Sunday Variety

 Mirror, Mirror On The Bus ...

... Get It Mended With No Fuss

Mirrors are vitally important to a coach driver. A Lochs and Glens Coach has SIX mirrors in the cab area. Here's FOUR of them ...

... two on the external arm and two inside on the body pillar.

Both sticky-out arms have two mirrors each affixed thereto and they are heated and are electrically driven to adjust for driver's view. Inside the vehicle there are another two giving further views alongside the offside of the coach. There is also a tv reversing screen which looks at the road immediately behind the coach. This helps with parking and avoiding a pedestrian who is well out of sight of any of the other mirrors.

When the feeder driver turned into Seaton's coach park for his pick-up his nearside mirror had an altercation with something on a pole - not present on the Streetview picture at the head of this blog. Fortunately the mirror did not break, but the arm was slightly bent. Such coach mirrors can cost £1000 each plus fitting.

They are complex bits of kit.

Anyway, driver Tracey was of suitable stature to maintain adequate eye contact with the nearside but the mirror needed attention before tackling scottish lanes.

So there was an unscheduled stop at Hamilton services near Glasgow where Russell was waiting with his step ladder.

Off came the old mirror complete ...

... and on went a complete new arm.

We were on our way after just ten minutes.

No doubt Volvo Glasgow keeps a small stock of mirrors for just such an emergency. It is good thing they didn't have to bring one all the way to Seaton!

Day of Reckoning March 27

fbb is no expert in corporate finance, but a clever accountant can use the rules to manipulate a company's accounts to present the best possible figures and please shareholders. Alternatively, if the company is in trouble, techniques exist to give the directors more time to find a way out.

There is no doubt that Red Funnel is in big trouble financially.

And it's not the first time.

You would guess that Red Funnel's director of finance is searching for a brave investor to be part of a rescue plan. If nothing happens, the company will have to file for administration and await purchase at a bargain "rescue" price. There will be speculative investors around who are keen to purchase via what is colloquially known as a "fire sale".

In the meantime, the service to the public, like its ferries, is falling apart.

Livery Delivery - A Gallery

Stagecoach Goes Dark

It is now happening throughout the empire once held dear by Sir Brian the Bearded. After a livery designed to make things easier for passengers; pallid blue and white, pallid green and white or motorway maintenance yellow ...

... we are now threatened with a one size fits all dark blue with a contrasting beach ball.

The Last Heritage Livery?

Might the new policy mark the end of heritage liveries? 

The smallest bit of the former Alexanders empire to be privatised was labelled as Strathtay Scottish.

Then orange did not "go" with the Alexanders Midland blue; and even with a white stripe ...

... it was still not ideal. Some very weird combinations of these three colours were tried ...

... but the company finally settled on white with orange wedges, orange stripes and blue  ...

... still a very messy image, but certainly distinctive! Fortunately, Stagecoach bought the company and all was well (less bad?). It is a version of the above livery that has been reproduced on a present-day Stagecoach bus ...

... just in time to repaint it in a fetching dark blue!

And how's this for a livery?

It is actually a Lothian tour bus. The various tours have different liveries, so you might think to keep a spare in each distinctive paint scheme. That would be too expensive, of course, so the above is a generic tour livery emblazoned with Scottishness which would not be out of place on any of the tours.

Clever eh? And VERY Scottish!

A Lochs And Glens Puzzle

Why are these coaches parked at Inverglas on Loch Lomond side? Could this be the reason?

Answer tomorrow!

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Blog Plans for Next Week

Mon 24 Mar

Ardgartan to Dunoon, A Ferry and Trees

Tues 25 Mar

Rotherhithe Part 1 mini blog

Wed 26 Mar

Rotherhithe Part 2 mini blog

Thu 27 Mar

Rotherhithe Part 3 mini blog

Fri 28 Mar

Ardgartan to Inverary, a TV Series, a Cruise

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 Next Ardgartan Holiday blog : Mon 24 Mat