I was sitting on the bus today on my way home from work, not really interested in what was playing on my Ipod and for once not having my head buried in a book I was listlessly gazing out of the window . Contemplating the world as it passed me by when a man tapped me on the shoulder interrupting my reverie.

“Excuse me love”

I turned in response expecting the usual “Is this seat taken?/do you have the time?/do you know which stop for (insert random place here)”

“Have you been singing? Look at the rain, Yep, look at the rain. There are two things you should never complain about, the weather and your age, you can’t do anything to change either so there is no use complaining about them. Are you taking this all in young un.”

Yes he called me young un – I may have started warming to him then.

“Are you listening? There is no use complaining your weather and your age, You’re taking this all in aren’t you, don’t bother worrying about either as it’ll be a waste of your time and you can’t waste time because you never know when one day you’ll wake up in the morning and find yourself dead”

At that he got up, walked to the front of the bus and disembarked at the next stop.

I was lost for words, How do you respond to a statement like that? All the usual sarcasm that I can draw on in moments like that had deserted me. All I kept thinking was “Cheeky mad bastard, how does he know my singing is THAT bad!?”