Various Bits (one of several)

Good News Time

Josephine, Hebe, Ralph & Dick, passengers for buses in the Potteries, sing joyously at Hanley bus station.

They chirrup words by William Schwenk Gilbert set to delightful ditties penned by Arthur Seymour Sullivan.

Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen,

The clouded sky is now serene,

The god of day, the orb of love,

Has hung his ensign high above,

The sky is all ablaze.

With D and G and First Bus too

News is just too good to be true,

Timetables joint appear on line,

Working together is just fine

In these wond'rous days.

The four principals are joined by a chorus of drivers and engineering staff ...

These are the buses of the Potteries

And right good buses too

And be it understood

They are very very good

And run by a right goods crew!

Then give three cheers and joy it is

Working together in the Potteries

Then give three cheers and joy it is

Working together in the Potteries

And the reason is this, from D & G buses web site ...

... complete with timetable.

Also in an earth-shattering manifestation, the joint timetable also appears on First's site!

Not on First (yet?), is D & G's service 9 ...

... coordinated with part of First's 7A.

Common sense prevails again.

Meanwhile Up A Bit And Across The Pennines

Stagecoach, not really partners in the Sheffield Bus Non-Partnership, have just announced some further and palpably sensible service reductions. They start today.

But don't look for them on their timetable pages which are PTE files and utterly out-of-date, but still available for the unwary to find and use.

Under the "corona virus" heading there is a link to a whole range of updates which, as of yesterday afternoon, included everything that happened on 30th March.

hopefully these will have gone by the time you read this blog!

Scroll through this very long list and you then get to events for today, 8th April. This consists of a series of links to what claim to be PDF timetable pages.

They aren't.

They are graphics images of PDF timetable thus frustrating fbb's attempt to update GoTimetable.

What is equally frustrating is that these links take you to ALL Stagecoach timetables even if they haven'tr changed. Most of them are still the same as for 30th March.

Whilst fbb is sympathetic to the efforts of all bus companies to get their information, Stagecoach does not make it easy.

One casualty of the virus is the complete withdrawal of route X6 between Sheffield and Doncaster Airport. Reduced to a 90 minute frequency Sunday service just over a week ago, it, together with the equally new X1 from chesterfield to Nottingham ...

... are defunct from today. Will they ever return?

But a sensible approach to timetable information should, surely, be to have just one set of timetables with a simple explanation label on each? Some do it that way.

Coughin' On The Coffin?

The fbbs attended a funeral on Monday; the passing of a dear close friend of Mrs fbb. Lynn died in ripe old age of pancreatic cancer. She was brought up in Welsh chapels and strayed from Faith in her late teens. Joyously, in recent times, she has returned to her Saviour and, although there were only 6 present due to the exigencies of the situation, it was a "good passing".

But what impressed fbb was the issue of gloves to two family sons who joined the Undertaker on coffin carrying duty. Sons were issued with disposable gloves - and they were black!

Apparently these are used by tattooists. Has Honiton Co-op diversified?

The hearse, refreshingly, was silver grey. No need for black gloom at a Christian farewell. The occupant of the box is not really there; she is having a rare old time in eternity!

Too Late, You've Missed Out!

Rails of Sheffield is always ready to offer "flash" sales. A recent deal was for one of these:-

Alan Pegler (died 2012) saved the loco from the scrapyard ...

... and took it to America to make its (and his) fortune. The project failed leaving Mr P with massive debts.

As part of Hornby's 100th Birthday celebrations, this particular model was embellished with its USA adornments, namely a cow catcher, a front lamp and a bell - all essential for steam locos in America.

The offer was, indeed, a bargain; but fbb resisted the desire to place an order for six!

And the gold colored bits really are gold plated.

For the modeller who has everything?

 More Various Bits blog : Thursday 9th April 

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

Short Thought

All three God inspired antagonists towards religion had an answer. Instead of "religion" ...

Amos said ...

Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

Micah said ...

The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

... and Jesus, in cleansing the Temple, said ...

My Father's house should be a house of Prayer.

And even complaining Habakkuk (remember him?) said ...

I will still be joyful and glad,

because the Lord God is my saviour.

The Sovereign Lord gives me strength.

He makes me sure-footed as a deer

and keeps me safe on the mountains.

It hasn't changed in 3000 years or more; it is still about the offer to "Choose Life"; it is all about accepting and keeping the Covenant.

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