I live directly opposite a bus stop
into town. So that's nice, especially for school and work. Except there's a busy road in the way, and at 7.45 in the morning I'm not the only one trying to get into work.
One morning, I hop out of the front door, look left to see the traffic, and see a green bus tootling down the road.
At the time, it could have been the 78 (which stopped at that stop) or the X8 (which didn't). The X8 normally came past a bit earlier, now it was time for the 78.
There was a lad standing at the bus stop who I saw most mornings, and tended to get that bus, and I thought I saw him stick his arm out to stop it. Lovely timing! There wasn't any traffic coming the other way, so I moved along the road a bit to give it space to stop, and ran across to get on.
It wasn't the 78.
It wasn't stopping.
I was halfway across when I heard the screech of brakes and the blast of a horn, and saw a massive green square out of the corner of my eye. I'm not sure what happened next, but next thing I knew I was clinging to the cemetery railings across the road, wide-eyed and panting, gasping 'I THOUGHT IT WAS STOPPING!' repeatedly at the boy at the stop.
These days I walk the WHOLE 50 yards down the road to the crossing.
(and now for someone completely different, Fri 20 Aug 2010, 14:52, Reply)