The First Time
After deliberating for quite some time I was finally there - waiting across from Airdrie Town Hall for the Monklands Ramblers bus, one Saturday morning in October 1992. You can’t miss us they said - there’ll be a huge crowd of us all with waterproofs and rucksacks. It was 5 to 9 when I got there, and it was now 10 past, and still no sign of anyone else. It was slightly embarrassing standing there alone with a rucksack on a Saturday morning - maybe I should have helped with the teas at the Church or joined embroidery classes to meet new friends. Obviously I had made a mistake, or they had changed the day and forgotten to tell me. I hurried off to get the car, and was just driving back round the corner, when there it was - the bus - sitting where I had been just minutes before. Back I went, parked again, and walked quickly round again to the bus.
A young gentleman!!!!!!! called Jim Muir, who was leading the walk that day, clipboard in hand, and in his inimitable cheeky manner said "You’re late!" "Oh blotted my copybook already!" I said as I climbed on to the bus.
I sat near the front, alone with all those Coatbridge people, and not one I knew. It transpired that there was a Ceilidh in Airdrie that evening, and all the Airdrie Ramblers were going to it, and did not want to risk being late home, so for the first time ever there was only one person getting on at Airdrie - me. What a day to chose for my first time.
I needn’t have worried though - I spoke to the young couple sitting behind me, and asked if they were married. Alex Smith’s face was slightly pink as his sister Jean explained the position to me. Bob Cameron was busy arranging that someone would accompany me at tea break, and the Chairman Eric O’Hara came up to the front to welcome me aboard. And he made me most welcome, asking about my previous walking experiences, telling me about the Ramblers, and beaming down at me with that lovely smile of his.
I felt so glad I had joined, my prayers had been answered - here was a whole bus load of new friends for me, and that smile was the warmth from the heart of Monklands Ramblers. God bless you all.
By Elizabeth Evans