The last two days involved a lot of public transport. Both as part of the plan and as new ways to do the planned A to B and B to A journeys. Due, on one day, to someone in a severe crisis, who thankfully was talked down by the emergency services and, on the other day, to technological problems with overhead wires.
We were able to get to Manchester on Tuesday via a combination of our feet and two buses. On the way back, we need an extra two trains and some tube journeys, as we ended up needing to go via London. We only got back about an hour and a half later than we were meant to.
And then, while in Manchester, we got to use the tram, an ordinary bus and then a free bus. All of which worked perfectly, turned up when they were expected to and got us where we needed to perfectly.
While yesterday was a long day and both dayd involved some uncomfortable cortisol peaks, I was struck most by the brilliance and good humour of the various staff, from bus drivers, to train conductors and platform staff, to the people herding concert goers onto trams. Public-facing jobs like that look so hard to me (having spent the majority of my life now working from home and mostly independently). And yet all these people were going about their working days (or evenings) with smiles and empathy and, where necessary, extraordinary knowledge and calm in a crisis.
I am not sure what I want to say here really, except maybe that I am grateful and also in awe for and at these people working in these roles.
Thank you.