Buses, balance and bruises

[Ozzygirl64]

Buses, balance and bruises

I don't get out much at all these days and I really don't like buses

My hubby always says to me 'Jeez Lin I don't what the fuss is'

Buses have some drivers, who think they're Stirling Moss

And when they're in the driving seat they know they are the boss.

You get some really nice ones who wait until you sit down

And then you get the drivers who drive just like a clown

They'd do better in a circus makng us laugh until we cry

But sometimes when they drive so fast I feel I'm going to die.

They spot a narrow gap and they want to just get through

They know they are taking liberties with the lives of me and you

But what the hell, do they care as they put the pedal to the metal

And my heart it flutters way too fast like pretty floating petal.

We are in pain anyway but I do not need some more

I cannot wait to leave this thing, that's for ruddy sure

I used to ride for hours just taking in the sights

But I really want to stay alive, I'm quite within my rights.

And then it comes, it's my stop, My body has gone stiff

He hits the brakes and sends me forth and now I have a quiff

My balance is so poor and my grip is oh so mellow

That bar it hits my body hard, it's metal and it's yellow.

So now I feel the searing pain, the shoulder from the bar

It's swollen up twice the size, can't even wear my bra

It's gone a funny colour, the brightest you have seen

It's blue and pink and many more and oooh there's also green.

So if you are a driver of the buses we have to use

Hit the brakes or take it slow, you're in charge, you choose

But if you choose the former, are you really being nice

Maybe to yourself you are, but it's us that pays the price.

So I send you this letter and hope that you really do take note

Be a nicer driver and please don't act the goat

And if you want to doubt, beware this tale is real

It's happened to me many times and it really makes me squeal.

So a little tip for all FMers, if you really have no choice

When you get on your bus prepare to use your voice

Tell the driver to let you sit and request he take it slow

Because sending us hurtling down the bus is pretty ruddy low

[irisjoy]

hi ozzy i so agree with you we have drivers who do emergency stops at nearly every bus stop, they have no understanding of how to look after their customers who are the ones who pay their wages, maybe complaints to management may help but probably not xx

[Hidden]

I thought it was just bus drivers in Manchester who behave like this, obviously not! I am always amazed that nobody gets hurt whenever I have had to go into the city centre. So sorry to hear that you did pay the price for their reckless driving OG. Jane x

[Ozzygirl64]

I will recover, but I have to put padding under my bra strap now lol xxxxx

[Hidden]

Brilliant Ozzy, you really have such a talent! It's great for us all to share it with you and thank you for your efforts, they are really appreciated!

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to Hidden]

Well I recently went to another site I used to be on, a survey site, and I had posted a lot of poems on there on their community side of things but then left the site. They are still there so I have noo copied them to use here over time, but they are not fibro related. My favourite one is one where I was likened to Pam Ayres, and I do write a lot in the same style as her. But my fave was not there, so I need to keep searching for it lol xxxxx

[wallflower_fairy]

Hi Ozzygirl64, really great post which makes for interesting reading. It flows smoothly and easily. You have such a talent. Read your other posts and agree there too - have also commented. One last thing to share. My worst experiance on the bus was really only the second time I had been on there. The driver was a right narky person. I was 15 and I asked him for a child's fare. He said..in reply. 'Child 2..' and I was thinking eh..? What the hell is 'Child 2?!There's only one child here and that's me..'

Fog must have really confused me (I didn't know that then though because this was before the diagnosis). So I waited for him to elaborate. 'CHILD TWO!' he said again really loudly. Like I was some foreigner who couldn't understand English..but somehow shouting would help. I just sort of looked at him blankly. Trying to understand.

Eventually he said. 'Child to WHERE..?!' Oh..so THAT's what he meant?! Of course. 'Oh..errr..Thatcham.' I stammered. '£1.50', he abruptly said. 'Sure.' So I dropped the cash into his hand guess what? The 50p I was adamant I had was actually a 20 pence peice but by his reaction I was CLEARLY trying to scam him. '1.50!!!' he shouted! 'Err..sorry I was thought that WAS 50.' I said fumbling around in my purse - and knowing me it's amazing I didn't drop anything - while he stared impatiently, making me more uncomfortable. Eventually I gave him the right money and had barely scrambled for the ticket when the bus leapt off.

Sheesh - buses eh? xx

..To be fair one bus I was used to catch every Weds lunchtime to meet a friend was lovely. So they're not all under the same brush.

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to wallflower_fairy]

I bet we all have stories about horrible bus journeys. I remember one time getting close to my stop I wobbled my way down the bus, and things were going fine, until a car shot across the junction forcing the driver to brake really hard. But as he braked and I hurtled forward he put his arm out to stop me. One, he could have broken his arm, or two, at the spped I was now moving he could have broken my neck. But the main thing is he actually stoppedme going through the windscreen. So for that I was grateful xxxxx

[wallflower_fairy in reply to Ozzygirl64]

Well that's good. It was a bit risky and must have been uncomfortable on both sides but it's just instinct I guess.

I guess we ought to realise that even though drivers can be cranky underneath all that they have a good heart. Hope you enjoyed my story. Looking back I thought it quite funny.

Hope any future journey goes as okay as it can be. xx

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to wallflower_fairy]

Well I am sure as fibromites we would all have something to tell about our illness every singel day xxxxxx

[mandyd61]

I've just been discussing this with my friend, nightmare bus journeys. One bus route i have to use cuts through a trading estate that has speed bumps every 50 yrds it seems, the amount of times I've been thrown off my seat going over them, and the pain shoots up my back everytime we hit one at speed!! I now wait until the bus actually stops before I get out of my seat and you can see the driver impatiently looking through his mirror to see who's getting off after they've pressed the bell, tough I'll get off in my own time.

I'm sure it's some kind of competition to see who can throw the most passengers around the bus, as they all do it. I'm with Iris joy, WHY do they have to do emergency stops at every bus stop?

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to mandyd61]

Oh speed bumps, tell me about it, we have them all around these estates and it is a nightmare xxxxx

[ArctoLindy]

Some years ago a guy in a delivery van rear ended my car as I'd stopped to give way to a bus, a few months later a driver from the same company told me that the van driver who'd ploughed into my car was now a bus driver - not reassuring to know he's now driving something even bigger that carries people instead of parcels!

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to ArctoLindy]

I would not be getting on his bus any time soon xxxxx

[Sthandra]

Another great one Ozzy.

I hate busses and that's from before I joined the fibro club, I was taking my eldest daughter back to her dads as he had. Custodt. I got off the buss with the youngest 2 turned round to help my eldest down and the axxxxxxxe had set off with my child Still on the bus so I brayed (banged) on the bus as luck would havit someone had seen what happened and made him stop he said “I didn't see it” calld my daughter an it she was wearing a dress you could tell she was a girl , now I hate busses cos they throw you about to much by the time you get where your going you just want to go home . Sithy

[Ozzygirl64 in reply to Sthandra]

What an awful driver. I have come a cross a few like that and one guy I actually know is a bus driver. He was awful, and he said if people use umbrellas instead of their arm/hand to hail the bus he actually drove straight past. He also liked it when the bus stop was flooded as he would deliberately speed in and then hit the brakes thus soaking everyone. He is a nsty piece of work, he moved from here and joined the Liverpool depo, thank god xxxxx

[Sthandra]

My eldest daughters father is a bus driver works for Calder line ( yorkshire) in case you didn't know where it was he hates doing school runs says most of the kids are unruly even kicked some kids off for bulling other kids . A friend of ours used to be a buss driver he was a bit of a dxxk a bit like the one you know he used to ignore people waiting and soak them he has moved to trains now and has ad at least 8 people comit suicide in front of his train divers get 6 months off with pay every time it happens it changed him a lot he used to be a prat whenhe drove his car you know boy racer type not any more he's sensible now it must have really affected him mentally cos he's really quiet now used to be really outgoing .Sithy

[Ozzygirl64]

I know there are some good bus drivers out there who really do care about the customer. And I know what kids on a bus can be like, I dread it if I have an appointment and it is anywhere near school in and out times. You can see who the quiet kids are who do not want to get involved and you canhear who the trouble makers are. Sometimes it does take something like waht that guy has gone through with the trains to make them see things in the right light. But I also feel for him having had people use his train to end what must be an awful life if they feel they have to do it. I think life finds a way of taming the wild side in all if us at some point. xxxxx