Do you know that children’s song: The wheels on the bus go round and round? Well so do stories on the bus. Read on …

As Covid-19 seems to be retreating in Queensland, I’ve started to go back on campus a couple of days a week at the university where I’m an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow.

This means travelling by bus – rear door entry, touch card on and off, wave to the driver somewhere down the front. Masks optional.

It also means sharing the bus with an assortment of fellow passengers and watching the world go by. The 40-minute journey also gives me time to catch up on a bit of reading.

So over time I thought I’d share with you some of my experiences and interactions on those journeys. The theme is: The stories on the bus go round and round! This is Story No. 1.

The other day, a man with a walking stick joined the bus. The reason for the stick was that one leg was stiff at the knee.

In particular, the right leg. So in an uncrowded bus he searched for a seat on the left-hand side, so he could rest his unbending right leg in the aisle.

I was thinking he would always need to do that on buses and trains so he could stretch out his right leg. Which led me to jot down this little poem in the notebook in my phone:

I always sit on the left side of the bus

I always sit on the left side of the bus

Cause my leg sticks out

And I hate to cause a fuss.

My right leg’s stiff with age

But I’m not ready to turn the page

Not while I’ve got you

And we’ve got us.

Until next time

Darryl Dymock