@jay-jay Your remark about the school van getting stuck on a geography field trip struck a chord with me. I remember the school bus getting into difficuties on a steep bank in the snow. It was driven by 'Stan', a short stocky guy with a lantern jaw and shiny peaked driver's cap. He wore a pair of rubber wellingtons with the tops turned down revealing the canvass. The bus was spnning in the snow and he had several goes as the slope. I was excited/scarred and like you I could feel the wheel-spin coming up through the seat. I was too young for it really to get me but boy I remembered it later and still thrill at the sensation and those vibrations have produced enough spunk to compensate..