Weather. Few people – well, actually no people can escape it. That includes bus drivers. In the words of the brilliant songwriter Neil Finn, ‘Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you’.

During my time of driving, I reckon I’ve experienced just about every weather condition you might imagine. For example, in recent times I’ve climbed into my coach at 6.00 am with a temperature reading of one degree Celsius. I’ve spent mornings clearing frost off my windows so I can at least see out of the windows and I’ve worn driving gloves to keep my hands functional until my hands warm up. I can’t even imagine what bus drivers who drive through snow have to deal with. Conversely, I have climbed into my coach in the afternoon with a temperature reading of thirty-four degrees Celsius!

Charter jobs require me to wait for school groups to return to the coach once their excursion has concluded e.g. Melbourne Zoo or Athletics carnivals etc. As such, I have found myself trying to sleep on the back row of my coach shivering in the cold OR with sweat running down my back in the heat!

I’ve experienced huge rain storms and strong, strong winds. Very early in my career I learned that a large vehicle is actually like a large sail. A gust of wind from the side will blow you across the road quite easily. Scary stuff if you’re not used to it. I’ve had a situation where the wind and rain actually blew my windscreen-wipers out of their housings so they laid limp on the front of my coach for a couple of seconds before ‘springing’ back into position. I’ve driven a school group through an extreme storm in a forest in the Yarra Valley buffeted by wind and rain and a kid in the fifteenth row of the coach who apparently, urgently need to go to the toilet! I’m pretty sure the staff members on board were thinking to themselves ‘Don’t worry! The bus driver knows what he’s doing’. Well, maybe in reality the bus driver didn’t!

So yes, weather plays a big part in our lives. Even the life of a bus driver.
I initially thought I’d struggle to recall references to weather in the Bible. On reflection however, I can think of lots. What about Genesis Chapter 7 where the rain fell for forty days and forty nights and of course, Noah built an ark in which all the animals could be housed? The prolonged rain and flooding was followed up with a magnificent rainbow – another amazing weather phenomenon and of course a covenant between God and people.

The Gospel of Luke in his telling of the crucifixion of Christ in Chapter 23 verse 44 and 45 indicates ‘It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining’.

The book of Acts (Chapter 2) tells the story of Pentecost. ‘When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Well, maybe my bus time hasn’t been filled with too many ‘tongues of fire’ but I’d like to think I’ve had one or two people on board who were filled with the Holy Spirit.
I guess that through all of my so-called ‘travails’ in the cold and in the heat, I need to remember the drivers who have to dive through snow and sub-zero temperatures. I need to remember the drivers who drive in places of extreme heat. Most importantly, I need to remember that God is the God of wind and weather, and the road is always there – ahead to be travelled on.

I’ll finish with the words from one of my favourite hymns based on a poem by John Bunyan and one that might provide encouragement to everyone including bus drivers as they battle the elements:

Who would true Valour see
Let him come hither;
One here will Constant be,
Come Wind, come Weather.
There’s no Discouragement,
Shall make him once Relent,
His first avow’d Intent,
To be a Pilgrim.

Safe travels my friends!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105

There’s a kid on my bus who’s a serial loser. Each week, he can be relied upon to leave at least one item of property on the bus as he goes off to school. This week it was once again, a drink bottle – for about the fifteenth time!

This got me thinking about one of the aspects of life on the buses – the constant phenomenon of the ‘Lost and Found’. In the storage racks of my coach, you’ll find caps and sun-hats from at least eight primary schools, jumpers and shirts, maybe a bag or two and other items of property that kids simply take on board and leave behind.

Across my time I’ve found shoes, boots, ear-buds, mobile phones, water bottles and bags. Depending on their value, they’ll go to the depot’s Lost Property office to be claimed later (or not) by the student….or they’ll simply remain on the bus until it’s next tidied up.

It would seem that lost stuff and the management of lost property is indeed just part of the job. What about though, when people feel lost? What about when you might have felt lost? What about when you know someone who you think might be lost or you know is lost? And when I ask these questions, I’m not referring to someone who can’t find their way from point A to B in a physical sense or who has lost an item, but by ‘lost’ I mean those who may be struggling to find meaning in life or struggling with what life is. Those who have lost something or someone and find themselves adrift in the world not knowing how to reconnect. Wondering how or where to go in their life. That’s losing something of a more serious nature.

Sadly, this ‘On the buses’ article can’t and won’t provide all of the answers. I wouldn’t presume to know all the answers. I do though take great comfort in the belief that during life’s journey – whether we find ourselves on a clear path or whether we somehow find ourselves ‘lost property’ within a community that moves on at furious pace, I take comfort in the belief that as we go, God walks beside us….that we are not alone in our lostness….that there is always hope in being ‘found’. There is always hope in being reclaimed. Well, that’s what I believe, though you’ll never find it in the Bus Driver’s Manual.

I take comfort that through Christ, we are not ‘lost property’. We are just waiting to be found. We all know the empty feeling when you’ve lost something. It’s something similar to the empty feeling when you’ve lost direction in life.

Though the words of the Prophet Isaiah will never be found in any ‘Bus Drivers Manual’, I think they’re relevant to the care of things (or people) who find themselves lost……..
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11

Lost stuff. Maybe it’s floating around somewhere on my bus? Maybe I’ll find it and hand it back to you. I hope I do.

When you yourself feel lost in life though, what I can offer with some encouragement and confidence is that I believe that God walks beside you and that no, you’re not alone. I believe that through Christ, you will be found. You will be reclaimed and I pray for your reclamation.

Safe travels everyone!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver

In the past year I’ve gone part-time. Put simply, I’ve been finding the demands of bus driving quite exhausting. So, I now have Fridays off. It’s great. I don’t work on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays.

My change in work routine has come as a surprise to my workmates. Even now I’ll get an astounded driver appearing in my coach door saying ‘Wow! I heard you’re not working on Fridays!’ I’m not really sure what all to fuss is about, but it seems to be something unusual in the industry.

More recently, I had one of my driver friends Mohammad (a Muslim man) appear in my coach door and exclaim excitedly and with something of a chuckle “Peter! I hear you’ve become a Muslim! You’re not working on Fridays!”. ‘No’ I replied. ‘I don’t work Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. On Fridays I’m a Muslim, on Saturdays I’m Jewish and on Sundays I’m Christian’. I went on to explain to our combined merriment, that ‘I’m covering all the bases.’

We both had a laugh and got on with our work though I was left wondering (because I didn’t really know), what the significance of Fridays was to Muslim people?

My scant research provides some clarification:
Friday is a very important day for people of the Muslim faith. It is more significant and more beneficial than any other day of the week. It is the day that Muslims gather together to pray in congregation. It is a blessed day that has been designated as such by God.

Saturday is significant for Jewish people as it recognizes God’s Sabbath (or day of rest) during the process of creation. It is a day of rest.

Sunday is significant for Christians as it recognizes the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning and represents our special day, day of congregation and day of rest and reflection.

So, for my bus driving friends it’s a case of ‘Salam’ on Fridays, ‘Shalom’ on Saturdays and ‘Peace be with you’ on Sundays. I’m pretty sure all of these customary words and expressions mean much the same thing.

I like to think of myself as ‘The fully ecumenical bus driver’.

As I drive my bus around taking Muslim kids here or Jewish kids there, Catholic kids other places and Protestant kids to those same places, I realize that really, we’re all mostly the same. Whether it be camps, sanctuaries, museums, shows or sporting fields, everyone seems to enjoy the same things. We have more than we imagine and more than we are led to believe in common.

We spend so much time and energy building walls between each other. We all do it. It seems to be a sad part of human nature. What strikes me though is that the walls of difference and suspicion are (like maps, borders and divisions) in fact ‘human constructs’. We (rather than God) have created these divisions and we (rather than God) uphold them. Our fear of people who are different to us – their beliefs and traditions, and their fear of us (whoever they might be) brings us into conflict.
At the risk of being a little bit naïve, it seems to be different in the bus depot and in the world of bus driving. We are all different, but we all have the same job to do. We are all wanting to get to the same place. We are Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. We look different. We speak different languages, we eat different sorts of food and we go home to different homes. When it gets down to it, we all have the same things we love and the same things we love to gripe about. We laugh about the same things and get frustrated by the same things.

I’m not so naïve as to suggest that there are no challenges, but maybe I hold a hope that those challenges are able to be overcome – both in the bus depot and indeed across the world.

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16-17.

So…..the fully ecumenical bus driver! We all have a good (good natured) laugh. Mohammad heads back to his coach and I turn the keys to start mine up. We both get back to the gruelling call of the road and the merciless demands of the scally-wag primary school kids we cart around.

We are all different. One thing I do know though. Everybody loves to go to the Zoo.
Safe travels my friends!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver

This is an absolutely true story.

One day recently, my boss got on the ‘two-way’ and asked (or instructed) that rather than me doing my regular evening school run and route, ‘I would be keen to help out’ (those were his instructions) ‘by doing a different school run for a different school – just for that day’. This request/instruction came with about two-hours-notice and involved an unknown school on a new and unknown, particularly long and complex route through suburbs and streets that were a complete mystery to me.

Needless to say, I was in something of a panic.

By way of background, I’m very comfortable with my usual route. I know the kids. I know where they get off. I know various people and landmarks along the journey. I know that there are three ladies who have their afternoon walk up on the corner of the South Gippsland Highway and Hall Road as I go by. I know there’s a man wearing an Akubra hat who has his afternoon walk in the same area at the same time every day. So, to say this instruction from the boss to change my routine on this particular day was not only a huge challenge….it was for me, quite terrifying! It was made more terrifying when with two- hours’ notice, I studied the route. Winding side streets, suburbs I didn’t know and places I’d never been to. A recipe for disaster!

Breathing heavily (almost to the point of hyperventilation) I entered this unfamiliar school. At this point I made an important decision. It was simple. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. There was a traffic warden directing traffic inside the school. I stopped, asked where I needed to be and he told me. Simple. So, I went to the pick-up point.

Kids flooded on to the coach. I was responsible for them – and I didn’t even know where I was going! Friends, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

But, there was a little bloke who got on and sat in the row of seats right behind me ….a kid who when I asked, introduced himself as Max. Summoning up all my er…’courage’ I explained to Max that I hadn’t done this run before and didn’t really know where I was going. Casually, Max said ‘Don’t worry. I’ll show you the way’. And to my amazement, that’s exactly what he did.

We left the school, and as we did so, Max called out instructions – ‘Turn left’…’turn right’…..’get ready to move into the right lane’…..’turn at this intersection’….’stop at this stop’ that sort of stuff. As we went along the winding and twisting nightmare of a run through streets and places that were a complete mystery to me, kids got off the bus and it slowly emptied. Before Max got off at his stop, I delivered something of a little speech I prepared for him – “Max…thank you for your help. You will never know how much you’ve helped me today”. And I meant it.

So, on this day, it was the little bloke – the child – who had saved the day for the sixty-year old, cranky driver behind the wheel of the twenty-ton coach.

I work as a school bus driver and on some days I carry hundreds of kids on my coach. It may come as a surprise to you, but despite that, I don’t particularly like kids. On this day though, the little bloke Max was my absolute hero.

The Bible has many references to little blokes playing an important part in the story of Jesus.

• Jesus himself was just a little bloke when he first taught in the temple.
• In various adaptations of the story, it was a little bloke who supplied his lunch of a loaf and a fish to Jesus who subsequently fed the five thousand.
• When his disciples were keen to ‘shoo’ little blokes away from the feet of Jesus, Jesus admonished them (the disciples) with words something like “Let the little blokes come unto me”….or something like that.
• Annually, the world goes ‘ga-ga’ celebrating the birth of a little bloke. The birth of Jesus. God made flesh. God come amongst us.

So, maybe I’ll need to re-think my general dislike of the little characters amongst us.

Maybe on that day, the cold heart (and career) of the tough driver of heavy vehicles was saved by the innocent and enthusiastic help of none other than – the little bloke.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. I learn lessons every day. I think we all do. Don’t be afraid going into places you’re unsure of. Ask questions. Everyone has something to contribute. Sometimes even kids.

Safe travels!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver

I have about twenty different buttons on my dash board. Imagine a jet airliner cockpit. That’s what my bus looks like – well … almost.

As a highly qualified and highly trained driver, I know what all of those buttons do. My favourite one of course is the one you press to open and close the pneumatic door. I press that button and ‘Whoooosh’, the door opens. I press the same button and ‘Whoooosh’, the door closes. I could do that all day. If you’re ever on my bus I’ll make sure that you get a chance to push that button. It’s a very special button!

Other buttons I have at my disposal include buttons to demist, turn on the drivers light, turn on the driver’s fan, and the saloon lights button. I have buttons to turn on the air conditioner when it’s hot and the heater when it’s cold. There are buttons to activate the headlights, the hazard lights, the flashing school lights and, another one of my favourites, (and a must-have for all bus drivers), the button to turn on the radio.

There is one button on my dash though, that if I pressed it, I’m not quite sure what would happen. Putting it simply, it’s a mystery button. I don’t know what it does. Here’s a picture of it:

If you look closely at the image on the button it depicts a bus sort of quaking and shaking, rocking and rolling. I don’t know what it does?? Should I press that button to find out or should I just leave it alone? If I press it, will the bus go into an uncontrollable ‘shake and quake’? Will the wheels fall off? Will the vehicle slam onto its side or will the driver be ejected into the air? I simply don’t know, so I feel safer simply leaving it alone.

This mystery button presents various issues for me. You’re probably asking, why don’t you ask someone else what it does? An immediate (though quite sad) answer to that is that now I’ve been driving this bus for a year, I should know what it does. If I ask, I may look like an idiot. It also introduces issues of risk and facing the unknown.

As I approach the question of risk I am reminded of one of my favourite episodes in the New Testament, in Matthew 14:29 Peter (no relation) is commanded by Jesus to ‘come out of the boat and walk upon the water’. This is about taking risks – pressing that ‘mystery button’. Maybe I should remember the words from a song I wrote a while back about his very episode and apply it to my bus driving?

“I am Peter in the boat, I live a life of things that float,
now it feels like I’m all alone, my vessel sinking like a stone.
Nervous feet now in the waves, nervous footsteps of the brave,
sinking only when I trace my steps without seeking your face”.
Then….
”you call me, you call me, you call me – to walk upon the water”.

This is risk!

The message in Matthew is clear. If we lose sight of Jesus in mind, heart and spirit, we’ll sink. If we keep focus on the face’ of Jesus we have the capacity even to walk on water. Focus through faith can enable us to do things that involve risk, if we know they are right.

There’s also the issue of facing the unknown – something we all do each and every day. Every day, we are faced with buttons we’re not familiar with. We may be quite unsure what will happen if we press them.

So, let’s go straight to the words of the prophet Isaiah who, always seems to make sense to me and inspire me with his words of wisdom and encouragement:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Equally, we could visit the words of St Paul in his letter to the people of Philippi:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Taking risks.

Facing the unknown.

Unfamiliar buttons.

These are things that challenge all of us – not only bus drivers. Should I press that button? Should I ask someone what that button does?

Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.

I sort of like having the mystery button there, and leaving it alone, as a reminder that there is risk and uncertainty in many things we do in life and as a reminder of the promise that whether I press it or not, God sits with me and guides me on the journey.

If I do eventually press it, I’ll let you know what happens. If the result is good, that’s good. If the result is not good, remember I love you all!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver