My bus ride today

I rode a bus today. There are no big orange school busses in Germany.  It was a mystery to me at first, how the kiddies get to school. Then I realized they all take public transport, alongside the rest of us.

So imagine, if you've ever ridden in a school bus in your childhood, how it is in adulthood to re-enter.

Flashback to extreme unpleasantness.

It's a moving playland with no adults and no rules. They screech and yell over each other in their separate worlds.

Today was no different except one little boy insisted on sitting directly behind the driver. Normally the kids disperse to the back. I was opposite him.

He had obviously missed his Ritalin today cuz he couldn't stop bouncing in his seat, and exclaiming loudly various phrases to the kiddies in the back of the bus.

Eventually he started running back and forth, every time he wanted to communicate with them, returning to his seat across from me, losing track of his school bag in his antics.

I thought this is totally normal for a public + school bus, I've been packed in with them shoulder to shoulder, so...

No. This bus driver was not a school bus driver today. Or, perhaps, he was the best kind.

He slammed on the brakes and stopped the bus. He threw open the gate he sits behind, and stood over the little boy.

"No, this is not how you behave on a bus! You SIT DOWN and HOLD ON! Otherwise you can get off right now! There is no running back and forth on this bus, it's not your playland! SIT DOWN and be still."

I was completely shocked.

The kid too, he was speechless and as our journey continued, he still needed his Ritalin from his bouncing on the seat, but he did not run about or call to his friends anymore.

When he got off, two stops from my house, I hope sincerely he will not go take out revenge by killing a cat. I know how I would feel if I were publicly scolded, and perhaps unfairly - did anyone ever tell him that riding a bus means sitting in a seat? Just stay away from my cat, kid.

Good bus driver. Poor bus driver! Back home they have special training for schlepping kids around town, and they know the kids' names.

I have little knowledge of how it works here. Oh, besides the fact you do not have to stop both directions of traffic when kids get off - there is no such thing as flashing yellow kiddie-right-of-way. The kids are expected to know not to run across the road. *shrug*

The entire ride, I thought the kid's parents would be those who encourage expression and do not stifle it with silly human rules. How beautiful that our child expresses himself so fearlessly!

I must say, that grumpy bus driver made my day.