WOO-HOO!

This is blowing my own trumpet somewhat, but you remember that, nearly a year ago, I mentioned that we, bus drivers that is, occasionally get covertly monitored on how we drive? Well, seems I had one on my bus the other day. Only found out today, when I reported for work, though.

First I knew of it was from the Depot Inspector - "Ah, Roger, Dave wants a word, can you go down and see him before you sign on?"

So, fearing the worst (like "what the hell have I done now"), I grabbed a coffee, and, feeling like the kid that nicked the apples being called in front of the headmaster, ambled... no, slinked is more accurate... down to the bosses' office.

"Ah, Roger, shut the door and have a seat" was the greeting... normally, this means that somewhere along the line, I've screwed up. All manner of things were going through my mind, so I asked "What've I done now - run over an Inspectors foot or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that, nothing bad at all, mate!" He was smiling, normally a good sign.

Then he pointed out that the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) had had their monitors out and about for a few weeks on all our routes, and that I'd had one on my bus on Monday... and that I'd scored the maximum possible in every category they monitor - 1 (out of 5, with 5 being the worst score you can achieve)!

WOO-HOO!

I almost missed what he said next, but he thanked me for the good work, told me to keep it up (silly, of COURSE I'll keep it up, it's how I normally drive!), and gave me a copy of the report (slightly redacted scan above).

Naturally, I was grinning like a maniac for the rest of my shift :)

I should, I suppose, point out that the section of the route that I was monitored on is a cast-iron pig to get right, goes all round the houses, through a couple of really narrow old-style GLC-style council estate roads with parking on the kerbs right on the road junctions, and some really nasty road humps on one of the roads where they've normally got a couple of scaffolding lorries parked, where they're renovating the low-rise council flats and that, for once, the route was actually a nice drive, with everything going right, so the monitor got me on a good day ;) Never the less, I'm exceedingly well pleased with that report, as you can imagine!

Remember yesterday that I hoped that today would be better?

Well, it was!

Howzzat?!