Buses Are The Worst

I live in a very rural area of Wales. At the time of this story, I was sixteen and had just started college, which was a good hour and a half away. Thankfully, there was a special bus program that went through my village that consisted of two separate connecting bus routes.

I was on the second bus back one evening and my friend had gotten off, so it was me and a couple of random people. I had my headphones in and was zoning out when I suddenly realised it was taking longer than normal to reach my stop. I am very socially awkward, so I waited for a while, but eventually, I made my way up to the front.

Me: “When will we reach [My Village]?”

Driver: “This bus doesn’t go through [My Village].”

Me: *Shocked* “What bus number is this?”

He told me. It was the right bus route, but the driver insisted that this bus NEVER went through my village. We were already past the turning for the village, so I went to my seat and checked my phone. However, it was an old piece of garbage, and I’m a little forgetful, so it had gone dead. 

In the end, I got off at the next stop — a small town a ten-minute drive from my home. I planned to find a phone box, but the only one around was out of order, so I walked into a pub and asked to borrow their phone. The people were very nice and let me stay there until my parents arrived since it was pretty dark out. 

My parents were furious at the driver, and my mum called up the next day to complain. Turns out the bus only goes this route at certain times for the school run. The driver must have not worked that shift in a while and didn’t bother checking the route. I don’t know what happened to them, but hopefully, they will be more careful in the future.