literally another aussie in london

public fascism

I decided on catching a bus back from trent bridge to Nottingham station.

Seemed like a simple and harmless exercise.

Wrong.

It led to humiliation and degradation.

How, I hear you cry dear reader, because I had assumed that I could buy a ticket on the bus for the bus.

An audacious move I agree, but not one that I thought would result in a bus driver saying correct change only.

But it wasn’t what he said, but how he said it.

It snaked out of his thin lips with a hatred of a hundred Born Again Christians “CORRECT CHANGE ONLY”.

But I heard,

“Who do you think you are mr fancy pants, I oughta smack the living shit out of you for having the balls to ask me for a ticket on my bus, that’s right my bus, without having the correct change, did you think you were in red china you pinky commo prick, is that your excuse for this shocking lack of respect, I mean you come on this bus, that I run, and you start off by insulting me, the bus company and Nottingham in general, in the old day I would have had your ass for this, I would have beaten you until your body was in its final twitches and then thrown you from the bus into an oncoming lorrie, you disgust me, now get out of my sight before I get angry.”

Instantly I knew that this was the place for a person like me, someone who was prejudiced against for having no change.

It was if I had a patch on my jacket a red cross through coins.

In Melbourne you can get change from bus drivers, and some of them are friendly.

Where as in my experience 100% of nottingham bus drivers are evil hate filled people.

The exchange took all of 2 seconds, but beneath the surface, in the subtext there was hatred, this face had inferred violence all over it, and a plastic security window couldn’t hide that.

So I got off the bus, with the offending £5 note burning through my hand.

Never have I been treated like this before, instantly I felt a bond with Danny Glover that went way beyond my love of Saw.

All I could next was go to the shop and get the correct fare £1.50, but I thought no, uhuh, this was not about change, this was about my place in society.

If I wanted to live in a coinless way, I shouldn’t be discriminated against, i had my beliefs, and I shouldn’t have to change them because the Nottingham Public Transport department thought I my way was wrong.

Instead I did what any coin hating person would have done, I caught a cab, which cost me £3.50, and let the cabbie keep the change.

I may have been unnecessarily £3.50 out of pocket, but my dignity was priceless.

And i was happy with my silent protest against the man.

September 29, 2008 Posted by Jrod | notthingham | buses | 4 Comments