The Psychedelic Bendy Bus
It had been a shit night. Not least for the fact that it had ended with me stood at a bus stop in the middle of the night, freezing cold. And I'd been waiting for about an hour.

I'd been out, spent a load of money that shouldn't have been spent, felt thoroughly depressed about being newly single for the first time in years, and was just generally in the wrong frame of mind to have been drinking. I'd been to busy bars and it seemed like the world was against me: every fucker in the place was out to spill my drink, get in my way or barge me away from the bar. I was pissed off, and just wanted to get home, The night bus which was supposed to be running every 15 minutes hadn't made an appearance in 60.

It had gotten to the point where it was so late it was now early. Walking home seemed to be the only option, and I had a four-mile stomp to compound my misery.

And just as I turned to trudge away, a bus pulled alongside me. Finally.

It was fairly empty, and I took the unusual decision of sitting near a group at the back of the bus. I normally like to keep myself to myself, but if I fell asleep, I wanted to have half a chance of someone noticing and waking me up before the bus reached the end of the Earth. It was one of Ken Livingstone's mobile traffic jams, a bendy bus, and so the seat I had sat in was a good 15 metres from the attention of the driver.

Watching the cess-pit of Shoreditch slip by, I barely noticed that someone had sat next to me, as I was consumed with bitter thoughts about how much I fucking hated this anonymous city, the girl that had left me and the best friend that had taken her. Until I noticed a burning smell.

And quite a familiar burning smell at that. Turning away from the window, I saw that the guy sat next to me was puffing on a huge joint. He winked at me, and passed it over. The gesture of kindness, combined with absurdness of getting stoned with a stranger on a night bus really struck a chord with me. I instantly felt a little happier.

Not wanting to be too greedy, I took a few tokes and tried to hand it back. He gave me a bemused smile, and nodded backwards. "He said it's got to go that way..." my new friend grinned.

"Who said?" I asked, a bit confused.

"The geezer that handed it to me."

As it turned out, I was sat in the middle of about 10 complete strangers, who had all decided to have a chat and pass spliffs round for their journey home. It was a total mix of ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, from the Chinese girls that had barely been in the country for 5 minutes to the middle-aged nightworker on his way home from a shift, all smoking weed on the bus like it was the most normal thing in the world to be doing.

We talked and laughed for a good half hour - I still can't work out why the driver either didn't notice or didn't care that the back of his bus resembled a Kate Bush video, as by the end of the journey it was so smokey I could barely find the way to get off.

As the doors opened at my stop with a whoosh, I walked out feeling like a contestant on Stars In Their Eyes, emerging from a green fog with a stupid grin on my face.

The bus disappeared from sight, and I never saw those people again. I sometimes think back about how completely surreal the whole experience was - did I imagine it? Was it some sort of supernatural funk bus, forever cruising the late night streets, on a mission from God to lift the spirits of unfortunate souls in their hour of need?

Probably not. But it was the best bus journey I've ever had, and it came just when I needed it, in more ways than one.


Length? 60ft, with a kink in the middle.
(Sloppy Giuseppe, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 15:48, 12 replies)

*click*
I really hope this wins!
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 15:57, closed)

Happy bus story me likey likey *click*
Beautiful story. Nice to hear this kind of thing about London, too. It's not all bad, all the time.
( Scrumper, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 16:35, closed)

I don't like this story
I love it. Strangers are just friends that, blah blah, etc. :)
(Elegant Lady Vee is not my real name., Thu 25 Jun 2009, 17:59, closed)

lovely
thats perked me right up
*click*
( Jamnog Sardines in her eyebrows, lobsters up and down, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 0:05, closed)

Top work
top work indeed. click!!!
( SpankyHanky, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 0:37, closed)

For
the win!

Getting baked in quiet harmony with total strangers is just a nice experience.
(anvil, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 0:48, closed)

I love this story...
...and like to think it is a supernatural funk bus, forever cruising the late night streets, on a mission from God to lift the spirits of unfortunate souls in their hour of need.

Would make an excellent film :)

*click*
(Galahad is out of his gourd on yellow bentines, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 10:19, closed)

"The Bus that Chilled"
.
( Hampster Squared has stuff at www.tilla.co.uk, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 12:10, closed)

oh lovely
big clicks :)
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Mon 29 Jun 2009, 15:14, closed)

Awesome story
Enough to make you have faith in humanity.

*clickness*
(RVD420 has his world coming down on, Tue 30 Jun 2009, 11:55, closed)

Happy bus
Yep, this lifted my spirits just reading it. Definitely click-worthy. I'd like to catch a bus like this whenever I'm feeling down.
(Dog Bum Cute, wiggly, has scary anal glands, Wed 1 Jul 2009, 23:27, closed)

Random Actos of Kindness FTW
Brilliant story matey. I'm not sure whether I prefer to believe in the kindness of strangers, or in a mystical stoner bus, that picks you up in more ways than one, right when you need it most.

Either way, have yourself a well-earned *click*
( TheMagicDwarf is back like ballroom dancing, Thu 2 Jul 2009, 1:26, closed)