It is me or are there suddenly a lot of curmudgeons out there, there is no other word for them.
Miserable, joyless people that they are, I have no idea what makes them laugh, or if anything is even capable of doing so, it will at someone else's expense if they do, something nasty or sly.. ugh.
Enough of them, I promised you a couple of funny Tales and here is the first one. The Tale happened a very long time ago, in 1995 in London, in Victoria Bus Station to be precise.
The two people who are / were the stars of this Tale came from Lagos, Nigeria and Kingston, Jamaica.
In the autumn of 1994, she had travelled with a much beloved friend called Edgar Watkins, through parts of Germany, Russia and Scandinavia. On the Russian section of their trip, they met a couple called Frankie and Robert Brandt, who lived just outside London.
She called them upon her return to England and the two women would meet up and do 'nice and interesting' things. She would meet Frankie off the train at Victoria train station and they went on from there.
On this occasion they were heading for the West End and this trip meant catching a 73 bus. I don't know, Dear Readers, if you are familiar with the bus station but it is directly in front of the main line train station.
It is under going a lot of construction work at the moment but back in 1995, it was a very simple lay-out. There were pavements on which the passengers waited for their bus and one step down was the place where the bus would drive into.
There was no way that you could possibly get or become confused as there was a pole with the bus route number on it and the buses pulled up behind each other, it was absolutely impossible for the bus behind to overtake the bus that came in first.
Got the picture? If not, wake up, for you are supposed to be reading my blog and are not at school and if you are at school.. stop reading my blog and pay attention to your teacher.
Frankie and she were standing in line and a 73 bus pulled up, in those days, you got on at the back of the bus and there was a conductor who came and took your money and gave you a ticket.
Even before the queue had started to board the first bus, another 73 bus pulled up behind it and switched off his engine.
In front of them an extremely tall and very large woman, dressed in exotic clothes which included a head-dress, "Nigerian" said Frankie who knew about such matters.
The fanciful dressed woman shouted for the conductor to come to her.. he did but quite slowly, he looked at this woman and said "Yes" in an accent which showed him to have been a resident of Jamaica.
The woman's accent was very strong, English was most certainly not her native tongue and she gabbled something at him, neither he, nor Frankie or she understood what she was talking about, she then got quite cross but help was at hand, for in the queue was another Nigerian woman who laughed, came forward and translated the badly pronounced English.
The bus queue broke into gales of laughter, the conductor caught Frankie's eye and had to hold on to the bus pole he laughed so much.
But he pulled himself together and said, in the most perfect Queen's English, "Madam, the bus in front always goes first, now are you getting on or just thinking about it".
Frankie and Robert are now up in heaven, they will be gardening and sewing, they were such a charming couple and she spent many happy times with them.
And the sight of a number 73 bus makes her smile and think "yes, the bus in front always goes first".
GeeGee Parrot.
March 11th, 2014.
Miserable, joyless people that they are, I have no idea what makes them laugh, or if anything is even capable of doing so, it will at someone else's expense if they do, something nasty or sly.. ugh.
Enough of them, I promised you a couple of funny Tales and here is the first one. The Tale happened a very long time ago, in 1995 in London, in Victoria Bus Station to be precise.
The two people who are / were the stars of this Tale came from Lagos, Nigeria and Kingston, Jamaica.
In the autumn of 1994, she had travelled with a much beloved friend called Edgar Watkins, through parts of Germany, Russia and Scandinavia. On the Russian section of their trip, they met a couple called Frankie and Robert Brandt, who lived just outside London.
She called them upon her return to England and the two women would meet up and do 'nice and interesting' things. She would meet Frankie off the train at Victoria train station and they went on from there.
On this occasion they were heading for the West End and this trip meant catching a 73 bus. I don't know, Dear Readers, if you are familiar with the bus station but it is directly in front of the main line train station.
It is under going a lot of construction work at the moment but back in 1995, it was a very simple lay-out. There were pavements on which the passengers waited for their bus and one step down was the place where the bus would drive into.
There was no way that you could possibly get or become confused as there was a pole with the bus route number on it and the buses pulled up behind each other, it was absolutely impossible for the bus behind to overtake the bus that came in first.
Got the picture? If not, wake up, for you are supposed to be reading my blog and are not at school and if you are at school.. stop reading my blog and pay attention to your teacher.
Frankie and she were standing in line and a 73 bus pulled up, in those days, you got on at the back of the bus and there was a conductor who came and took your money and gave you a ticket.
Even before the queue had started to board the first bus, another 73 bus pulled up behind it and switched off his engine.
In front of them an extremely tall and very large woman, dressed in exotic clothes which included a head-dress, "Nigerian" said Frankie who knew about such matters.
The fanciful dressed woman shouted for the conductor to come to her.. he did but quite slowly, he looked at this woman and said "Yes" in an accent which showed him to have been a resident of Jamaica.
The woman's accent was very strong, English was most certainly not her native tongue and she gabbled something at him, neither he, nor Frankie or she understood what she was talking about, she then got quite cross but help was at hand, for in the queue was another Nigerian woman who laughed, came forward and translated the badly pronounced English.
The bus queue broke into gales of laughter, the conductor caught Frankie's eye and had to hold on to the bus pole he laughed so much.
But he pulled himself together and said, in the most perfect Queen's English, "Madam, the bus in front always goes first, now are you getting on or just thinking about it".
Frankie and Robert are now up in heaven, they will be gardening and sewing, they were such a charming couple and she spent many happy times with them.
And the sight of a number 73 bus makes her smile and think "yes, the bus in front always goes first".
GeeGee Parrot.
March 11th, 2014.
Fun tale. If she thinks some of the city transit travelers are joyless in London, she ought to check out a few in the Paris Metro! Never have I observed such lack of consideration or rudeness. At pushin' 70 I found myself giving up my seat for my elders and pregnant women! The young & able-bodied sat and poked around on their gadgets.
ReplyDeleteWe think we are the luckiest people as, apart from the odd hiccup, the city of London has an amazing transport system.. it is rare that she disappears under the ground though.. too nosy, likes to see what is going on!
ReplyDelete