I walk towards the tram stop. I am quite happy to get the replacement bus. After all, I have already paid for it. I get my Tram season ticket out and check the date it expires. It finished yesterday. Ok so I haven’t paid for the bus, but I can get a ticket for it. I check my wallet and I have no money.

I head towards the nearest cash machine that charges me £1.50 to get to my money. After getting the money, I notice a regular bus coming towards the stop. I head towards the bus and step on. “Town please.” I say. It’s been so long since I had to pay for a bus trip to Manchester, I hope that the young hip kids are still referring Manchester as “Town”.

After successfully negotiating the bus journey, I decide to treat myself to a Coffee from Starbucks. My decision to do this didn’t really come as much of a surprise to me, and I don’t think it would come as a surprise to regular readers, but I decide to act excited about allowing myself to have a coffee.

I take the coffee and walk towards my second bus. After five minutes of standing and waiting for the bus, it arrives. Two buses and only five minutes of waiting – my bus luck is in. Maybe I should play the lottery .

“One to the place that I work at which if I named I’d have to kill you.”

“The place that you work at which if you named you’d have to kill me….. That’ll be £1.80.”

I pay, switching coffee to my left hand.

“You can’t come on here with that.” says the bus driver pointing at my coffee.

A look of paniced despiration comes across my face. I start to look crazier than a Glasweigan NHS Consultant. (After the recent bombs, the Police are going to arrest and search more Asians. Wouldn’t they be better off arresting all Consultants? And with them all in jail, us normal people may be able to get a tee-off time on a Friday afternoon.)
“Well ok, you can take it on but you can’t drink from it.”

I nod in acceptance and try to supress a smirk as I walk upstairs.

I draw strength from History’s greatest rebels who have stood up to injustice and righted wrongs - Rosa Parks, Ghandi, Donny Tourette – and sit down in my seat and drink my coffee. I place my feet on the shelf at the front of the bus, covering the sign that says “Do not put your feet here.”

I am feeling very rebelleous today. When I get to work, I’m going to spend all day dicking around rather than working.