Monday 2 September 2013

Please Forgive A Celebratory Indulgence

       1000th fbb blog       

Fellow blogger Busing gets excited about his statistics whereas fbb's can be relieved with a few pills! It never ceases to amaze the chubby one that anybody reads his stuff; and the fact that the reader numbers have increased steadily over time is a great wonder and something of a comfort in the old bloke's declining years. So perhaps our loyal readers will excuse a little bloggo-ego trip. fbb promises, cub's homour (dib dib dib), that this will be the first and last such personal nostalgia-fest.

Just thinking, however, the that next big number is 5000. Will fbb get to 5k of blogs? That'll put him approaching his 80th! The statistics are not favourable.

In each case, fbb has provided a [link] to the full blog.

The very first post, over three years ago, was a feeble affair contrasting Oxford Citybus (favourable) and Stagecoach (less so). [link]
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Since when the two antagonists have come together in a joint operation "partnership"; resulting in the removal of some of the ludicrous and wasteful competition on busy city services.

The blog which suddenly and inexplicably got noticed in the USA was about a jocular road name that was accepted by the authorities.[link].
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fbb bussed past it a few weeks ago and confirms that the joke is now a permanent feature of the Sheffield street-scene.

Levity and humour have featured regularly in fbb's bloggo-sphere, much to the consternation of some. We do seem to be capable of taking ourselves (and our hobbies!) fat too seriously at times. The post that was one of the most enjoyable to write concerned the hoo-hah over the West Coat railway franchise [link] ...
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... where sulky Richard won the battle (but not yet the war!) and the DfT was shown to be truly DaFT.


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Particularly rewarding have been those blogs where research has thrown up snippets of public transport history that are "new to the market", as they day. A railway signal languishing in North Derbyshire [link]...
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... and the location of an historic bus photograph [link] ...

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... are two such offerings.

April 1st each year calls for an appropriate piece of nonsense, although in a more enlightened age and with greater bank balances all-round, this year's was more possible than most [link].
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Sometimes even an innocent piece of light hearted writing can con the unwary reader ...

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... like the melodramatic tale of tragic Edyth Weston [link] which at least one reader admitted "had me going"!

fbb has always enjoyed the art of parody, and expressing public transport niceties via spoof versions of poems and popular songs presents an enjoyable and creative challenge to the old man's ageing brain cells. [link]
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Here "Dame Vera" anticipates the successful rebranding of First Bus route 38 in Central Scotland.

fbb is greatly indebted to those who regularly send pre-blog information from Sheffield, Leicester, London, Northampton, Bristol, here in East Devon and, of course Europe generally [link].
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All such contributions are gratefully received; the more the merrier!

Does blogging make a difference? fbb's outpourings are read by many senior busmen and sometimes a bog will either create a change for the better, or at least sew seeds of concern in the minds of the bosses. South Yorkshire has been a rich source of  material and ...
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... despite assurances [link], shows a profound unwillingness to recognise how poor its publications really are. Possible promised sea-change improvements as a result of the Sheffield Bus Partnership are eagerly awaited but, as yet, with no need for any breath-holding efforts!

Sometimes fbb gets it wrong and the furore created by his negative review of a new series of published hard-copy timetables [link] ...
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... caused personal upset to the editrix which was (and is) greatly regretted. Sadly, fbb has not been afforded the opportunity to write any further reviews since.

So, what of the future? There's plenty coming up ranging from the final death rattle of the former Northampton Corporation Transport [link] ...
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... to the relaunch of "Zip" in Portsmouth.
Then there's the Luton busway and Freddie the Frog in Norwich ...
... plus planned visits to York (again), Cornwall, Brecon and Paris. The public transport scene is ever changing, ever challenging and ever chortle-full. Cheers!

Bring it on!

But, for the time being, blog 1001 is back to the mundane routine of grappling with unhelpful public transport publicity. Tomorrow we travel to one of the homes of Concorde where concord is sadly lacking.

 Next Bus Plane Blog : Tuesday 3rd September 

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the 1000th blog!

    Here's to the next 1000!

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  2. The occasional typo proves that fbb is a real human too. We all thought that the summons to the Headmaster's Study was because of what was written in the blog, not in the bog !

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  3. Well done - entertaining and informative - keep up the good workd!

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  4. Well done. I always enjoy reading the blogs.

    Looking forward to the one about Brecon which we have just returned from following a weeks holiday on the Brec & Mon canal. This was a 'return visit' after a gap of some years. Brecon TIC had no timetables or maps on display but was able when asked to hand out photocopies of what they said were a complete set of bus timetables. These were for the main daily routes but did not include the Brecon town routes (Stagecoach) or irregular services. They indicated that they had not been able to get hold of the full Powys timetable books for some time. Nor did they have any county maps. When asked they produced a Beacons Bus booklet (this expires on 22 September) and managed to find a couple of copies of a Brecon and Brecon Beacons National Park Travel Guide 2013.This is a small fold out leaflet which includes summary Monday to Saturday timetables of nine main bus services and a diagrammatic map of these routes. This has panels with summarised information about train, bike, lift, taxi and Beacons Bus (referred to a website or phone number for timetables).

    We also managed to get into Abergavenny at the end of the week. The TIC indicated that whilst they could normally hand out a Monmouth timetable book the new edition which had been due in July had been delayed due to changes to two bus services. If I wished I could look at reference photocopies. All they could hand out was the Beacons Bus booklet.

    A little disappointed but understand some of the constraints.

    What did amaze me was the complete lack of any Stagecoach publicity!!!

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  5. Congratulations, and thanks - always a good read!

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  6. Congratulations - 1000 and still enjoying it to!

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  7. Well done on 1000 posts - that's no mean feat!

    Carry on with entertaining us all, and the more posts about my home town (Northampton) the better :)

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  8. I was in Abergavenny a month ago and was advised by the TIC staff that the new timetables were not available yet. A 'beacons bus'(sic) brochure (looks 'clunky' in the am (light type)/pm (bold type presumably but rather confusing to most people who, after decades, now comprehend the 24 hour clock!) format ... sorry!) was in the racks and that was about all.
    The Stagecoach driver on the X4 north to Hereford was busy giving comprehensive timetable advice from his own collection to potential passengers! He wasn't surprised no information was available at the TIC but, 'good on him' for his, by observation, much-welcomed advice.

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