Coach Driving, Not the Same As Bus Driving.

So now I am a coach driver. Same group on the driving licence as a bus driver but a completely different job. I only work part time which is fine by me, something to do two or 3 days a week and a little extra cash which comes in handy but isn't absolutely essential. My duties consist basicly of taking guest home on Sunday to the Birmingham area, staying the night and bring an other lot of guests down to Torquay on the Monday. Some times this weekend duty might only be going to Bristol on the Sunday and meeting a coach there and returning to Torquay in the evening. Then on Thursday taking those who want a night out to the Babbacombe Theatre.
A couple of Sundays ago I went on a half day tour to Dawlish and Teignmouth then in the afternoon to Bristol and back to Torquay by early evening. On these trips I was accompanied by an other driver to show me the ropes. The hotel manager (here after called the Boss) said it would be the same next Sunday. However when I rand on Saturday just to make sure I was told I would be going to Oldbury, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Walsall as well as a drop of for some of the passengers at a motorway service station on the M5. Now I have been to Wolverhampton once, to watch Man U beat Wolves. Billy Wright was playing for Wolves back then so those with long football memories will know that was a long long time ago. Dudley I knew only as the birth place and sadly the last resting place of Duncan Edwards, an other footballing hero from my youth. Walsall I knew only because of it's similarity in name to a city in Poland. No other driver was available to come with me and show me where all these places were. The next day, after a night in a hotel in Walsall I had to pick guests up in Walsall, Brunswick, Wolverhampton and Dudley.
So it was with some trepidation that I set of. Would I make a complete mess of the trip and end up wandering round the Motorway system that criss-crosses the Midlands for ever. Would I get so lost on the Monday morning that small groups of would be holidaymakers would be seen huddled round their suitcases in bus stations waiting either for me to turn up or worse still Red Cross workers bringing then blankets and food parcels?
Well I am glad to say neither of these eventualities happened. I got slightly lost in Walsall but a kindly lady bus driver took pity on me and directed me with pinpoint accuracy to where I needed to be. I even got there a few minutes early. Next pick up no problem except it involved a sort trip down the M6 from Junction 10 to junction 9. The motorway looked like a car park but I got there and again was on time. Next stop Wolverhampton. Now I had been into Wolverhampton the evening before and new where the pick-up point was. Question is, would I be able to find it in the middle of morning rush hour? To get there involve driving along a duel carriageway, going past the entrance which was on the other side of the road, up to a roundabout and coming back the way I had come into Wolverhampton. OK. I drove along the duel carriageway all right and could see people grouped round their suitcases (no Red Cross teams yet) and got in the right hand lane ready to do the required U turn. It was then I notice that I was now in a lane where I had to turn right, I hadn't reached the roundabout just a set of traffic lights. A mile up the road I came to a place where I could turn round , the passengers already on the coach were all very nice about this little mystery tour there were going on but were also very nice about it. “Could happen to anyone” they said. But it was a slight dent to my self confidence and coming out of Wolverhampton I turned left of the ring road at the second roundabout I came to. Damn, should have been the 3rd roundabout. An other little mistry tour, they were getting good valve for their money on this trip. Finally into Dudley only 10 minutes late and all the guests were still waiting, nice of them, I'd have gone home after 5 minutes and written a strong letter of complaint, demanding hundreds of thousands in compensation.
From Dudley it was only a short trip to the M5 and once there even I couldn't screw up. All went swimmingly until a mile before the Penn Inn roundabout when it started to rain. Now I have mentioned before in this blog, when it rains in summer all there roads come to an almost dead stop because all the visitors in their hotels look out at the rain after they have finished their breakfasts and ALL of them say, “Oh look, it's raining. Lets go for a drive.” Torquay's roads can't stand that kind of input and gridlock ensues. So the last couple of miles through Kingskerswell were a bit of a drag. We made it back in the end and I parked the coach up and went for a well earned pint with my partner at the nearest pub. Unfortunately a young mum and a couple of her very small children had got there first and turned it into an indoor licensed playground. So we moved up the road to the Old Mill which looked like it had no intention of ever turning into a toddlers retreat. Babbacombe Theatre to night the Birmingham on Sunday.