Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Oh really?
That was the delusion I was under when I awoke this morning. Fresh in my mind were the new techniques for safe and skillful driving, I had learnt yesterday on the course. Now was my chance to get behind the wheel of the bus and prove to everyone what a great driver I was.
Seize the moment! Seize the day!
The near miss of the garage doors as I exited the depot somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. It was more of back in the old routine and seize whatever you can get your hands on. Some things rubbed off, though and I took good notice of the weather conditions, the surface of roads and I looked further ahead than usual, anticipating potential hazards. All textbook stuff.
The children did not notice any difference at all. In fact they thought I was worse than normal.
"Where's Bradley?" I asked one of the other children, when Bradley was so obviously not at his stop.
"Well there's a long story there," said a little boy. "He's hurt his arm."
"How did he do that?"
"Well that's where the long story comes in," he continued. "Some say he tripped over a stone or something. Some say someone stuck a leg out and tripped him up. And some say he tripped over a crack."
"Oh yes,cracks," said another child. "We do have cracks where we walk, you know"
"Bloody big cracks if you ask me," said another.
I left them to their discussion about the state of paths and pavements. The comfort of the classroom and the ease in which we were able to identify problems began to wane. This was reality - big time.
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