Riding shotgun on a 25 bus

There is a seat on a bendy which everybody wants. It is the seat at the front, next to the driver, looking ahead through the front window... riding shotgun

I reached this position, and held on to it, from the driver changeover at Bow Church until just before Aldgate. So everybody else was behind me. I had reached a higher level.

But behind me, there two separate arguments, with raised voices and some bad words. I had travelled about five klicks, and yet I was still subjected to these bad vibes. What was the story? It was not the heat of the summer, and the bus full but not overfull. Is the bus just a bad place?