It was about 1980, she was petite, with short dark hair, and I never knew her name.
A vision of loveliness, she always wore a coat that I’d now probably call plum or burgundy, but back then was reddish-purple and she caught the bus at the stop just after Stoke town centre as I commuted home from school. I was a socially awkward 14-year-old skinny ginger kid going to a Catholic boys’ school and she was the object of my – almost chaste – crush.

Because the ubiquitous coat covered most of her uniform, I never knew what school she went to and because of my shyness I never spoke to her. All I did know was that I wanted to be her boyfriend.

If she found a seat in front of me, I’d spend the remainder of the journey staring at the back of her head – as casually as possible of course so my mates wouldn’t notice and take the piss. If she sat behind me, difficult though that was as “the lads” always preferred the rearmost seats when available, I’d find excuses to look towards the back of the bus and steal glances at her. If she went upstairs, I’d feel a pang of rejection even though she didn’t know I even existed.

I seem to recall that she used to get off the bus in Hanley town centre, outside where Argos was at the time, and I’d feel my mood darken as she got further away and I realised I’d bottled another chance to speak to her. After about a year of this, she stopped getting the same bus and I never saw her again.

Length: It depended whether the Christian Brothers made you one of their 'special' friends.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Thu 12 Nov 2009, 9:54, Reply)