What a pleasant change and a stark contrast to my usual experiences on the buses of Malta was my journey on the morning of Wednesday, December 16.

Boarding the 645 route bus No. 343 at St Pauls Bay, around 10.50 a.m., bound for Sliema, I was greeted by a polite and well-mannered bus driver whose vehicle was a pleasure to behold. Spotlessly clean, inside and out, new seat-covers, swagged curtains at the windows with matching pelmets and clean, scented air wafting throughout the bus.

Though the bus was old, the engine purred along without the usual ear-shattering roar.

The driver kept both hands on the wheel for the entire journey and, unlike my return journey in another 654, did not once clamp a mobile phone to his ear, hang an arm out of the window or twist around in his seat scratching various parts of his anatomy.