These kids aren't exactly causing any problems. Just having a conversation. Albeit a loud one. Anyway, as the girl in front's anger subsides, she quietens down and the youngsters' chat is audible to the whole bus.
"My carbon footprint is way smaller than yours," says one of them. No joke. And the reply, equally astonishing, comes "No, because we do our recycling properly at home, which counts against it."
I'm genuinely shocked. Not that kids are having a meaningful conversation but, well, yeah, that kids are having a meaningful conversation. These lads must be twelve or so, an age at which my extra-curricular conversation consisted of computer games, football and television, with the odd swear word thrown in just to expand my vocabulary.
Anyway, the conversation continues touching upon global warming and even air pollution, by which point the rest of the bus has fallen silent and total strangers are exchanging 'is this for real?' glances.
The latest subject leads the whole group to decide to walk to school the following week instead of getting driven and I'm starting to think that maybe modern schools aren't as bad as people say and that maybe this group of mature and responsible urban youths may be councillors in the making.
Then, one of them refuses to walk to school because he lives too far and it'll probably rain, to which his mate turns round and shouts, "Aww, you don't want to walk? That's ok, because you're a dirty f**king polluting tw*t!"...
...And every adult on the bus breathes a collective sigh of relief that some things will never change.
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