3 November 2003
A Frosty East Anglia Morning
By half past 8 the sun was shinning brightly for another
crisp day in late October. The
first serious frost was still on the edge of the ancient clay rooftops that form
a wall on one side of my garden. I
was hoping that my lettuce and fennel survived.
And I was appreciating my life because it was my 52nd
birthday.
The kitchen window where I can look out is almost
completely taken up by the huge window box I used for transplanting herbs from
the clay pots in the garden. The
nasty aphids that hatched out on the herbs had turned black from the watered
down dishwasher detergent I sprayed on them.
Cat and Jay had gone off to French’s riding stable to
spend the morning. It was half term
(school vacation) for Cat. In
the evening we had planned to dress up and go to dinner at the Bangladesh
restaurant in town.
On the first day of Cat’s vacation, she and I decided
that since it was a bright crisp day we would tackle the next adventure on our
list…taking the bus from Hadleigh to Sudbury.
I wanted to figure out how the bus works because the daylight savings
time change kicked us back one hour on October 25 (we’re five hours ahead of
southeast Ohio). Now that it will
be dark by 4:30 or earlier until March I prefer not to drive the car on the
winding road I take on Friday to and from my volunteer job at Oxfam (www.oxfam.org).
The published bus schedule said I should catch the 10:57
bus at the stop across from the car park behind the Co-op Store.
Cat and I bundled up against the wind and set out to be there plenty
early in case I had made a mistake.
The sun was bright and the deep blue sky made the changing
fall leaves look like a painting. Everyone
keeps saying how the leaves have never been so orange or yellow or red.
But then the weather forecasters say this is the driest warmest six
months in England’s history.
At the bus stop I asked if I was in the right place, and no
one knew so I crossed the street to the other bus shelter to read the schedule.
Sure enough I needed to be at that stop.
The shelter smelled of urine so we waited in the sunshine.
The bus pulled up a couple of minutes late.
When the driver opened the door I asked if he was going to
Sudbury. In a very sharp voice he
said, “Not on your life.” Then
he closed the door and drove off. That
was that. No bus to Sudbury at
10:57.
The next bus was 45 minutes later so we spent the time
talking to a couple of elderly women who were on their way to Ipswich.
They started the conversation by asking where we were from in the US.
That’s how most conversations with strangers begin here.
The next bus was right on time. The friendly driver assured me he was going to Sudbury.
The double decker bus was just right for our adventure.
We sat in the front seat on top looking out over the freshly ploughed
fields. When we drove into Boxford,
a tiny town on the way to our next stop we could see over the garden walls.
Most of them were filled with beautiful flowers and apple trees waiting
to be picked, or junky messes.
In Sudbury we ate lunch at a little cafe, met up with the
Oxfam manager for a quick review of the marketing pieces I had designed for her,
and visited St. Peter’s Church. Then
it was back to the bus stop.
Promptly at 15:55 (3:55) bus #91 pulled up and who should
it be but the guy who told me he wasn’t going to Sudbury.
He opened the door and announced that we were to wait while he had a
coffee and toilet break because it was half term.
He pointed to a little sign on the window that said he had an extra 15
minutes because of school break.
We waited in the cold because by now the sun was going
down.
One thing I’ve learned in life…there are jerks
everywhere. The good news is…he
has been the exception in this phase of my life, not the rule.
You can write to Annie Warmke at annie@bluerockstation.com