Transport Canberra bus driver Gail Ward is spreading the true spirit of Christmas around the national capital, decorating her bus every day with festive trimmings to delight her passengers.
"They get on and just go, 'Wow!'," she said.
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"I had an elderly lady get on one day and she just started to cry. I was like, 'Oh, my God, I didn't mean to make you cry'. And she said, 'No, it's beautiful tears. I forgot it was Christmas'.
"I just sort of think, 'If they can get on my bus for that one moment and smile. It's just an amazing feeling, that you did that'."
A driver for almost 16 years, Gail buys her own decorations and puts them up each day and packs them away each night.
She works a split-shift and Transport Canberra lets her use the same bus as she covers routes between Belconnen and Dickson, Dickson and the city and out to Denman Prospect as well as a morning school run to schools such as St Francis Xavier College.
She has her own special reasons for decorating her bus.
"Because it's Christmas and, for me, Christmas is making people happy, just seeing people's faces light up. It's just amazing. It does so much for me," she said.
"I lost a son a long time ago around Christmas time and I promised myself I wouldn't allow that to deter me from being happy around Christmas time.
"That keeps us going as well. I keep one day for that and the rest of it is about bringing people together, making people smile.
"My house is decorated and I'm in the bus all day so if a little bit of tinsel can bring a smile to someone's face, I know I've done what I set out to do."
Her son Greg was only 18 when died by suicide on December 8 in 2000.
"To a lot of people, 21 years is a long time, but to me, it's always yesterday," she said.
"His favourite colour was purple so I have a purple Santa sitting on my dashboard."
The 61-year-old, who lives in Dunlop, will be celebrating Christmas at home with her family.
"I never work on Christmas Day. You need to be with your family. It's good money but money's not everything," she said.
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Her efforts have not gone unnoticed.
A reader contacted The Canberra Times after getting a lift on Gail's bus, saying "the decorations brought a smile to my face after a busy day at work".
Merry Christmas, Gail.
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Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
