On Monday I caught two buses up to Camberwell, changing at Brixton. On both buses there were people in wheelchairs. I only really noticed because the bus takes a bit longer at bus stops when it has to let the ramp down and take it up again. I saw a few people in wheelchairs in and around Kings College Hospital, but that's to be expected. Back in Brixton, there was someone in a wheelchair in Marks, and I saw a further two on the way home. This morning I noticed a bus in the bus station with its ramp down, I then noticed someone wheeling away. And this evening there was someone on my bus in a wheelchair. I have seen a further three people in wheelchairs, not including a woman at work I often chat with. I don't think that in my entire life before this week I have experienced four people on buses in wheelchairs, let alone four in one week. I wonder if there's a week of Direct Action going on or whether it's just that having noticed one I am more aware of others.
I was stood at a bus stop not far from work. I noticed a man and a girl standing there. She was about seven or eight, him very early twenties. I thought he's too young to be her father, then I thought, maybe not. I didn't especially notice or judge him, although, in retrospect, I reviewed whether I had done so subconsciously. He was black, wearing a baseball cap sideways, puffa jacket, looked a bit, not rough, but not exactly posh. As I made to get on the bus, he made the girl stand back and let me on first. Naturally, I expressed my thanks.
Upstairs on the bus two fairly posh nicely spoken white boys, about 12 or 13, were listening to some hip hop on the phone of one of the boys. Oh god, I thought, I'm glad I'm only going a few stops. The black man, with an unmistakable Sarf London accent said, "Turn that crap off..." "Why?" asked one of the boys. "Because it's crap..." said the man. They complied.
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