CHURCH LINK
SERVICE STARTS AT 1030
which will take you to the YouTube page.
Then click on the page for today's date.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
He Got It Wrong
Our senior Isle of Wight correspondent sent fbb this picture of Wightlink's newest ferry named "Victoria of Wight". It had popped off to Falmouth for its annual MOT and scrub-down and the above picture appeared on-line implying a new livery. The old paint job advertised the vessels "Hybrid" power system and fbb wondered whether the new technology had been abandoned, especially as Vikky had suffered a number of embarrassing breakdowns in service.
But, of course, you cannot trust anything that appears on-line. Correspondent Alan espied the ship en route from IoW to Portsmouth and took a fuzzy over-enlarged picture thereof.
The Hybris hull blue and green swirl is unaltered!
Grovelling apologies accepted!
Unless, of course, the other side has been painted differently!
Another Stagecoach Devon Throw-back ...
... celebrating a quarter of a century of Uncle Brian the Bearded' buses in and around Exeter.
Trampoline Troubles Train
It is not long ago that fbb brought you a picture of one of those garden trampolines ...
... entangles in the 25,000 volt overhead electric string. This time the offending structure merely wrapped itself round the front bogie of an empty strock South Eastern working. But the power had to be switched off, causing disruption, until the unentanglement could be accomplished.
Readers may remember the disgraced Rolf Harris' jolly little ditty on the subject?
There's an old Commuter train driver
sighing, crying;
And he gets himself up onto one elbow
and he turns to his mates
Who are all gathered around and he says
Watch me grandchildren play, Gray
Watch me grandchildren play,
On a nice summer's day, Gray
Watch me grandchildren play.
BUT
Altogether now!
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
Keep it spiked and not loose, Bruce
Keep it spiked and not loose.
Hold it tight in a noose, Bruce
Keep it spiked and not loose.
SO
Altogether now!
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
If it flies off into the blue, Blue
No telling what harm it will do.
It may get a train in a stew, Blue
And stop the stock getting through.
SO
Altogether now!
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
Tie the trampoline down, sport
Tie the trampoline down.
It does seem that these "things" can be a real problem. fbb has never trampled!
Boxes Banished
Woodburn Junction Box controlled the left turn Eastern Region line along the Don Valley between Sheffield and Rotherham Central. 
It parallels the line northbound from Sheffield Midland station via Rotherham Masborough. The former triangular junction at Woodburn is lower righty on the map above.
On the map, Woodhouse is upper left, Beighton is lower right. This is the same Beighton where Travel South Yorkshire is happily advertising the FreeBee bus service, defunct for six years, as per yesterday's blog!
A group of enthusiasts would like to preserver this box but, to do no, Notwork Rail insists that they take it away with them - and, presumably, pay for it!
Work is underway, as we speak, to remove these boxes and hand control over to the mega signalling centre at York! As a result there is just over a week's total closure of the line.
One other consequence is that the Tram Train (Sheffield to Parkgate) encroaches on the control area of Woodburn Box, so no trams will run to Parkgate ...
... on Palm Sunday. Apparently there are no direct replacement buses for the tram as there are no pennies in the piggy bank - so tram passengers will have to slum it on parallel bus services.
Good to see, however, that the above is a "Customer Notice"!! As usual, fbb does wonder whom else would be expecting to be hailed by such a gem of information. Perhaps diners atop the Shard, or visitors to the Eiffel Tower? To avoid possible confusion it is for tram Customers only.
Why does it not simply say, by way of heading,
No Tram Trains on
Sunday 21st March
Say it like it is - then "Customers" might "Notice" it!
Thanks to correspondent Andrew for informing the old bloke.
Three Pretty Pictures
1. From the driving cab of a Azuma zoomer
Durham Cathedral, of course.
2. From the passenger's point of view.
An unknown location, but a magnificent sunrise.
2. From the passenger's point of view.
3. A model of a modern farm building, but where?
Mothers Day : Mothering Sunday
Mothers Day is modern and was invented by American Anna Jarvis early in the 20th Century. It celebrates motherhood - i.e. with a gift of flowers ...
... and chox ...
... from the fbb's "boys".
Mothering Sunday is always the fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent means springtime, by the way) and was set aside for Christians to visit their "Mother Church". The Mother Church might well be an Abbey or Cathedral that took the role of "mother" to surrounding places of worship. An alternative interpretation was that the mother church was where you were baptised (christened) - the "mother" of your faith.
To this mixture, Roman Catholic churches added a celebration of Mary the Mother of Jesus, which led, in a roundabout way, to the celebration of motherhood in general.
Neither version was ever intended to be the commercial money making event that we have today.
We all have a mother and we would not exist without her. In the Christian and Biblical sacrament of Holy Matrimony the family is one in which all members are respected and honoured; a commitment for life of one man to one woman (and vice versa) and their joint commitment to their children but MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL is their commitment to God.
Whoops!
A week out with my ecclesiasticals, Next Sunday (21st) is Passion Sunday - Palm Sunday is 28th. Thanks Andrew (he is a Baptist minister for pointing our fbb's calendric error.
Next delayed Weekend Variety blog : Monday 15th March
Am I alone in thinking that the Stagecoach livery of the 1980s and '90s, as shown on the Devon bus, is vastly better than the latest image? It's simple, striking, and instantly recognisable.
ReplyDeleteNo, you are not alone. The latest scheme is dreadful and made even worse by changing the iconic colours.
ReplyDelete"Good to see, however, that the above is a "Customer Notice"!! As usual, fbb does wonder whom else would be expecting to be hailed by such a gem of information. Perhaps diners atop the Shard, or visitors to the Eiffel Tower? To avoid possible confusion it is for tram Customers only"
ReplyDelete...fbb corrects someone else's English but fails to get the who/whom distinction correct himself!
First SW will be starting in Exeter in May as their next adventure is an open top tour of Exeter. FSW continues its expansion across the South West
ReplyDelete