All of Dec 2004

Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Earthquake
Yesterday I heard a brief item on the radio about an earthquake in the Indian Ocean that had caused some damage and loss of life from the resultant Tidal Waves.
I didn't think a great deal about it at the time. Earthquakes are fairly common and the Indian Ocean is a long way away.
Now as the size of the disaster starts to become apparent. There can not be a person on the planet who does not know about this.
I feel I should write something but I really just don't know what.


Saturday, December 25, 2004
Stagecoach Half Price Offer.
Explorer Offer Between Friday 24th December 2004 and Tuesday 4th January 2005 Adult Explorer tickets will cost just £3.00 instead of the normal £6.00.
That's it!
You weren't expecting more were you?


Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Tip of the Day (1)
If you are the driver of a bus with 20 people on board and you have sparks coming from the engine and you can not turn the engine off then don't sit about wondering what to do.
Instead, Turn to your passengers and ask the quietly and calmly would they, merely as a sort of better to be safe than sorry sort of thing, mind getting off the bus. When they are off the bus, then you can sit about wondering what to do.
You may feel a bit of a prick when the bus doesn't explode in a roar of flame but not as big a prick as you would feel trying to answer such questions as, "Didn't you used to be a bus driver?"
P.S. The bus didn't, in the end, burst in to flames, with or without a roar.


Wednesday, December 15, 2004
If you are a Police Office in Torquay Please Read
Fleet Walk in Torquay is a Pedestrianised Street but buses and some other vehicles are allowed to drive down it. However lots of other people drive down and park there illegally. Please Devon and cornwall Police read the following and have a bright idea.
From The Herald Express
Monday 13 Dec o4.
POLICE BLITZ ON ROAD ROGUES
A blitz on motorists abusing a one-way road system in Kingsteignton netted 15 offenders in one three-hour police operation - and all those nabbed were local. Officers lay in wait for transgressors openly flouting the one-way and access-only restrictions in operation in Golvers Hill and Fore Street.The watchful eye of the law focused on the culprits last Tuesday after concerns were raised by parish councillors and local residents.


Director of Operations.
Well on Tuesday Mr Stevens, who is the Operations Director for the company, came down to Torquay to address drivers. He was coming to give a talk on where the company is going and to answer question put to him by the drivers at the meeting.
He is in effect the 2nd most important person in the company. So I rushed home from work, had my diner and rushed down to the Torquay Rugby Club with my pen and trusty notebook so I could report back to my readers on our company's expectations for the future.
Well I wish I could report that Mr Stevens was full of optimism, that the company is about to embark on a series of expansion programs that will secure all our futures, with big fat rises for the drivers and the shareholders.
But I can't.
I would like to have been at least able to report that things were running smoothly and though no big fat pay rises were foreseeable in the near future things did at lest seem secure and that none of us would be looking for work 3 days before Christmas.
But I can't.
Fortunately I can't report that we are about to go bust and Christmas is cancelled; though that may be the case for all I know.
In fact the only thing I can report is the fact that I was not allowed into the meeting. I am not in the Union and this was a Union meeting. So even though I had made the effort top get to the meeting I was refused admission by the senior union official present and could not listen while the Director of Operations explained which way the company was going. No Union business was held but only union members could attend. And 20 of them did. Out of 200.


Monday, December 13, 2004
Pre Christmas Farce.
Usually it is pantomime at Christmas but with us it is Farce; an expensive farce at that.
The Company decided to expand their bus routes into Plymouth and registered a new route with the Traffic Commission 6 weeks ago as per the rules. The Traffic Commission had no problem so Timetables were printed, newspaper and radio ads were placed, drivers were route learned, buses had stickers stuck on the sides to show the new routes, timetables were fixed to bus stops new flags were put up with the route number, 152, boldly displayed and this morning the drivers chosen to drive on the new route on the first day all proudly turned up for work and it is probable that passengers stood at bus stops waiting for them to turn up with their new destination blinds optimistically proclaiming Plymouth City Centre. Well the drivers sat around doing nothing all day and I hope the passengers didn't do the same because the bus didn't run. What's more it will never run.
An other bus company objected because part of our route followed part of one of their routes and it was decided by some one to withdraw the service before it had even turned a wheel.


Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Jury's Corner and the Burst Water Main.
WELL AFTER A FEW WEEKS OF CALM ON THE ROADS WITH REGARD TO ROAD WORKS TO DAY WE HIT A VERY LARGE BRICK WALL. WE HAD BEEN PROMISED WEEKS OF MISERY WITH KINGS ASH IN PAIGNTON BEING DUG UP AND THE FIRST WEEK SLOWED US DOWN A BIT BUT NOW WE BARELY NOTICE IT. JW GLENDINNINGS COMPANY RESURFACED THE ROAD AT LAY WELL ON THE WAY DOWN TO BRIXHAM AND THEY WERE EXCELLENT. A MAN AT EACH END CONTROLLING THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS MADE SURE THE TRAFFIC FLOWED SMOOTHLY AND DELAYS WERE NEVER MORE THAN 5 MINS AND THE WORK WAS COMPLETED VERY QUICKLY.
THIS MORNING A WATER MAIN WENT BANG AND THE ROAD DIGGERS MOVED IN AND EVERY THING ELSE STOPPED. EXTRA TRAVELLING TIME TO AND FROM NEWTON OF 45 MINS WERE EXPERIENCED ALL DAY AND AT THE EVENING RUSH HOUR IT TOOK ME 2 HOURS TO DO A JOURNEY IT USUALLY TAKES 30 MINS. WHEN I GOT TO PAIGNTON AT 7:15 ON THE WAY TO BRIXHAM I SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT HOME EATING MY DINNER. THE BUS BEHIND ME WAS DUE OUT OF BRIXHAM AT 6:10 AND HE STILL HAD TO GET TO BRIXHAM, AN OTHER 20 MINS AWAY. WHAT THE REST OF THE NIGHT ENDED UP LIKE I DON'T KNOW.
AND THE ROAD WORKS ARE STILL THERE; waiting for us tomorrow!!!!


Sunday, December 05, 2004
Happy Campers
BLOKE IN HIS 50'S GOT ON THE BUS IN TORQUAY AND SAID, "PAIGNTON" NOW A SINGLE TO PAIGNTON IS £1.75 BUT A RETURN IS £2.75 SO IF HE WAS COMING BACK IT IS CHEAPER TO GET A RETURN SO I SAID, "SINGLE OR RETURN?" AS I ALWAYS DO.
HE SAID, "TO THIS DUMP. I'VE SEEM ENOUGH OF TORQUAY THANK YOU." ALWAYS ONE TO DEFEND MY HOME TOWN I TOLD HIM THAT TORQUAY WAS BEAUTIFUL. "YOU'VE BEEN READING TOO MANY BROCHURES MATE." AND STOMPED OF DOWN THE BUS.
YOU CAN'T WIN THEM ALL!


Thursday, December 02, 2004
A Tale of Two Passengers
PASSENGER ONE :-
WAS IN TORQUAY AND HAD BEEN TOLD TO GET A NUMBER 12 WHICH RAN EVERY 10 MINS AND TOOK 5 MINS TO GET TO TORQUAY RAIL STATION WHERE HE WAS TO CATCH A TRAIN TO NEWTON ABBOT TO CATCH A CONNECTION TO SHEFFIELD. HE HAD 40 MINS. HE WAS ALSO ON CRUTCHES. HE SAW A NUMBER 12 AND BY THE TIME HE HAD HOBBLED UP TO THE STOP IT HAD GONE. NO PROBLEM, WAIT 10 MINS, 5 MINS TO STATION STILL GOT 25 MINS. WHEN HE GOT ON THE BUS HE WAS TOLD ' SORRY MATE THIS BUS IS GOING TO NEWTON. YOU WANT THE BUS TO BRIXHAM. ROUND THE CORNER OVER THE ROAD AND 2ND BUS STOP DOWN.' WHILE WAITING FOR THE LIGHTS ON THE PEDESTRIAN CROSSING TO CHANGE THE BRIXHAM BUS WENT BY. STILL NO PROBLEM, AN OTHER TEN MINS WAIT, 5 MINS TO STATION 10 MINS TO SPARE. NEXT BUS CAME PAID HIS FARE,£1.00 AND ASKED THE DRIVER TO GIVE HIM A SHOUT WHEN THEY GOT TO THE STATION. DRIVER PROMISED FAITHFULLY TO GIVE HIM A SHOUT. DRIVER FORGOT AND ONLY REMEMBERED WHEN THE BUS STOPPED AT LIVERMEAD CLIFF HOTEL 3/4 MILE PAST STATION AND MAN ON CRUTCHES SAID, 'ARE WE THERE YET.?' DRIVER USED RADIO TO SEE IF THERE WAS A NEARBY BUS GOING THE OTHER WAY. NO CHANCE; NEXT BUS WAS STILL IN PAIGNTON 15 MINS AWAY. THAT WOULD BE TOO LATE.
SO DRIVER TURNED HIS BUS AROUND AND TOOK THE PASSENGER BACK TO THE RAIL STATION. HE DID A LEFT HAND REVERSE INTO A SIDE ROAD. REMEMBER ON YOUR DRIVING TEST DOING A LEFT HAND REVERSE, QUIET ROAD, SMALL CAR, PLENTY OF TIME. THINK ABOUT DOING IT IN A 30 FOOT LONG, 8 FOOT WIDE BUS ON THE BUSIEST ROAD IN THE BAY AND TIME RUNNING OUT. THE PASSENGER CAUGHT HIS TRAIN AND THE BUS GOT BACK ON TIME EVENTUALLY.
PASSENGER TWO :-
GOT ON A 12 IN PAIGNTON BUS STATION WITH A RETURN TICKET FOR PRESTON SHELTER WHICH IS 8 MINS AWAY AT A LITTLE BEFORE MIDDAY. WHEN THE BUS GOT TO VICTORIA PARK IT TURNED LEFT AT THE MILK BOTTLE. IT SHOULD HAVE GONE STRAIGHT ON. PRESTON SHELTER IS A 15 MIN WALK FROM HERE. THE BUS CONTINUED UPTO THE RING ROAD AND FOLLOWED THE DIVERSION USED WHEN THE SEA FRONT IS CLOSED. THE NEXT STOP IS IN TORQUAY 30 MINS LATER. PRESTON IS HALF WAY TO TORQUAY. THE PASSENGER THEN HAD TO GET A 12 GOING BACK TO PAIGNTON WHICH WAS ABLE TO DROP HER IN EUGENE RD PRESTON WHERE SHE WANTED TO BE. THE WHOLE TRIP HAD TAKEN ALMOST AN HOUR AND A HALF INSTEAD OF 8 MINS BECAUSE THE DRIVER OF THE BUS SHE BOARDED IN THE FIRST PLACE HAD NOT TOLD HER THAT THE BUS WASN'T GOING TO PRESTON SHELTER AS THERE HAD BEEN A CRASH AT THE GAS WORKS AND THE ROAD HAD BEEN CLOSED BY THE POLICE.
PASSENGERS SOME TIMES REALLY HAVE REASONS TO REMEMBER THEIR BUS TRIPS.