Celebrity Driver

As the end of November fades and December gets underway I get braced for the seasonal delays on the bus occasioned by a combination of the weather and the increased traffic and number of passengers.

Of course the delays always feel so much longer in the dark and the cold .

Wednesday came in with a cold biting wind and having stood at the middle bus stop in the rain experiencing one of those delays I was not looking forward to the walk home form the bus station.

As I arrived at the bus station I remembered the little bus that is a new feature and goes past my home removing the need to trudge up the incline (that I have before noted appears to be a steeper gradient on the home up journey than on the down to work) I have occasional arrived just in time to catch it.

This time, there was no little bus waiting however, I popped my head into the bus station and noted it was due in two minutes, worth the wait, it would still get me home quicker and avoid a cold wet walk.

As the bus pulled in I was already feeling rather jolly at the  prospect of a warm ride and a decision well made.  As I stepped on the bus I almost voiced out loud my immediate thought on seeing the driver.  The mature, portly white haired and fully white bearded driver.

It's Santa Clause! 

Only if his uniform had been red would he have looked any more the part. All of the ride home (short thought it was) the thought that Santa Clause was driving my bus kept me amused and in a rather more jolly mood than the earlier delay and winter chill had forecast.

Its not even snowing

and

just a shirt man had a coat this morning!

Admittedly just a thin coat.

He is a tough Northern Lad after all.

Mind I was hard pressed not to make a comment about the weather.

Which was particularly chill this morning.

Riding backwards and moving forward

A different bus journey today.  A busy bus and for part of the journey sitting in a seat facing backwards. Not my favorite direction.

But as I travel to meet my best friend and her family for a most special day I contemplate beginnings. 

A journey my friend started years ago has come to a certain sort of ending that is in fact a beginning.

Today my friend had her graduation ceremony from the Open University. A journey that included her starting a blog life outside the washing basket and inspiring me to start mine. The Beggining

There have been some interesting stops and starts, ups and downs and experiences on the way for us both.

So here is a rather blurry picture of that moment of confirmation.

(an update by permission with the much better picture taken by her brother)

well done Roni. 

So then whats next?

The derelict building is

no more

farewell

Lot of memories there. 

and a further step is added to my personal paranoia.

sweet-and-sour 

Can they fix it?

Yes they can, wow as I reported the mess of the path after the last hole dug in it I did so with less optimism than I had prior to that path modification.

This time, result. The patchwork that was the section of path in which the puddle in its various forms lived was one flat unified stretch of smooth grey.

You can see in this homeward bound view the bit of patchwork disappearing into the new path.

Took pictures from the outward bound view as well it was so nice.

Yup they even fixed the adding path which removed the issue there too.  I went to complement the council on the wonderful path, there was no where to do that...shame.  

Just a shirt Man

New character in my bus journey is just a shirt man.

I see him walking to the bus station ahead of me some mornings, others he arrives after me. 

He wears a long sleeved shirt...even when it is pelting down with rain and he is drenched.

Now that is not just unexpected weather but even when it has been forecast.

There is part of me waiting with curiosity for the snow! 

So near

and yet so far....

Rubbish aim?

for the rubbish going into the bin at the bus station. A bit depressing really.

There is a song

running through my head as I look at the result of recent digging to the path on the way to the bus stop.

The digging took the form of a long trench stretching the full length of the dark puddles abode and along were the path splits to either the dene or my normal route past the site of my former school. 

Here is an opportunity for the dip in the path to be corrected, for the curb between path and grass to be lowered so the water will flow away.  Here is the opportunity for the puddle in all its incarnations (including skating rink) to be banished.

There was an opportunity...

Sometimes I am foolishly optimistic.

The result, the curb was raised, yes raised not lowered, with the new tarmac to fill in the path edge of the hole packed at a steep slant against it.  What is more the cantor of the path has now been extender by several feet past the place it used to level out and allow some drainage.

So  the song, well slightly reworded from the Nat King Cole original....."there may be puddles ahead!"

And yes in case you are wondering I have reported it to the council, sadly there was no facility to attach pictures.

Small annoyances a collection part two

I have mentioned before the issues generated by colour coding the bus to the route, and then changing the bus for a different colour.  Today they went one better, the bus was red at the front and blue at the back.  Now that is taking confusion just too far.

People leaving the free paper on the bus,loose on the seat, where it slips to the floor making a slip or trip hazard for other passengers.

Dirty seat

Feet on seats, or perhaps dirty seats in general. Now I can just about understand people sitting in the back of the bus bracing themselves with feet on the edge of the facing seat. The occasional child slipping parental supervision for a moment and trying to stand.  But I can't see any reason for adult sized muddy footprints on the shiny metal seats in the bus station.

Oh and shiney leads me to another annoyance, something I did not like when first I came across it but thought perhaps I would get used to.  I mentioned it at the time, the lighting on the new small busses( click here for link) but their irritation factor has only grown exponentially. There appears to be no seat on the bus in which I can sit that does not result in their headache inducing blue beam. I can cope with the at turns slippery or sticky (depending on the temperature) leather seats and the fancy looking floor that has less traction than the old one.  However, those lights are getting to me.

Blue light

Small delights part one I hope.

in the interests of balance, this post is about the little smile moments that like my "dark side" posts of annoyances, do not feel as if they merit a whole post all of their own.

Getting on a crowded bus with people standing at the front, resigning myself to standing.  Spotting empty seats towards the middle of the bus, moving back and realising there were two empty seats together so I can have my prefered window seat.  However, the delight came not from the prospect of a seat in this instance but rather from the boy sitting in front of the double empty. Sitting in the aisle seat with his bag on the window seat he started to move his bag to slide over to give me room.  No eye contact required, just ready to make space. I caught his eye smiled and gestured to the seat behind him.  I sat down happy.

A touch of pink in the morning sky, that makes me smile.

As the dawn arrives earlier and earlier catching the dawn chorus.

Watching the blossom on the trees, then as it falls a whole summers worth of weddings confetti petals across the grass and pavements.

New Tech for the buses

more to learn for the drivers.

New ticket machines appeared today, not on all the buses but I expect that won't be long before they all have them.

So what do the new machines do, well firstly they accept payment by contactless credit card. Secondly they produce and then read paper tickets (for multiple journeys) with a QR code (ok I admit it I had no idea what they were called and had to ask my tech minded friend).

In addition to reading the online loadable card type of ticked already available.

I shall watch this new development with interest.  It might make life easier on those mornings I realise I forgot to load the card ticket in time the night before. Removing the mad scramble for the right change so as not to decimate the drivers float before the route starts. 

Diminishing Viking

On the walk to the town centre bus stop my path has oft crossed with the cycling viking (it has a nice rhyme to it)..well he has rather looked like my idea of a viking at least. 

Golden blond long wavy hair and beard . 

I could easily picture him on the prow of a longboat instead of pedaling away on a bicycle.

A few weeks ago as he sped past I realised there was something different.... the viking has been somewhat tamed. Trimmed short, both hair and beard bereft of wave.  Now warmer weather is approaching so I thought perhaps he was going for a cooler style.

Then less than a week later we pass again and the viking is gone, clean shaven short hair, my internal name for him has utterly ceased to apply, and it is not that warm yet.

Well perhaps he is the once and future viking now? 

Big shoes

now my last post and picture involving footwear (small-shoes) had an easy to think of reason for their placement at the bus stop.

These shoes, or perhaps both posts should have referred to boots, were a different and much curiouser proposition.

Just outside and to the right of the same bus stop, opposite the church, they stood.

Abandoned boots?

Upright, pointing in different directions, slightly dusty and worn why had they been abandoned.  They don't look like they fell from a bag, I doubt they were kicked off in childish abandon...I forgot to look on the return journey to see if they were still there. 

An unsolved mystery?