Sunday Variety

CHURCH LINK

SERVICE STARTS AT 1030

Back to YouTube services "for the duration".
Today there is a remembrance gathering in the village
so the broadcast service will last for only 30 minutes.

The usual link is (here)
 and clicking on the panel for today's date.

SORRY - LINK DID NOT MATERIALISE!

TRY AGAIN NEXT WEEK

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Remember Deborah?

She was one of the so-called Judges in the Bible book of the same name (Judges, not Deborah!). She was a woman leader (shock horror!) raised up, so we are told, by God to help his disobedient people out of the mess their disobedience had created.

Her commander (Barak - as in Obama) insisted that she rode with him into battle against baddie Sisera. The snag was that Sisera had an army of 900 chariots and Debs and Co had sticks, bows and arrows.

Sisera was defeated!

All his high tech weapons (chariots) ...

... failed. They got stuck in the mud because ...

It rained!

God's answer to possible destruction was a good, believing, praying leader and a dose of divine intervention by way of a "coincidental" downpour. It also needed the peoples' cry for mercy from the God they had chosen to ignore.

Now there's an idea for the virus! 

Remember Gipsy Patch Lane?

It's in Bristol; well South Gloucestershire to be pedantically precise. And it has a very thin railway bridge ..

... necessitating a grand turning circle for buses from the West (only there aren't any these days!) ...

... and a circuitous route for buses from the East.

To make way for a new Metrobus route (that's the over-engineered and over-priced vanity transport system that Bristol adopted because trams were too expensive) the bridge is in the process of being rebuilt. As is the clever way, these days, you build the bridge nearby and then slide it into place.

Seemples.

Only it is taking a lot longer than planned; as explained on First Bristol's staff newsletter as published last Thursday 5th November.

Since Sunday 25 October 2020 we have been providing rail replacement services between Bristol Parkway and Newport and this was due to finish tomorrow Friday 6 November 2020.

The rail replacement is to allow for a big new bridge to be installed on Gipsy Patch Lane in Patchway, which will form part of a new metrobus route.

Due to delays in installing the new bridge, the rail re-placement is going to have to continue until Friday 13 November 2020 initially, however, this could even be ex-tended further, depending how the work goes.

Drivers from all depots have helped to cover this work and will continue to do so for the extended period. Thanks to all from Simon Ford - Commercial Manager

Apparently, the big problem that has prevented work from proceeding as planned is that ...

Ir rained!

Various Twitterings

Remember Joe?

Joseph Addison was an 18th Century essayist. fbb studied (euphemism for "did") the 18th C as part of his A Level English course, because teacher "Danny" Hickling liked the period and it was less popular, thus you had a better chance of doing well. fbb got a "B"!

The essayists sat around in smoky coffee houses writing short pieces, the blogs of their day. Some we amusing (The Origins of Roast Pork by Charles Lamb - really!), some philosophical, some political. Here is Joe writing in The Spectator ...

... way back in 1711.

Now there's a thought ...

For those spitting venom at each other over High Speed 2

and

For a couple of Americans who might have stopped the venom spitting by the time this blog appears.

Or might not!

Remember On Time And On Budget?

Paddington Crossrail platforms. It will be nice when its finished?

Apparently the plan is to glue it all together in time for trial running in March 2021.

Possibly!

That's The Way To Do It - IKB

Brunel did not consider that anything less than a grand terminus dedicated to the GWR would be acceptable, and consequently this was approved in February 1853.

The first GWR service from the new station departed on 16 January 1854, though the roof had not been finished at this point and there were no arrivals. It was formally opened on 29 May 1854, and the older temporary station was demolished the following year.

Less than 18 months!

Of course, it has been enlarged and upgraded, re-fettled and beautified, but Isambard ("Iron Road") Kingdom (his mum's maiden name) Brunel seems to have done significantl;y better than Crossrail "down below".

Enjoying Bus Rides IoW Style

This is a picture of GoAhead Southern Vectis route 12 which used to be service 28 in the good old days.

The route is west from Newport via Carisbrooke (of Castle fame) south through Bukkum and Shorrell, then west through four "Stones" to Brook. (click on the map for an enlargement). It is the best all-year-round ride on the Island. The views on the section from Brook to Freshwater Bay are spectacular (as above).

The first journey of the days runs Mondays to Fridays only otherwise it is a seven days a week service. If you are not keen on the tourist grot at Alum Bay (mostly closed in the Winter) you could drop off in Freshwater (NOT Freshwater Bay!) for lunch then toddle back to Newport.

Rainbow chippy is recommended for a good scoff.

Sadly, you will have to wait until Boris lets us all out, but the Island is almost completely covid free, so make sure you take a bath in Jeyes Fluid before catching the ferry! Oh, and Freshwater is famous for being CLOSED over the whole Christmas and New Year fortnight.

But when you DO get there ...

... enjoy the ride!

 More Variety tomorrow : Monday 9th November