A Cold, not just any cold, My Cold

We have landed men on the moon, half the planet watches colour TV, people in Australia, Asia and America can read this 10 seconds after I press the PUBLISH button at the bottom of the page but we have no cure for the common Cold. At work on Wednesday I started sneezing. Not on the customers, that would be bad business practice, giving them all colds so they didn't travel by bus for a few days. Thursday was a rest day and even thought I felt wretched the sun was still shinning so I went for a walk and took a few photos, including this one of an ad on the back of one of our buses. More about this photo in a day or two.. The I went for a beer which did no good what so ever. Thursday evening even worse despite taking every miracle cure there is for the common cold. Friday I got up half an hour before I had to go out to work feeling not very well at all. Almost rang in sick but two problems with that idea. One; no work no pay and two; we have, as do many large organisations a system for measuring time employees spend off work sick. Each time you are sick you get points. Too many and ......... well I am not actually sure what happens then. So far I have managed to avoid amassing any points and no one has ever completely and clearly explained the system to me and it's consequences. Not sure why. So even though I wasn't 100% I went to work. I hope I managed to avoid sneezing over anyone but if you were on my bus on Friday or Saturday and you now have a cold I am sorry. Saturday I felt a lot better, maybe Lemsip does work. I am thankful the cold arrived this weekend, it was much quieter than last week( Easter weekend). I am not sure I would have managed, we were very busy, a fore taste of the summer to come.

One passenger boarded the bus to day and presented me with a DevonWide free bus pass issued in Torbay. These are no longer valid as they have been replaced by the Around Torbay free bus pass. I explained this the the passenger who protested that she knew nothing about the change. The local paper has been full of almost nothing else for the last month. She then protested that she had used the pass that morning without any problem. Oh dear, thought I. One of my colleagues not being as observant as he should be. She then produced the ticket she had been issued with on her trip into Torquay, sigh of relief, it was a FirstBus ticket. She had come from Paignton on an X80 which is a service not run by our company.

In the summer Torbay council open a field on the way to Brixham as an out of town car park and we provide, at a special fare, transport to and from the centre of Brixham. There is a special bus stop at the Park and Ride but it is only used when the car park is operating in July and August. So people know it isn't a bus stop the rest of the year the flag with BUS STOP printed on it is removed from the pole, the pole stays where it is. So, unfortunately does the bus shelter. As does the writing on the road way, the writing that says "BUS STOP". But like I say the flag has been removed so people will know that A) It isn't a bus stop or B) Some one stole the flag.

There was a Saturday afternoon car boot sale in the field near this out of service bus stop and there were people standing at the bus stop watching buses approach, whiz by and vanish into the distance as we have been told we can't stop there to pick up passengers unless the Park and Ride is operating. Should we stop, open the doors explain why we can't pick them up, tell them where the nearest bus stop is, close the doors and drive away? Or drive past, shrug shoulders and smile sadly at them? Or a solid, long lasting notice placed in one of the lower basement rooms in the Town Hall for any to read explaining the situation clearly. There is clearly a communication problem here.