Bus Shelter

A Memory of Hadleigh.

Living in Canada now I'm not sure if the bus shelter in this photograph is still there. In the early sixties I, my brother and sister caught the bus from this stop to our school, Holy Family RC Primary, in Benfleet. We'd have our pink bus passes at the ready and join a host of other kids on their way to their respective schools. A sign of the times in that I don't think anyone now lets their primary school aged kids travel by themselves on public transport. One winter the weather was really bad with lots of snow and some of the public buses didn't run. Happily, we had a couple of days off school and were disappointed when we heard that our school and only our school had arranged for a special bus. Trudging to the bus stop that morning one or all of us hatched a plan to have one more day at home. As the bus approached we hid behind the circular seat in the shelter and waited for the bus to leave without us. We then skipped back through the snow and told our angry Mother the bus hadn't arrived. I'd like to think the bus driver didn't spot us hiding, that the head Nun, Sister Frances, didn't know what we were about and that our Mum believed that the bus really hadn't come. Now I have kids I know how unlikely that is.