The 15 Puzzle [Part 1]

 -----------------------------------------

 Manchester Bus Sale : Amazing Offers! 

News from the anecdotally Rainy City that First Bus, following a similar move across the Pennines in Sheffield, is making substantial cuts to its fares.

From Sunday November 18th, new cheaper day and week bus tickets will be available to customers travelling on First buses within the M60 ring road, the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Area, and on buses between Oldham and Manchester City Centre.

FirstDayM60 costing £3.90
compared to a regular FirstDay ticket at £4.50
a saving of approx 15%

FirstWeekM60 costing £13
compared to a regular FirstWeek ticket at £18
a saving of approx 27%

FirstDayOldham costing £3.90
compared to a regular FirstDay ticket at £4.50
a saving of approx 15%

FirstWeekOldham costing £13
compared to a regular FirstWeek ticket at £18
a saving of approx 27%

WOW! Things are certainly looking different in First-land!

Of course, if you chop 27% OFF your ticket price, you would be hoping the get 27% MORE sales or the Dickens' Mr Micawber principle applies.

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

Time, as fbb keeps saying, will tell!

 ----------------------------------------- 

Back to the Puzzle ...
Happy childhood memories!

The aim of the puzzle was to slide the blocks around and get the pattern back into numerical order. The origins of the puzzle lay in the mid 17th Century. About 20 years after the puzzle was invented, the great designer of deceptive challenges, Sam Loyd, suggested that he had devised it.

The older inhabitants of Puzzleland will remember how in the early seventies (1870s - fbb) I drove the entire world crazy over a little box of movable pieces known as the "15 Puzzle". The fifteen pieces are arranged in the square box in regular order, only with the 14 and 15 reversed, as shown in the figure.

The puzzle consists of moving the pieces about, one at a time, so as to bring them back in the present position in every respect except that the error in the 14 and 15 must be corrected. A prize of $1000, which was offered for the first correct solution to the problem has never been claimed.

 A more up-to-date version of the same puzzle has done the rounds on-line and is illustrated here.

In both cases the problem cannot be solved. You cannot slide the blocks to reverse the 14 and the 15 of Sam Loyd's version, neither can you slide the  PLA  to make  PAL . Sam Loyd's $1000 was always safe!

Now whilst occupying the smallest room, fbb was reading the new Eastleigh area timetable book, published by Hampshire County Council. (It aids concentration, you know!) There was "something funny" about the Route 15 timetable.

Blog readers may like to while away a few pointless hours working out why this particular table caused considerable consternation to the fat bus bloke.

The service is run by Brijan Coaches of Curdridge near Southampton. The company runs services tendered by the local authority based on the village of Bishops Waltham. These are 7 to Southampton, 8 to Eastleigh and 17 to Petersfield.

The town's name comprises three parts 'walt' - forest; 'ham' - settlement'; and 'Bishop's'. It started off as a Saxon village, and steadily grew to become one of Hampshire's largest villages, despite being burnt to the ground by Danes in 1001 AD. By the time of the Domesday book (1086 AD), it had a population of around 450. In 904, it was given by the king to the Bishop of Winchester. In 1136 Henry de Blois, a later bishop built the now-ruined Bishop's Waltham Palace. It was destroyed on the orders of Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil war. Much of the old Palace is still in the town. Apart from the ruins, which are open to the public, material from the Palace was used as building materials in town buildings still standing to this day.

Route 15 is the exception ...

... linking the coastal sailing village of Hamble with the huge Hedge End Superstores where Marks and Spencer and Sainsburys have their huge emporia. At least it does in one direction ...

But now, the puzzles begin. Scroll back to the timetable and you will see why fbb was baffled as he concentrated on the work in hand (too much information).

The 15 puzzle is solved tomorrow. Meanwhile, here is a slick Brijan coach for your delectation ...

... seen passing the decorative clock in the centre of Bishops Waltham.

 Next Bus Blog : Sunday 11th November