Bus Stop

This is one of our bus stops in Lymington Rd. As you can see it is marked out in Yellow with BUS STOP also written large in yellow. This means only buses can stop in the marked out space. It has to be marked out like this as it is a residential street with no off street parking. The car parked at the front of the bay is inches from the line. Some years ago there was a light van parked in this spot. The owner didn't drive the van, he used it as a garden shed storing all the junk that get put in the average garden shed (using my garden shed as the average). You know the kind of stuff, should be in the nearest landfill site waiting to be discovered by some 30th century archaeologist who will marvel at the kind of junk the 20th and 21st century produced but the owner might one day find a use for; or, more likely, too mean to have the council clear it away. The van wasn't taxed or insured and was eventually towed away. It had been there so long the council had to come down with a grass cutting machine to clear the roadway.

Anyway the post with the bus stop sign, known as a flag, was right at the end of the bay and the waiting passengers would stand by the flag and we would stop 6 feet before the flag so we had room to pull away. We would stop and the passengers would then walk the 6 feet down to the bus doors. Last year the council replaced all the posts and flags in the Bay including this one. It's their job, not the bus company's. But the new flag ended up exactly where the old one stood. So the passengers still had the 6 foot hike to the bus. Now the council have extended the bay by 6 feet and the passengers still wait by the flag. As we roll slowly into the bay to stop at the flag the passengers start their 6 foot walk and we go past them right up to the flag and they have to turn round and walk right back again. A bit of a dance really. They will get used to it in time.