Just a hint that I'm going to talk about On The Buses today but I don't mean the ancient sit com but my eventful bus ride to Wymondham and back which is only just over two miles but brought an abrupt start to the week.
As usual I marched to the bus stop on the main B1172 to get the bus to see cousin Belinda. I say marched because it was blisteringly cold and I wanted to get to the shelter of the bus shelter if you'll excuse the use of the same word twice in the same sentence (there did it again).
The 15 came along and I got on and did a good impression of something between an old chap and a dying swan. I got my bus pass scanned, picked up a copy of the Metro newspaper and was just getting to my seat when the bus started off and I lost my balance and crumpled to the floor. A dear couple who I seem to think get the same bus every week helped me up and were most concerned. The only thing injured was my pride. I'm used to picking people up off the floor and not being picked up.
The bus driver came out to ensure I was ok and was full of apologies when I got off. I told him I had been a prat but he wouldn't hear of it and so we parted on the best of terms. I hope this was a genuine trip (the falling over and not the journey) and not an indication of my coming fragility.
So after my trip to Wymondham I got the bus home and guess who got on? Yes the couple who had picked me up off the floor. It was a double decker this time and they went upstairs which saved me any embarrassment. But first they had a message for the bus driver:
"Please could you wait until we are sitting down. On the way to Wymondham somebody fell over and we've just seen another accident and so are rather stressed about things."
At Wymondham a gentleman got onto the bus:
"Are you going to Norwich City centre."
"Yes" replied the bus driver.
"Well that's a co-incidence because so am I." I think it was an attempt at humour because all buses from that stop go into Norwich and it said Norwich quite clearly on the bus front.
"Look at you sitting there in your short sleeved shirt," the passenger continued.
The bus driver ignored him. I couldn't help feeling relieved that he hadn't been the person to pick me up when I did my early morning dive.
* *
Later in the day we went to a memorial service for Brenda Kelsey at Hethersett Methodist Church. I won't say I knew Brenda all that well but our paths certainly crossed a number of times.
She was a local preacher and an avid supporter of Norwich City FC. At the memorial service it was mentioned that she hated tippy tappy football. About 25,000 fellow Norwich supporters would agree with her at the moment.
Last time I saw Brenda was when I pulled into her drive after mistaking her house for one I was looking for. She did recognise me and we had a pleasant chat before I did a three point turn and carried on my way.
Spent quite a bit of the evening writing a tribute to Brenda for my two magazines. And that brings me round to the news that more journalists have been made redundant from Newsquest which was previously Archant and, before that, Eastern Counties Newspapers.
As a former colleague said on Facebook "the thin blue line is getting ever thinner" and he wasn't talking about police with this thin blue line which is probably better described as a thin black line to represent the newspaper ink which seems to be speedily running out. I genuinely wonder how much longer we will have printed newspapers in Norfolk.