Kindness in the Most Unlikely of Places

I've lived in London for 4 years now and one of the most annoying things in the world is riding the big red buses. On my first day in London, I crossed the road, and I lived across from a rather large bus stop and nearly got hit by a double decker. I thought to myself "I got here and I'm going to get smashed on the first day..." Amazingly, I've survived.

I've had to take many buses in my 4 years here and one thing I have noticed is that in the last year and a half, people have gotten MUCH more polite on the buses. In the autumn, this very large Jamaican bin man got on the bus in the morning with dreds down his back looking like an escaped convict... and he was so polite. Addressing the driver with a cheerful hello and thanking him on his way out of the bus... and I thought to myself "Hang on a minute..."

Since then, I try to give thankful nods, waves, and 'thank you's to my bus drivers, and a good morning when I get on.

The thing is... it's sort of viral, cause I hear more and more people doing it now and it just makes the bus journey so much more pleasant.

I can't think of many places I'd like to be less than on a bus most of the time: they're smelly, there are kids crying and screaming, people on phones talking, loud music, cold wind or air, stuffiness, etc. But I'm amazed by the pleasantness and the compassion some drivers put into their work and I'm really impressed by them sometimes.

Sometimes I really do find kindness in the most unlikely of places...