On the day:
30/10/2012
On the way:
When the bus arrives, the young man in the soft brown leather jacket with the Mediterranean complexion and the matinee idol hair takes the last few drags on his freshly started cigarette, steps away from his wheechair-bound smoking companion and boards.
The older man in the black fedora sets his gloved hands to the hand rails of his wheels and rolls over to the open exit doors.
The bus is not keen. It evidently took a right turn to bypass London's Olympic - and, more to the point, Paralympic - summer of love. Or maybe it objects to that fresh ashtray aroma on the breath of its customers. Either way, it hunkers down and closes its exit doors.
The driver's having none of, though, it's the big lug's job to provide transport, whether or not the client has his own wheels and exhaust pipe, and the bus is forced to rise with a hiss. A ramp slowly, reluctantly emerges from below the exit, and finally the doors open to admit the man and his machine.
Once he has been safely stowed away, the ramp retracts, the doors close and the bus drops to its haunches with another sigh, and sets off. With a belch of smoke.
On the pod:
Disturbia - Rihanna
On the front page:
States of emergency (The Times)
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