Rollercoaster bus ride
Everyone jump into the Delorean as we have to travel back in time, back to the year of 1979 (or thereabouts).

Summertime in County Offaly, Ireland; the annual pilgrimage from London to visit the grandparents and the other members of the Irish clan. This particular day my elder sister and myself (I would've been around 5 years old at this point in my life) have been given permission to use (what passed as) the local bus to visit some cousins where they lived several miles away.

After standing around for a while the bus finally made an appearance, I don't remember the specifics of what type it was but it was a single decker that could carry about 30-40 people. Apart from the driver this bus was also very empty, I later learned this was the norm and to this day I wonder if it was more of a hobby for the driver rather then a job to drive it about.

As is usual for kids we headed straight to the back of the bus where the long seat was situated and settled in for the 20 minute ride to the next town. Pretty much immediately we discovered an interesting fact, the seat we were sat on was made out of some type of plastic which was very smooth. This became apparent at the first right hand corner when we both found ourselves sliding along the seat to the left side of the bus. Followed immediately by a left turn which found both of us sliding along to all the way to the opposite window on the right.

Queue much laughter and giggling from the pair of us at this brand new game, which only got better when the bus hit its first bump. As anyone who has travelled back lanes in the countryside, the roads are never the smoothest with lots of dinks and small hillocks just waiting for a vehicle to come along and launch them in the air.

This particular bus must have had kangaroo legs installed on the rear axle as the first bump we hit threw me a good foot in the air before I landed back on the seat to immediately find myself airborne again as the bus hit another bump.

What followed was a rollercoaster ride that had us both sliding left and right along the seat while also being thrown upwards mid-slide. How I survived without an injury is still a mystery but I was greatly disappointed when we reached our destination.

I had hoped to get the bus again for the return journey but alas my hopes were dashed when we were taken back to my grans in a car. I never did get to ride that particular bus again but it will always hold a special place in my memories.
(ParaSitius is an Optimistic Pessimist, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 14:16, Reply)