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