It's a tough time in the bus industry. The rapid increase in the cost of diesel has clobbered everyone. There's a company quite close to where I drive, which has just called in the administrators. It could be an interesting summer. It could be the summer of discontent.
On another side, the good companies will work through this. The company I am with I think will ride out the storm. The boss is financially prudent and has a firm hand on the rudder.
That's why I am sitting in a lay-by cleaning a bus. Part of the cutbacks is the cleaner. Drivers have to spend more time cleaning the buses themselves. I now have to spend six hours in this lay-by as it saves the expense of burning another ten gallons of diesel, so there is plenty of time for cleaning.
I even now have my own bucket, with my name written on it, in large, black capital letters to stop me leaving it behind. It is not a bad thing. The buses are beginning to sparkle with so much new found attention.
The lay-by is the only downside. It is boring in the extreme. The nearest town is 15 minutes walk away, and when you get there, it turns out that it is less exciting than the lay-by.
So I'm picking up the different varieties of chewing gum which have been placed under the seats, listening to the radio, as I do it. Appropriately,in some programme about the 1960's in America, a commentator is recalling a quote the then President, LBJ or Lyndon B Johnson made about someone being:-
' ... so dumb that he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.'
Would a bus driver be in the same category? I could not possibly comment.
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