5 of 24 - The Bedford OB coach
The council house that we lived in was about half a mile from the main road and to catch the school bus, I had to walk up the hill to the main road. Walking with one built-up shoe was a risky business. I was regularly stumbling, even on level ground. If the ground was uneven or if there was an adverse camber, my progress could be erratic. Our school bus was a single decker Bedford OB coach that would trundle around the country lanes picking us up one by one and delivering us to our school in town. One afternoon, on the way home from school when I was eight or nine, the bus coasted gently to a stop in the middle of nowhere. We were informed by the kindly driver that several baby rabbits were huddled together in harm’s way in the middle of the road. He suggested that one of us should get off the bus and shepherd the young rabbits onto the verge. I volunteered eagerly and stumped down the steps and onto the tarmac. As I approached the rabbits my fellow travellers crowded into the ...