At 12:40 it still felt like a short wait.
The stop is just a pole. Timetable taped to it. No shelter. No tree. A strip of pavement wide enough for three people if no one steps back.
Two people were already there. Not at the pole. Slightly off to the side, closer to the building line where the shadow almost reaches.
The sun sits directly over the stop at that time. No angle to work with.
After about a minute, one of them stepped back, then forward again. Not leaving. Just adjusting.
A car passed and for a second there was shade. Both of us moved without saying anything. Then it was gone again.
At 12:42 someone crossed the road and slowed as they approached, like they were deciding where to stand before they got there. They chose the wall, not the pole.
At 12:43 another person arrived and did the same thing. Stopped short. Looked up the road from the wrong place.
You can feel the heat more when you stop moving. It settles in. The back of your neck first, then your shoulders.
No one stands under the pole unless they have to.
By 12:45 the first person had started drifting. A small loop between two positions that don’t really solve it. Step in, step out, turn slightly, step back again.
The bus didn’t come.
Phones came out. Not messages. Just the time. Then the app. One person took a step forward as if that might make it appear sooner, then stepped back again.
A motorbike went past and left a brief pocket of cooler air behind it. It lasted about a second.
At 12:47 people started standing closer to the kerb. Not because the bus was there, just in case it was about to be.
When it finally appeared, everyone moved at once. Back to the pole. Back into the heat. The part you avoid becomes the part you have to use.
Then it’s done.
Three metres behind the stop there’s a clean line of shade from the wall. It starts just after midday. It stops just short of the pole.
People wait there instead.