What I see on my No 18 bus tells me Britain is still a decent place

The 62-year-old Sunderland bus driver and Church of the Nazarene 大臣 awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） for services to 輸送（する） ? and for his impromptu guided 小旅行するs that delight 乗客s.

I never 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be a bus driver. I only did it because I'd moved to a new town and I needed to make ends 会合，会う. That was eight years ago.

Since then I've met the young and old, poor and 豊富な. I've driven through every street of Sunderland from the rundown 会議 広い地所s to the seaside cottages on the coast.

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You might think that in that time I have seen all sorts of trouble. After all, it is 平易な nowadays to think that our 十代の少年少女s are all 麻薬 （麻薬）常用者s, our 国民s rude, unfriendly and selfish.

In this, the last week of 2007, we have seen the 暗殺 of Benazir Bhutto, watched the economy shudder and rumble and 証言，証人／目撃するd our mad spend, spend, spend 消費者 society.

Yet Britain is still a wonderful place to live, 十分な of good and decent human 存在s. I know. I see them every day on my bus.

It's not a 職業 that is often 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がるd, so when it was 明らかにする／漏らすd yesterday that I'd been given an MBE, I was delighted.

My boss at Stagecoach, John Conroy, put me 今後. 明らかに, when he 示唆するd it, my 乗客s were so supportive. My 操作／手術s 経営者／支配人, David Wakefield, who put together

the 提案, told me they had

emails, letters and phone calls like they'd never seen before.

It's a 承認 not just of me but the 職業 that I do. A 職業 that I didn't 推定する／予想する to 特に like but which I've loved from the moment I started.

Before I was a bus driver I was a 大臣 for three churches in the North East of England. Now I am still a 大臣, but it's not my 十分な-time 職業. I remember on my first day at the Sunderland 倉庫・駅, the drivers telling me, 'Oh the children from that school, they're animals.'

Then, sure enough, in the first few weeks a group of lads were fighting. They were about 13 to 15 years old. They were throwing things ? their 調書をとる／予約するs, bits of paper, 捕らえる、獲得するs. I stopped the bus and I asked them what their parents would think if they were on board.

I 扱う／治療するd them as adults with

a 責任／義務 to 行為／法令／行動する に向かって others as they would want to be 扱う／治療するd themselves. And they 答える／応じるd really 井戸／弁護士席. They apologised and started 選ぶing up their bits of paper. I've never had any real trouble since then.

It taught me an important lesson that I believe is true for everyone, everywhere. If you want to see the good in people, 扱う／治療する them with the decency and 尊敬（する）・点 they deserve. Soon after that, I began talking to my 乗客s, telling them things about the world outside our windows. One morning I said, to no one in particular, 'Oh the river's low because the tide has gone out.' That same night a lad got on the bus and he said,

'Driver, tell us about the river.' And that is how it all began.

I work a 43-hour week, 分裂（する） into five 転換s of just over eight hours each. First and 真っ先の I have to make sure that I keep to my 時刻表／予定表 and get my 乗客s to their 目的地s 安全に. The 小旅行するs are just extra but I do tend to speak 権利 through each 転換. That sounds cruel, doesn't it? But people seem to enjoy it.

I speak about the history of the city. One lad said one day, 'We've learned more on your bus than at school.' I told him: '井戸／弁護士席 in that 事例／患者 you need to start listening more at school because they can teach you more than I ever can.' As the kids get on they'll say, 'Hey, it's the driver who 会談 to us.'

At first the 乗客s were a bit bemused, but it breaks the ice.

People have a laugh and a 雑談（する） and leave with a smile on their 直面するs. They are surprised whe n I tell them facts about the city that they, having lived here their entire lives, didn't know.

About five years ago one old chap complained that he'd heard that bit of history before. I told my wife and she bought me a 調書をとる／予約する, 365 Days Of History. Now

I do my 研究 the night before ? it takes about half an hour.

I 令状 a whole spiel and the next morning I do a 15 to 20-minute rehearsal to imprint it on my memory. Now, although I keep in bits of 地元の history, no one can say they've heard it all before. I mix it up with some 地元の （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. There are so many changes in the city at the moment that it's fun to keep on 最高の，を越す of everything.

Yesterday I told them about Mickey Rooney playing Baron Hardup in this year's panto, Cinderella, at our 地元の Empire

Theatre.

It's just had its centenary, so I spoke about its history. It was also William Gladstone's birthday so I told them about the streets in Sunderland that were 指名するd after his 1880 閣僚. I've got 公式文書，認めるs in my 捕らえる、獲得する when I get

to the 終点 in 事例／患者 I need to check anything but mostly it just comes to mind very easily.

If something new opens on my 大勝する I find out about it. When the Winter Gardens opened in Mowbray Park, I read up on who built and designed it, and what it cost.

My favourite 大勝する is the number 18, as you pass many places of 利益／興味, such as the museum and Wearmouth 橋（渡しをする）, built in 1929. The first 橋（渡しをする） on that 場所／位置 opened in 1796.

I 運動 all over the city and

you can tell cultural differences between the different areas. You might get more comments from educated people, like the 年輩の 未亡人s, but at the same time you get a 広大な／多数の／重要な 返答 from people who are more coarse, you might say. They're all people and we're all the same underneath.

We do get some drunks, 特に at this time of year but the biggest problem I find is loneliness. The other day a lady got

on the bus. She must have been

in her 70s. She had a 涙／ほころび in her 注目する，もくろむ when she s 援助（する） to me: 'Do you know, you're the first person to speak to me all morning.' That meant a lot to me. People need to know that you care about them.

I believe in nailing your colours to the mast. We should all say what we believe in. I have three main loves in my life. I love the Lord ? I'm not 脅すd to tell people I'm a Christian ? I love my wife and I love 存在 a bus driver.

It's the servant 役割 in me. I've always been a people person. We used to be PSV drivers ? public service 乗り物 drivers. They changed it to PCV driver, people-carrying 乗り物 driver. It's a subtle change but an important one.

People aren't 商品／必需品s. We're there to talk and 株; to understand and 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる the ありふれた 社債 of humanity.

That is what happens each day on my bus. And that's why, for all the wars, 災害s and 悲観論主義, I look 今後 to 2008 and another year 運動ing buses.