Zoo-visit pupils have front seat at my trial of fortitude

Published: 4 June 2010

• BOARDING a 274 single-deck bus at its first stop at The Angel, I was surprised to see every seat already occupied and only standing room available.

Closer inspection revealed all the passengers to be youngsters from Moreland Primary School in Islington.

I am 72 years old, every one of which is all too clearly etched into a well-worn face, but I decided to remain on the bus because I had an urgent business appointment in Baker Street and the gaps in the service can often be as long as 20 minutes.

Being of an optimistic disposition, I hoped that either the school expedition was a short one or that one of the teachers might ask a child to surrender his or her seat to an elderly citizen.

Or even two such children as there was a lady at least as old as myself among the new arrivals.

The first possibility was dashed when it emerged the children were on their way to London Zoo, a journey of at least half an hour, but hope of the second shone briefly when one of the teachers approached me – only to be extinguished when she politely asked me to stand further down the bus so she could have a clearer view of her young and comfortably-seated charges.

So I hung onto a strap all the way from Islington to Regent’s Park before gratefully collapsing into a seat.

Obviously, no child aged eight, nine or 10 can be blamed when not one of the teachers has been imbued with the basic rules of common courtesy.

I only hope that when they come to write of their zoo visit they do not fail to mention a rare and lengthy sighting of an elderly specimen of homo sapiens, displaying all the fortitude and stamina of its ancestor, homo erectus, in its capacity to remain vertical for long periods of time.
WILLIAM GREAVES
Canonbury Grove
N1