Tree hits taxi

We have had some great weather so far this year but the last few days it has been crap. Friday night was the worst so far with strong winds and heavy rain all night long. Which was a shame as there was a bus rally at Oldway Mansion on Saturday. Lots of old, lovingly restored buses were taking part and some were even taking passengers on trips round the Bay. I was working and missed it. After lunch I was walking round to the bus stop on Cary Parade in Torquay to start my second half when I heard a loud crack. Across the road there is a line of trees and a branch of one of the trees had snapped off and hit a taxi parked on the rank. The driver was sitting in the cab at the time and he was quite lucky the branch didn't go through his windscreen.

Today, Monday is a Bank Holiday and when we have a Bank Holiday on the Monday, which usually happens we do the same duty on the Monday we did on the Sunday and both days were, for me anyway, early starts and long duties. It is also school holidays so it has been two hard days. Not much interesting happening except for the French Traders coming over from France and setting their stalls up on the road the goes to Paignton. The Council invited them, said something about cultural exchange. What it did do was cause a lot of drivers to slow down as they drove past and say, "Oh look. French Traders." So for 7 hours getting in and out of Torquay was slow going. Some thing else to blame on the Common Market; or maybe on the council for inviting them in the first place. They have been before and we always have the same problem.

An other little problem we have had this weekend has been the failure of the traffic lights at Goodrington. Actually it hasn't been a problem for us as the lights are at a "T" junction and we are going straight on. When the lights fail at a junction the priority works as if there weren't any lights there which means we just keep going and the poor cars coming out of the side road have to give way to us. Anyway one time when I got there and some poor sod had been working on the lights for 3 hours. As I approached he pressed a switch and the lights came on, showing red. Then they changed normally, red and amber and then green. The traffic light man punched the air with joy, short lived as all the lights went out 2 seconds later. Last I saw of him as I drove away he was hitting the control box with a large sledgehammer. Must have been the right tactic as the lights worked OK all day today