The day started in the usual way. I woke early, took out my pencils and sat on my bunk bed sketching images of people. I loved to draw families and create little stories of their lives. I was inspired by the passengers I observed on the passing buses. Our house was in Murchison Avenue and luckily for me, on the 229 bus route. This big, red, double decker stopped just by our house, every half hour and gave me hours of entertainment. It was similar to scrolling Facebook pages, except I'd make up the stories they couldn't share. It was so long ago that mobiles were only available to TV space travelers and I think people were far less open too.

I'd pull back the bedroom nets, take a look at the distinctive characters to start the sketch and story. Some of the regulars travellers must have noticed me and thought I was a very inquisitive or very bored child. I wonder if they made stories too, from their observations from the bus?

There were so many different and interesting characters, that it would have been a crime not to pay them the attention they deserved. Some were so colourful and I loved the brightness they brought to the greyest days. The passengers were all ages but the upper deck seemed to have more of the younger generation, the smokers and eccentrics too.

There wouldn't be so many characters to observe today, it was a Sunday service, and a day of rest for many. Very few shop assistants or factory workers would be on route to Sidcup High Street. I wondered how they'd spend their free days ?

My siblings woke up and did their own things, as quietly as me, so as not to disturb Ron, who was our ruling father. Conversations would have to be whispered at...