Lovely Tarek, at the coffee booth at Marylebone.  After months of having my breakfast ready for me as soon as he spotted me, today, for the first time, he offered to warm my croissant for me.  Quite why he should choose to do so now, I've no idea.  It's a fairly mundane kind of thing, but I was sort of touched.  I've never seen anybody else get their breakfast heated up - in fact I had no idea they even had a microwave in the booth.  He's been such a breath of fresh air in my mornings over the last six months, I think I really should tell him that it's my last few days.  Seems vaguely silly - he's "only a coffee-booth employee", and I'm "only a customer" - but his ready smile and friendliness have been invaluable some mornings, and he's clearly a thoroughly nice guy.

And by way of balance...

There's one particular bus driver, who always drives the number 30 that arrives in Loudwater at 14:08 (not that he's ever on time - can easily be 15 minutes either way).  The first time I presented my Travelcard to him, he was most dismissive of it - "but that's a train ticket", "yeah, but we're not getting any money, are we?" (the latter after I pointed out that there was an agreement between Arriva and Network Rail to accept Travelcards in the Wycombe area).  He allowed me on his bus, grudgingly, but ever since has greeted me with probably the most contemtuous glance I've ever seen - as though I were personally stealing from him by daring to travel with my obscene piece of ticketery.  What's more, when he arrives at the bus stop, he accelerates first, then screeches to a halt, several feet from the kerb, and usually several yards beyond the bus stop.  I'm sure if there was abig puddle there, he'd make sure he drove through it.  Everybody else he greets with a ready smile.  I'm sure he won't miss me, and I'm sure I won't miss him.