An Ordinary Moment In Time

The bus jolted to a halt and the chatter on the bus got slightly louder.

"I'm going to miss my lunch appointment if there are any more traffic lights." Said the old lady with a sigh. She was sitting in the seat next to me and was wearing a calf-length tweed skirt, black sandals and a crocheted cardigan over a white blouse. She had a kind face with smile lines around her clear blue eyes, snowy white hair cut short and a laugh the was infectious. She smelled like old books and peppermint which was a welcome scent compared to the reek of old socks and sour milk coming from the rugged looking guy in front of us. He was complaining, to himself, about the noise the bus was making as the seats, poles and doors rattled with the vibrating engine.

I was sitting half way down the bus so that when I leant out into the isle I could see a steady stream of traffic coming from the other direction. Reflected in the rear-view mirror was the bus driver. A rather short and large guy, who looked like he might be in his fifties, and was starting to lose his hair. He wore a checked shirt with a navy blue tie and his eyes were obscured by thick, round glasses that were covered in smudged finger prints. He seemed a jolly kind of guy when I got on the bus and even now he was whistling a jaunty tune and tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel.

On the other side of the bus isle was a guy in his mid-twenties wearing a white tracksuit, white trainers, lots of gold jewellery and a baseball cap. He was talking loudly and animatedly to someone on the other end of his state-of-the-art mobile phone.

"Don't be a fucking retard!" he exclaimed, which earned him disapproving looks from the older people sitting around him.

At the back of the bus were a group of lads messing around and nicking each other's hats while arguing about who the 'fittest' girl in their year was and who was the most unpopular.

With a shudder and some grinding of the gears the bus was coaxed back into moving with a few "At lasts!" and some "About times!"…….

….. and that moment in time was over.