Thank you to our transport heroes

04 January 2021

To transport workers everywhere,
Thank you for every big and little thing you do throughout the year.

As we begin the new year, it is fitting that we acknowledge the work that our transport colleagues did in 2020 and thank them for continuing to move people through a difficult time.

Transport Focus commissioned a poem to recognise all the ways that our industry has helped people throughout the pandemic. It thanks our bus, rail, metro, coach and taxi drivers, staff at stations, on roads, at control centres and those working behind the scenes.

Despite the challenges that Covid-19 has brought, transport workers have kept supplies and vaccines moving, essential workers on the go and taken NHS staff to where they were needed most.

It has been a tough year and there are still some difficult times ahead. However, our transport heroes will be there to help us through, continuing to deliver services that people need.

 

For the gifts that are given

Peter’s planning to deck his hall
with market-fresh boughs of holly
is laden down with bags because
it’s ‘the season to be jolly’

and the driver on the number 8
greets him with a laugh
and a bit of friendly banter
about his reindeer mask

and Peter, who lives alone,
takes the weight off his aching feet,
smiles and fa-la-la-la-las to himself
in his socially distanced sanitised seat.

Out in the suburbs here’s Derek
fastening his coat, de-icing his car
with a boot load of shopping to take
as he sets off to visit his Ma,

feeling the crunching of the rocksalt
under the well-polished toe of his shoe
briefly registers the gritters are out
and is glad of the job that they do.

And now here’s Myfanwy and William
leaving the doctors after their jab,
and there’s Iftikhar holding the door
helping them into his airy cab.

And look at Malachi writing his cards
at his table on the train
gazing out at frosty fields
then dozing now and again

to wake at Edinburgh Waverley
as some cheery Scottish chap
tells him to take his belongings with him
and to carefully mind the gap.

And there’s Gosia, so disorganised,
running late again,
wanted to be home for Christmas Eve
went and missed her train

but the woman wearing a badge,
whose name Gosia forgot to note,
sorted out alternative travel plans
and reignited the hope

of filling an empty seat at dad’s table,
of it all turning out just fine
and now Gosia’s here on the Stansted Express
relaxed and running to time.

And there’s Megan and her grandma
thanking the lord for a regular tram,
nipping back to Bilston Central
because they’ve forgotten grandad’s ham.

And Baljit’s on his bike in Bristol
and he’s loving the cycle lanes,
this new normal’s got him fitter
although he’s not so keen on sleety rain.

And in the office at the nerve centre
watching traffic on flickering screens
Andy scoffs another mince pie
moves up a size in his jeans.

And here are the transport police
taking a Christmas drunk off the road,
as a wagon of blokes in high vis vests
ensure a stranded vehicle gets towed.

And up on the moors in the dark
there’s a snow plough going through
and in the car that follows behind it
they’re blown away by the view,

the twinkling lights of a city
spread out, in the valley below,
above them the stars in the heavens
and though the going’s heavy and slow

Rio’s gurgling away in his car seat
dreaming of Santa in his sleigh,
as mum and dad get him home safely
at the end of another day,

And as Jo at Mornington Crescent
pulls shut the gate at the station,
let’s raise up a glass, and give thanks
let’s show our appreciation

for all who work in transport
whatever job they do
in busy bustling rush hour
or working the silent night through.

Let’s make a toast this bleak mid winter
to the many different ways
their industry’s moving us forward
from difficult times to better days.

Poem written by Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists, commissioned by Transport Focus.

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