More Life and Times on Sydney Buses

By Mary-Jane Field

M O R E Life and Times on Sydney Buses is a sequel to the original book, Life and Times on Sydney Buses (ISBN: 978-0-6487593-0-0), a collection of vignettes and stories about people and adventures on Sydney buses. It is another group of engrossing tales about Sydney buses put together by the author, Mary-Jane Field. Some are funny, some are sad,

• Language: English
• Publisher: JSE Publications
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9780648759324

Mary-Jane Field

Mary-Jane Field is a journalist and translator, as well as a songwriter, singer and poet in the South American and Australian folk traditions. Most of her childhood and early years were spent traveling in Europe and Latin America accompanying her father, who was a diplomat. She speaks French and is bilingual in Spanish and English. She moved to Sydney over forty years ago, after receiving her B A. and her M. A. from universities in the United States. Before coming to Australia she spent three years as news editor of a local newspaper in South Carolina. When she came to Sydney she brought with her her love of music and her interest in teaching. For many years she was involved in early childhood education, as well as in New South Wales primary schools with a multicultural music program. She has participated in various musical projects such as the Misa Criolla (Creole Mass) from Argentina, which she directed, and the Cantata for Domitila, a work featuring her original Bolivan-style music. She sings with a community choir, as well as being a chorister in a church choir and a singer of Gregorian chant. While musical activities have taken pride of place, in Australia Mary-Jane Field has written articles for various publications and for several years was translator and sub-editor for an international Spanish language magazine. She lives in the Eastern suburbs, and shortly after moving there she gave up her car and began relying on the buses for travelling around the area or into the Sydney CBD. So it is no surprise that she has collected these anecdotes about things that have been seen and heard on the buses! Even during the Covid-19 pandemic that started in 2020, she had plenty of bus adventures to relate (always travelling well-masked and respecting government recommendations, of course). It seems that whenever there are groups of people, no matter when or where, there is always something interesting happening!

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Mobiles ‘n Things

Of course, no bus trip is complete without a mobile ‘phone in almost everyone’s hands!

Some people have their heads down for what looks like important messaging before work.

But often as not it can be seen that they are simply playing an electronic game!

At other times people are talking on their ‘phones, almost always quite loudly. When it is a language I don’t understand it is easy to tune out, but if it is English or another language I happen to speak it makes it difficult not to listen in. This can be very distracting.

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Actually, I have always hoped that the day would come when I would overhear someone saying something about me personally in one of the foreign languages I happen to speak – complimentary or even disparaging – and then I would surprise them by turning and saying sweetly (or sarcastically) something like Merci! In our multicultural city you can never be sure of the other passengers’ backgrounds, so people should not assume that no one else can understand them when they are chatting away on their mobiles!

Sometimes the conversations are interesting and worth listening to. One time I was on the 376 from Central on my way home and I heard the man sitting behind me describing (in English this time) a complicated issue he was having at his office. He seemed to have some good ideas for a solution and I was quite curious to learn how he planned to straighten things out. But, frustratingly, I had to get off at my stop before hearing the end! However, as it turned out, I did manage to eventually find out how he solved things: If you ride the buses a lot you tend to see the same people, so the next time I ran into a fellow-passenger who had been on the bus that day I asked her how it had ended and she told me all about it!

Another time I was on the 370 going through Alexandria when I had to listen to a long litany of problems and difficulties a woman was having with someone she had just started going out with. It was impossible not to see an obvious solution, so as I got off the bus I couldn’t resist turning around and giving her some serious advice. I hope she took it!

There was an especially memorable mobile ‘phone conversation one morning on the 373 going down to Circular Quay, when a woman could be heard complaining loudly about someone she felt had wronged her. It was hard to tell whether it was a boyfriend or partner, her boss at work, her landlord, or maybe even someone who owed her money. She became more and more angry and agitated as she talked about it. As the bus continued on towards the Quay the tone of the conversation became more and more aggressive and threatening. Those of us seated near her began to feel quite uneasy.

Just before she got off the bus she said to the person at the other end of the ‘phone, I am going to kill him! I have wanted to for a long time and I know just how I could do it. We were all a bit stunned, as she sounded serious. We decided between us to make a note of the time and place in