Today six of us met (with one other there in spirit!) for our April meeting. Our topic this month was “The Commute”, a topic that we thought we might struggle with.

As it turned out we rose to challenge beautifully and produced some very varied pieces. It’s a shame we can’t share all seven with you but the one chosen for this month can now be read right here. It’s by Jenny Challinor and it’s called “The Olden Days”.

Next month we’re trying out a different approach – how it will turn out, we’ll just have to wait to see!!

The Olden Days

Granddad leaned back in his chair, gazing into the crackling fire, savouring the warmth. The children were sitting round him, a couple on the floor at his feet. ‘’Oh come on gramps tell us about how you commuted in the ‘old’ days’’, one said

“You must have heard this 100 times” he said.

“Please, please, please” they pleaded.

“Ok,Ok” he gave in “but don’t blame me if it sounds unbelievable”.

They nodded, eagerly.

“Well, back then, getting to work wasn’t instant. No Teleport gates, no auto-route drones. We had to travel well …..manually.”

One kid asked, horrified “ Manually?”

“Manually” Granddad confirmed

“Every single morning I’d leave the house, walk down to the bus stop….

“Wait” another interrupted “what’s a bus?”

Granddad grinned, “big metal box, full of people, it followed roads”.

“People….together?” The first kid said “like all in the same space? “

“Oh yes” he answered “packed together. Some days, you would sit down or stand up shoulder  to shoulder with strangers.

“That’s so weird” someone muttered.

“It gets better” grandad said “ the bus didn’t even run on time”.

Gasps all round.

“You’re joking”

“Nope, sometimes it was early, sometimes late. You just had to wait and hope for the best.”

“So, what did you do while waiting” one asked.

“ Oh lots of things, talked to people, listened to music, stared at the sky.

“The real sky?” Another kid asked full of wonder.

Grandad nodded. “The real sky, clouds, rain, sunshine. No filters. “

They were quiet for a moment, trying to imagine it.

“Ok” one finally said “ All sounds very stressful”.

“It was” he admitted “but also …interesting. Every day was a bit different, you’d see new faces, hear random conversations, watch the world go by. We didn’t have a system that controlled everything.”

They were quiet, leaning closer.

“So things just … happened” one said

“Exactly” he replied.

“Weren’t you scared.”  The child asked

“Sometimes” he said”but most of the time it made life feel real. Every now and then the bus would be late, the train crowded, it would be raining, and I’d have the best morning because of some random moment, a conversation, a view, a surprise”

The kids tilted their heads.

“Your commutes had surprises?”

“All the time” he replied.

They sat in silence, trying to imagine a world where your journey wasn’t decided before it began.

Finally, one of them said

“Can we try it sometime.”

Granddad laughed

“I don’t know if the world knows how to do that anymore.”

He leaned back smiling to himself.

“But if it ever does,” he said “ you will understand why we didn’t mind the trip taking a little longer