one that I caught, as it visits lonely estates and villages and winds along country roads on the way. I sat upstairs on the top deck of the bus, known as a double decker, for those of you who don't have this type of vehicle.

The surrounding countryside can be seen much better than from a car. I like to see over the hedgerows and I do enjoy looking into peoples' gardens and farms. I can see so much more from a bus.

The bus journey itself is always quite interesting as I love to *people watch* and as if on cue, a large family got on the bus and sat in front of me on the opposite side. It soon became apparent that they were speaking two languages. The first being German or Austrian....... I can't tell which is which and the second English. The two boys and two girls spoke mostly in the Germanic language but the parents answered sometimes in English and sometimes in their native tongue but the children seemed to respond to either. Although both parents spoke excellent English, I did feel that the woman was English. This seems to be the natural way to ensure that the family are bilingual. It takes input from both parents all the time.

Eventually they got off the bus long before I did and they all headed off to a wooded area, obviously going for a long walk in the country.

Harry and I haven't been to many places since we had to have so much treatment for our illnesses and last time I visited, Weston Super Mare was still in turmoil with workmen everywhere while they finished putting in the superior sea defences and new walkways. The whole of the town seemed to be upside down for several years, so I was quite pleasantly surprised that it was all finished and not a workman, tractor or bulldozer anywhere in sight and it all looked very new and agreeable as well as safer for the people who live there.

Harry is responding to the new cancer drug and feels much better but the brain disorder, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, is affecting his memory, moods and often walking, making things hard for him and everyone else. He has recently had to give up driving and we managed to sell the car over the weekend to some friends.

Anyway, Harry is not well enough to travel so far as my journey but can go to the city centre on the bus by himself and go out for walks now he is feeling a bit better. He just needs to be reminded to take his keys and things like that and I do worry in case he forgets important things to do with the safety of him and the house. So I can never really relax and spend the time thinking of possible things that could happen to him.

Anyway, I managed to go for a very long walk along the seafront as far as the eye could see and beyond. I sat down and watched the people go by while I ate my sandwiches. I was most surprised to see a young couple walking by with a shopping bag and I noticed a little nose peeping out from it, sniffing the air. Very curious, I was trying to decide what animal could be in there, when it popped its head out completely and I was able to recognise it as a ferret! It had a stainless steel lead attached to the bag and harness. I was thinking about my little rabbits at home in their safe surroundings.

The day was warmish though I needed hat, scarf and gloves. At times there were bursts of sunshine that I basked in and the air seemed much fresher than the city.

After several hours, I walked back to get my bus home. That bus was much quicker and busier than the first bus that I caught out and I just found myself listening in to a conversation between two women whose age I thought was quite young, but I wasn't rude enough to turn round and look. However, when I got off the bus, they overtook me and I found they were very elderly ladies.

Aren't I just the nosiest person around?

However there is always some blog material to be found by watching and listening and I did enjoy my trip and it gave me an enormous amount of pleasure and Harry was fine. I will do this more often now, I think.