There's Love and There's Sex and There's the 46a
 

"There's Love and There's Sex and There's the 46A" is a collection of short-stories, essays, articles, ballads and poems all written by bus workers and ex-busworkers. 

Some were produced recently on state-of-the-art word processors while others had been, evidently, written on the backs of waybills and Defect Dockets at termini many years ago. 

There's something for (almost) everybody in this collection. It contains sentiments, philosophy, history and humor. There's even advice there; if you are a budding Alice Taylor or John McGahern The Finished Novel by acclaimed novelist/ bus-driver Ciaran McCann, is for you. 

Here's what Prof. Brendan Kennelly says about it in the foreword: 

"Having these delightful stories led me to think how we, the traveling public, tend to take bus drivers for granted. Buses are like mobile mountains of help and comfort: they take you to your destination and they allow you to think, observe, relish conversation or silence, and feel perfectly safe. 

And there's that man or woman up front, guiding the mobile mountain along with patience, courtesy and pleasant, easy-going style. How often do we thank our pleasant guides? They certainly deserve our warm gratitude. 

And now these bus angels have given us a charming collection of short stories. I think that masters of the short story, such as Frank O'Conner and Sean O'Faolain, would have really enjoyed these stories. I certainly did. 

A good short story gives the reader permission to enter a new world. The form demands that the writer should have an energetic sense of narrative, an ear for revealing dialogue, a controlled sense of drama, a feeling for the sometimes contradictory subtleties of character, and an ability to allow narrative, character and dialogue to create a special atmosphere that completely fits the world evoked, worked and sustained by the writer. 

When I had finished these short stories, culminating in the delightful There's Love And There's Sex And There's The 46A. I was grateful for the special insights, the sympathies, the humor, the quiet feelings of these talented bus people. 

As writers, they are keen listeners, sharp observers, constantly in touch with the foibles of humanity and, most striking of all they are gifted storytellers. Readers will, I believe, love this collection. In fact, I think we may find that, thanks to these talented storytellers, buses will be even more crowded in the future."

Here's a sample from the "Poets Corner" of the collection: 

Post From Parnassus 
(after Patrick Kavanagh)
by Paddy Finnegan

Here by my seat the old ghosts meet. 
Here, the place where the old menagerie 
Relentlessly soldiers on 
Remembering the old green dragon, me, 
On the feast of the Apostle of Ireland. 

Ye greeny, greying catechumens
Will cease to stage this ceremony 
Only on the command of Sergeant Death. 

Then break not the heart of poet past 
Nor that of preening poet present: 
But know, ye prodigies of prosody 
That multitudes in times to be 
Will listen to my lays 
And look askance 
While cods forever fake 
Their own importance.
 

There's Love and There's Sex and There's the 46A is available from:

Bus Books P.O.Box 9963  Lucan  Co.Dublin  IRELAND Price: 11 Euro (including P&P)