An everyday dilemma in modern Britain
It was just a quiet Sunday bus ride, until the two youths at the back started messing with the emergency door. Kids do like a laugh but this wasn’t just high spirits. When the driver stopped the bus to tell them off, he just got a stream of abuse. We have two choices. We either sit and look out of the window and pretend it’s not happening, or we speak our minds. Since I had my two young sons, aged six and eight, with me, I asked the yobs, politely, to watch their language. Stunned silence. I could hear their brains whirring inside their bony heads. Yobs have got so used to our timidity they’re surprised to be challenged. Well, surprised and delighted actually.
“What the **** has it got to do with you?”
“Plenty,” I said. “I wouldn’t swear in front of your kids, so, please, don’t swear in front of mine.”
“Come on the, you ****.”
Faced with a bony fist with HATE tattooed on the knuckles, it’s no use suggesting a cosy chat about community values. But why should I fight? My children were already frightened by this grown-up who had suddenly turned crazy.
Outside life carried on as normal. Swans drifted down the river, men fished quietly, some children were flying a kite. This wasn’t happening in some inner city alleyway. It was the middle of a small town, on a Sunday afternoon. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen around here. Never, in 12 years of London life, walking about at all times of day and night, did I have a close shave, let alone face any real trouble. No, the real frontline is here, in small town like this. Our future is one of cameras on high poles, soulless shopping malls, children with idle hands and empty heads and enough dole money for booze.
But it’s not the fear of the fist, or the knife I hate. It’s the gagging order. Express an opinion, call for some manners and you risk a smack in the mouth. Or worse.
There we stood, the yob and I, eye-to-eye on that little bus. In the end deprived of his punch-up, he spat in my face and then the driver’s. Despite my anger, I knew it was best to leave it at that. What sickened me was the spitefulness and stupidity of it all. There’s always been fighting, but in the past it was a peer group thing consisting of pals falling out with each other; rival groups of children defending their territory and their infant honour. All in the family so to speak.
Now, it’s the family who is the victim. Today, the yobs’ opponent is anyone: me and you, dads and granddads, even our mums and grandmas.
In my case, there was no big fight. People might say: “So what? You didn’t even get your lip split. It wasn’t even an argument.” Nor could we trendify it by calling it ‘bus rage’, a brief dust-up between irritable passengers. It wasn’t even worth reporting to the police.
Some people said I should have decked the leader of the yobs, or at least tried to. Some said I was crazy to risk a scrap, especially when I had my children with me. “Don’t even make eye-contact with them,” my wife says. Others said I was lucky: it might easily have been a knife instead of a mouthful of spit.
FOOTNOTE: A week afterwards, I was travelling on the train. Two yobs lit up a cigarette in a non-smoking carriage. People sniffed disapprovingly, but no one said anything. Neither did I.
Nicholas Whittaker, Daily Mail
Activity 1
Student A:
You were a passenger on the bus in the story you have just read. You are going to give an interview to a journalist, describing what happened. Read the article again and decide how you felt at each stage of the story.
Student B:
You are a journalist collecting information about the bus incident. You know the basic facts but need more details for your story, so you are going to interview one of the passengers. Read the article again and decide which were the key stages of the story. For each stage, prepare Qs to find out how the passenger felt and other details. Interview the passenger.
Activity 2
What does stream suggest in the phrase “a stream of abuse”? (Paragraph 1)
Is a “close shave” more or less serious than “real trouble”? (Paragraph 3)
What does “let alone” mean? (Paragraph 3)
What is a “gagging order”? (Paragraph 4)
What does the suffix –ify mean in trendify? (Paragraph 7)
“Bus rage” is similar to “road rage”. What do these phrases mean? (Paragraph 7)
How is making “eye-contact with” someone different from “looking at” them? (Paragraph 8)
Activity 3
Can you find any other chunks of language, such as “a stream of abuse” or “gagging order”, in the text that could be used in other contexts as well?
Activity 4
a. What can you notice in the following sentences regarding word order?
Never, in 12 years of London life, walking about at all times of day and night, did I have a close shave.
Nor could we trendify it by calling it ‘bus rage’.
Not only did the yobs swear at the driver, they also spat at him.
b. What is the effect of starting sentences like this? Compare the following pairs of sentences.
Hardly had the bus moved off when the yobs started messing with the emergency door.
The bus had hardly moved off when the yobs started messing with the emergency door.
At no time did any of the other passengers support me.
None of the other passengers supported me during the incident.
Activity 5
Here are some more words and expressions used in the same way.
(In) no way…, No sooner had … than …, Not a thing …, Never before…, Not once…, Not a single person…, Not until…, On no account…, Hardly ever…, Under no circumstances…, Rarely/Seldom…,
Rewrite the following sentences starting with a suitable expression/word from the list above. As well as changing the word order, you may need to change some verbs.
I found out the names of the yobs three weeks later.
I didn’t think once of getting off the bus.
I’ve hardly ever felt as frightened as I did on that journey.
Immediately I got on the bus, the driver drove off.
I’m quite sure I won’t take my children on that bus journey ever again.
Bus drivers are not allowed to interfere if passengers start arguing or fighting.
He didn’t hear anything from the police after the incident.
I’ve never been involved in a road rage incident before.
Activity 6
You are going to make up a story that involves:
A narrator (you)
2 other people
The story should describe a “rage situation”: in the street, at work, or on a plane for example.
Write the story which should include the following beginning sentences:
Never before had I seen such a…
Under no circumstances could I…
Only when he’d/she’d/they’d left…
Not only did I/he/she/they…
At no time did I/he/she/they/anyone…