Out of the tin

originally the bus traveled this route once an hour this resulted in lots of people squeezing on to the same bus. More often than not the bus was a single decker and passengers were packed in cheek to jowl (and other bits), with people standing from one end of the bus to the other.

Now you know that I have a seat, a window seat at that so this doesn't sound like a problem for me, well not till it is time to get off.  Squeezed in like sardines the logistics of removing a sardine or two could be quite complicated.  The person in the outside seat has to get up and move slightly back, protecting their ownership of a seat from those standing behind whilst I get up and sidle out.  They then slip into my window seat and as I squash past the foremost  standing passengers, the jocking for the now vacant seat occurs behind me.

Those who got on the bus knowing they would be standing take note of where the possessors of seats get off.  They try to manoeuvre themselves so they will be in a position for the quick dart, the prize of a seat.  It is manic musical chairs without the music.  It is funny being popular just because people know you are getting off the bus at the same place every day creating the opportunity for others to sit.

The shop girls, some of whom had to stand were particularly good at the tactics of seat seizure, and at the same time regularly bemoaned the bus company's lack of foresight in not using a double decker or having more buses run the route per hour.  They got their wish as from my halfway mark and before most of them joined, there is now a bus every ten minutes and the single decker is the rarity now.

Of course this greater flexibility has pretty much deprived me of their company even as it has made getting out of the tin considerably easier.  Convenience over congenial company and social interaction, I am not sure if I benefited or not from the change.