There's nobody around apart from a woman and her mother, moving slowly up the road towards the bus-stop.

When I look again they are nearer, but the bus has come into sight.

I hate this: watching to see if people will catch their bus or not.

As the bus approaches, the woman breaks into a trot, while her mother walks as quickly as she can, which isn't very quickly at all.

If they miss this bus, they are going to freeze waiting for the next one.

Will the driver be patient enough to wait?

The bus is here, and the driver does something I've never seen before. He stops at the extreme far end of the stop. The end nearest the mother, so she has less distance to walk.

As I take my ticket the woman and her mother board the bus, beaming.

"You timed that well," I say.

More beams.

I want to say something to the driver, about his small but striking act of kindness. But English is his second language, and I get tongue-tied, so I just smile at him, and take my seat, and watch the world go by as we drive off.