Sunday Variety

Consequences - Not The Game

It was Mr Tubbles' fault!

fbb has occasionally been upbraided for criticising "hard working" employees for their lack of urgency in updating bus information. The problem, of course, is not the "hard working" lads and lasses but the policies and timescales dreamed up by the higher echelons in middle and senior management. 

Sometimes events conspire to obstruct the smooth flow of data management.

So it was for fbb and the Sheffield tram updates due today!

All was going swimmingly when fbb's laptop suddenly switched to "battery". A short while later came an anguished squawk from the catering facility as Mrs fbb discovered that the fridge-freezer had stopped fridging and freezing!

A quick check of what used to be called "the fuse box" revealed that the RCD was OFF and wouldn't stay ON! 

Not at all sure what an RCD was, fbb guessed (as it turns out, correctly) that the OFF usually means a straight short had occurred between red and black (now brown and blue) .

But where could a short have suddenly shorted without a curl of black smoke and an acrid burning smell?

It was now Mrs fbb's fault! She had inadvertently compounded Mr Tubble' heinous crime by deciding to tidy up the junk hole (a k a storage alcove) alongside the fridge-freezer unit, seen below in mid tidy.

In so doing, he hapless Mrs fbb had disturbed the flex from wall to fridge-freezer.

It should be explained that, some months back, the results of a rare Mr Tubbles vermin hunt (far too much like hard work!) has escaped into the junk. In order the preserve itself, said vermin had consumes bits of two aprons, ends of several plastic table cloths, a noticeable chunk of plaster and a bit of the skirting board. Yum yum!

But more significantly the hungry creature had enjoyed some insulation from said flex. 

It was Mrs fbb's tidying that made the wrong connection!

So the already short cable had to be shortened; a "loose" plug had to be pinched from an old table lamp and said plug head had to be wired up - safely.

The fridge-freezer had to be pulled out; and, to achieve this, the freezer contents had to be emptied.

Fitting the plug then involved a creaky 77 year old sitting awkwardly on the kitchen floor to access the flex, then removing insulation from the three wires (teeth still a useful tool). The plug is VERY fiddly, not helped by fbb's cataracts and an occasionally wobbly left hand.

Eventually the plug was fitted and a small black extension cable sourced - which didn't work! 

Fuses in its plug and in the board itself were both replaced and first prize awarded to Mrs fbb for finding some! (and ditto the extension cable)

The whole convoluted task (including searches!) took most of the morning.

Which is why the tram updates have been delayed!

As our observant readers can see from the picture above, Mr Tubbles is duly repentant!

Mystery Solved!

David, a long-standing Sheffield chum has, apparently, resolved the dilemma. Correspondent Michael said the Huddersfield rugby league shelters were from Sheffield's Central Bus Station (formerly Pond Street and now The Interchange). fbb did not remember any such.

Both were right.

The shelters were NOT bus station shelters. They were the Mark 1 effort at a covered walkway from bus station to railway station. Then, as now, the walkway did not quite reach either station leaving a gap at each end to let in the weather!

The Mark 2 walkway (posher, more substantial coverage) starts just across Harmer Lane (Google Earth, top)...

... and ends not quite at the pedestrian crossing across Sheaf Street which takes you into the station. Here is the Harmer Lane end ...

... and the Sheaf Street end.

The middle bit of the modern shelter is now replaced by an even more solid entrance ramp to yet more of Hallam University, which is slowly taking over the City Centre.

fbb could find no pictures in Sheffield of the Mark 1 construction now sojourning in Huddersfield.

A "New" Bus For Axe Valley

One thing is for certain, fbb's little local bus service provider has always had a wide variety of vehicles right from the very early days.

Buses are regularly replaced by newer second hand vehicles which often retain their previous owners' livery for a few months. X599 FBB (excellent registration letters!) began its life in standard Go Northern East livery ...

... was then branded in green for North Tyneside ...

... in which basic colour it arrived in Seaton.

fbb (the blogger not the bus) snapped the latest arrival at the Clock Tower stand a couple of days ago.

The bus is registered PD54 ADV ...

... was previously with NIBS ...

... Nelsons Independent Bus Service of Essex; and before that, new with Transdev/London United.

(The strange lighter red colour is a trick of the photograph, not a revised London Buses livery!) Ah, that's better!

Bus Boots - Maybe, Maybe Not

This is Raheem Sterling.

Apparently he is a professional football player.

So what might Mr Sterling do, or have, that impinges of the UK bus industry?

All will be reveled in tomorrow's blog.

On Track At Peterville

Yesterday afternoon fbb began the process of relaying the track for his former outdoor layout. It was not straightforward as the baseboard inside is bigger than the baseboard outside. For technical reasons, the main station platform has been slightly re-orientated.

But there is more space all-round.

So the first job is to assemble the complicated pointwork.

It gets even more complicated at the station "throat".

As previously, there will be five "roads" at the station proper (upper left) and three at the carriage shed (off shot bottom right). It involves ordinary points, a Y point, a curved point and a three way point.

This (Sunday) afternoon, fbb will see how much of what he has cobbled together will work. The first train in the new setting should run!

Or won't, if it all goes as well as the fridge-freezer incident!

By the time most of you read tomorrow's blog, the fbbs will be off on holiday, their first since well before lockdown! Outline details will be revealed tomorrow, but here is a clue.

The fbb's will be enjoying the Long view!

 Next Varoty blog : Monday 10th Octover