Wise words on the upper deck
I am an OAP, complete with grey hair and flat cap. Recently I boarded a bus which was full downstairs and pretty full upstairs which meant I ended on top a couple of rows from the back. It was afternoon, schools were out and the inevitable happened. The decibel level rose one thousand per cent and I was surrounded by the future generation.
After a while, amid all the babble, there came a clear voice from behind that said: "Oi, mate! What's it like being old?"
I was immediately presented with several options. This is the one I took.
Turning around it was immediately apparent which lad had said it. I got up and squeezed one cheek on to a seat in front of him.
"I am 69," I told him. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" He replied proudly, 15.
My response: "I've been 15 and 18 and 21 and 32 and 43 and 54 and 65 and now I am up to 69. I've been there, done it; you haven't and you cannot say with certainty that you will. Just remember that when you see an elderly person."
Having got his attention, I went on: "Looking back on my life so far it isn't the things I've seen I remember the most, or the places I've been to, or the things I've done, which included working on Vulcan bombers in the RAF (that got them interested). It is the people I have met on the way that give the clearest memories. I have been fortunate to have met and continue to meet some lovely people."
At this point another lad asked where I came from. Well I started paying council rent to Willenhall Council back in 59, but my accent is far from local.
"Swanage in Dorset," I replied. Another lad said: "I was on holiday there a couple of weeks ago and got interested in their steam railway." So I got chatting to him.
What then is the point of this letter?
Taking the option that I did, it became a pleasant journey instead of one filled with hostility.
John Gregory, Wolverson Close, Willenhall.
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