Madam, - This morning, (December 7th) Santa Claus, in the figure of a CIÉ driver on the 27 route, paid me an early Christmas visit and, in view of so much criticism of CIÉ, I just want to pay tribute to the many unacknowledged kindnesses many of these drivers do for people like me.
I alighted at Coolock village, forgetting to take my holdall with me. So I waited for the returning buses (five in all) to see if my bag was still on one of the 27s. All of the drivers were very understanding, but the first one, in particular, went the "extra mile". Courteous, showing no impatience, he contacted the garage to see if the loss had been reported (it hadn't at this stage), wrote out the garage phone number for me and left me the feeling that Christmas had come early.
To add to my joy, the hold-all was safe and sound on the fifth bus (and that driver's courtesy matched the first!). - Yours, etc.,
MARY McCOOEY, Dublin 5.