My Mum was visiting this weekend and today we got the bus for a few stops to rest our weary legs on the way back from a Sunday afternoon stroll. It was the number 38 which we got from Port Royal going towards Denfert Rochereau. It was approaching a stop and several people had got out of their seats to get off, including an elderly and elegant lady. The bus came to a screeching, dramatic and violent stop, throwing everyone on the bus forward then back. A car had cut across the bus lane. Lots of people screamed and the people who had been standing in the aisle ended up in a confused heap on the floor of the bus.
The elderly and elegant lady was in a state of shock and pain, hunched into a corner surrounded by concerned passengers. The bus driver shouted out in a panicked voice, "is anyone injured?" and a passenger told her to call for an ambulance.
We got off the bus to walk the rest of the way - there were plenty of people to look after the elderly lady. Two minutes later an ambulance passed us, from the fire station just round the corner from me which I now walk past every morning on my way to work. I haven't yet worked out the French fireman / ambulance system - it seems that the two are one and the same.
The relief I felt when a passenger on the bus reassured the eldery lady that the ambulance was on its way, was similar to the relief I felt when hearing over the boat radio a couple of years ago, that the lifeboat was on its way to pick up a capsized canoeist. I think it must be part of what defines a civilised society, that when things go horribly wrong, you can call on someone to help.