A bus driver's day

It’s Thursday. I’m already tired from previous days, so I overslept a little. My alarm clock rings at 3:10. Otherwise I wake up at 3:05. What follows is my traditional morning ritual: I go to look at the outside thermometer. It’s 10 degrees. That’s good, because if it was freezing, I’d have to be at the bus earlier to warm it up. Water for tea, then breakfast, get dressed and then on the run the first morning coffee and hooray to work.

It’s 3:40. Below the forest I meet a herd of wild pigs. It’s happened several times in recent days. After five kilometers I park my Škoda 100 at the bus, which I leave outside our company’s facility at the place where my line starts. Getting the vehicle ready is what awaits me. Since I got a new Mercedes, the preparation goes without a hitch. The nerves I used to have over frozen air or a dead battery are gone.

At 4:10 I head to the stop. The morning connections start at 4:15 - so this is a piece of cake. One older woman, a nurse, waits at the stop. It’s 32 kilometers to our end station in the regional capitol, during which I’ll pick up another 30 people or so. This early morning is the nicest to drive -the highway is empty, it’s calm everywhere, dark, all passengers sleep. This winter is so far the best I can remember in my 40 years of work. No snow. Last year my route, which goes between villages on narrow country roads, faced floods of snow, unplowed…