This is Lynn, a 76 year old former bus conductor, who I met at the IWA Festival Of Water at Ilkeston on Saturday. Lynn was stood in front of two buses he owns and was exhibiting them to the public at the festival.
"I always wanted to be a bus conductor. I trained as an electrician, but when the opportunity came to become a bus conductor I jumped at the chance"
"Lot of my mates were bus conductors and they loved it for the crumpet. It was a great opportunity to chat the crumpet up"
"Although the second one I chatted up, I married and here I am 53 years later still married to her"
"When I retired I bought this bus and the double decker Barton bus".... Lynn points to the bus
"Midland General used to provide transport in and around Derbyshire and Notts"
"They were took over Barton, who eventually were took over by Trent Buses"
"This bus / coach is from 1968"
I asked Lynn where he keeps his buses and he told me he stores them at the Ruddington Transport Museum.
I decided to try my limited knowledge of buses on Lynn.
"I like the cream and Blue Livery of your vehicle. I originate from Bolton and the corporation buses were Maroon and Cream"
"Yes I know that" replied Lynn
"They are very similar in colour to the Leicester Corporation buses. We were at a Transport extravaganza a few years ago and we put a Bolton Corporation bus alongside a Leicester bus to compare the colours and they were very similar"
"Ahh right" I said "Corporation buses were replaced by SELNEC buses in Bolton and they were bright Orange"
Lynn then went on to tell me about how SELNEC was formed :)
While we were chatting there were some young children in his bus, sat in the driving seat pretending to drive (potential bus drivers I thought). They were grinding the gears.
"Just be careful with the gear stick" said Lynn in a calm manner. I thought he was pretty cool about the children playing on his restored bus, i might have been a bit worried if I was the owner. Perhaps the joy of owning the bus is seeing the public enjoying the experience of visiting it .
For those of you who don't know what a bus conductor is, back in the day, before drivers took your bus fare or you used a smart card reader, bus operators used to employ conductors, who collected your fare and advised you on stops and routes.
Oh and "crumpet", a word from the 60's and 70's used to describe single women (or perhaps not even single women). Not a PC word and not one we would ever think of using today, Perhaps Lynn was still back in the 60's and 70's while in costume. Yes, his outfit is that of a bus conductor from yesteryear. His red and green badges being PSV (Public Service Vehicle) licences for driver and conductor respectively.
Lynn told me he did not have a PSV licence, but could carry up to 8 passengers on his bus with his ordinary licence.
Phew, that was a long write up, I hope you made it this far !
This picture is number 102 in my second round of my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
My own strangers can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168 
Nicely composed and Lynn's head tilt and expression are rather endearing. You've caught something in his expression of the reminiscing he'd been doing when you spoke with him.
@kwind thanks, Lynn knew his "buses" :)
@newbank Newbank, not been to Ruddington for several years . Bit of a hike from Arnold :)
@nickspicsnz many thanks nick :)
@sangwann thanks dione, i think we are al "bus spotters" at heart :)
@happypat thanks for the fave and your lovely comment Pat ;)
@kerristephens thanks Kerri
@dulciknit thanks allison, when i was typing the narrative , I did think many people might struggle with conductors and crumpet :) thanks for all your ongoing support :)