Friday September 19th, 2008
I’m currently bussing into the office, as with my broken ribs, cycling is out of the question. This morning, I sat in the ‘give priority to disabled/elderly passengers’ seat and at the first stop an elderly lady got on, so I stood up for her and went to the front.
At the stop after, an elderly chap with walking sticks in each hand struggled to get on the bus. Then, as there were no seats he stood next to me, but found it tough to stay upright. Everyone was looking down, and I had one of those moments where I knew I should try and help, but on a bus full of strangers in this day and age, simply speaking out feels like an act of bravery.
In the end, big gob that I am, I politely said “excuse me, does anyone have a spare seat for this chap?” At which point two people looked up and smiled and offered their seats; one woman who’d been in the other disabled seat was most embarrassed, and apologised for reading the paper and not noticing. The chap with the sticks said thanks to me and her and sat down.
Feeling brave for asking now feels stupid.
