More fun on the number nine

Riding the Nº9 is often a diverting experience.

Today an older chap and I were waiting at the stop together. When the bus came he told me to get on first. As he boarded the bus the driver told him something that I didn't catch. She'd said nothing to me. Anyway, half way around the route the bus parked up at a stop and the driver and a friend of hers who seemed to be on the bus for an extended chat got out to have a fag. From the conversation between them and the two other passengers I realised we were waiting for someone in a wheelchair. There must have been a phone booking.

The man in the chair turned up, he paid his 35c fare and his carer said they were going to a place way off the normal route. The driver checked where the rest of us were going. We went to the stop for the bloke in the chair first. I asked if I should get off, "Of course not, I'll get you there," she said, and that's exactly what she did.

Buses that carry wheelchairs are obviously dead standard nowadays but I thought the personalised taxi service was remarkable.