As a child of a certain age with embryonic vocabulary I remember struggling with bus-travel jargon as I travelled around with mum visiting relatives.

I was more in tune with “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round”; some might say I haven’t moved on much.

When we stood holding hands at some forlorn bus stop I’d often stare glumly at kerbside signs above my head saying something like “Bus Request Stop” emblazoned in big letters.

And not having a clue what this jumble of strange letters meant.

I recall having a particular problem comprehending that one with limited reading skills at that time, and I think it scared me for some reason.

I think this might be where my lifelong aversion to waving at bus drivers as an official request to stop took root.

It’s difficult knowing how hard you are supposed to wave in public when painfully shy and self-conscious; casually with a nonchalant air or vigorously as though you are warming up to throw a discus?

And what if they just drove by? I couldn’t face the public humiliation.

I am expecting much more incomprehensible bus jargon in the coming days as Aberdeen’s legal battle over its infamous bus gates unfolds in the Court of Session.

Many might plead, “Request........

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