Grovelling Apology Time
Correspondent Julian got in touch in response to fbb's less than enthusiastic comments about Grantham bus station. Such is the danger of relying on photos and general stuff on line. In fact, had fbb been more punctilious in his exploration of the facilities, he might have looked from Bath Street (see map extract above) rather than Wharf Street.
There we see a substantial building which, Ju tells us, also includes staff rest room facilities and company offices. He does not say whether there are enquiry facilities for the general public but it certainly looks as if there were!
Note also the location next to Morrisons where, it would appear, young Isaac used to go to get his packed lunch before resuming his arduous studies of the Classics.
And So - On To Good Publicity
What prompted these blogs was tyyhe receipt of a good quality timetable leaflet headed "Lincolnshire!".
Even a cynical fbb thought that there might be just a few more buses running in Lincolnshire than are shown on this folded leaflet. Grantham is the main settlement in the district of South Kesteven but just plain "Grantham" would be better for the heading, surely.
But as we saw yesterday with Stagecoach route 1, not all bus services in the town are included, just most of them.
When fbb worked for Southern Vectis, he was commissioned to design and produce their timetable book. It included Island Line, trains on the mainland and all the ferry services. The idea was to encourage public transport per se and thus encourage the use of Southern Vectis buses.
Whilst you could understand not publicising a direct competitor's route, surely publicity should be selling bus travel as a total package!
The leaflet has a good network map ...
... ideally needing larger print. Maybe fbb is a bit more sensitive to the challenges of dodgy eyeballs (next stabbing December 22nd - a lovely festive treat) but thicker lines and bigger text would make following it much, much easier. But it is very thorough.
There is rudimentary fares information offering a £2 fare in Grantham. Presumably the boundaries are obvious to residents, but they are not shown on the map.
You would reckon most passengers would buy the Day Ticket and use it as a return unless there is a cheaper price for a simple out and back trip.
Similar examples are given for the whole area.
£8 from Grantham all the way to Loughborough and back on service 8 seems a bargain at todays price levels - perhaps there is another hidden boundary here? The driver will, of course, tell you.
The weekly and monthly go-everywhere tickets are only available on the Centrebus App which is a bit discouraging for those who are uneasy with all this technology. But that is the world in which we live. If you are a technophobe you will often be stung by a higher price or even unavailability.
Either way, it can be harsh if you live just a few stops outside the Grantham "area" and you daily ticket leaps from £3.80 to £8.
As well as the network map there is a zoom-in of the town centre area ...
... and a plan of the bus station stands.
fbb quite likes resolving mysteries and one (1!) was his first challenge. Route 1 serves Earlesfield ...
... with a bit of industry, the footy ground ...
... and modern (?) housing from the 60s and 70s (fbb guess). The route number then re-appears on the other side of the town centre.
Here it has has two loops, one at Harrowby ...
... 1950s post WW2 expansion and Alma Park ...
... somewhat more recent. So how is cross-town route 1 shown on this leaflet,
Here it has has two loops, one at Harrowby ...
It isn't!
It appears as two completely separate route 1s (both in addition to Stagecoach route 1 to Lincoln). Here is the Earlesfield timetable extract ...
And here the Harrowby and Alma Park.
Seemples!
So fbb contacted "the boss" ...
... who writes:-
Yes, it used to be cross town but with increasing traffic congestion, Grantham is very bad, we had to split it so that we could inject new buses and drivers fairly frequently so that they at least left the Bus Station on time.
Shame - it fitted together so well. Once upon a time the bus to Harrowby was numbered 2.
But today you need to be careful which one you want, the 1 or the 1. 
But not the 1!
But fbb should have asked the boss (even the hoss!) about Great Ponton.
It is on the A1, south of Grantham.
See you there tomorrow!
Talking of Advent Calendars?
Rails of Sheffield have a Model Railway Advent Calendar (very spiritual|) with some seemingly generous offers each day and for one day only. So far (as of yesterday) we have a track cleaning wagon ...
... which was always pricey at £45., Then there came a deal on track.
25 yards is quite a lot of track - its about TWICE what fbb has on his whole layout. So its only a bargain if you are building a big layout/
Hornby also has an Advent Calendar ...
... where (exciting isn't the word!) you actually open little electronic doors/
Both he first deals have been one-off offers in a sort of prize draw. One was 10,000 "club" points worth £100 on future purchases; and the other a "Christmas" train set, also a one-off.
fbb will keep an eye on Rails.
And now ....,
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Advent Calendar Day 3
Creation Conundrum
More twaddle has been written and spoken about the story of Creation in Genesis Chapter 1 than any other passage in the Bible. Science, we are often told, has totally disproved the Bible.
Really?
Hebrew and Mesopotamian cosmology saw the world like the above There was water above the sky (where the rain came from) and water below tje ground. The sun, moon and stars were occupants of the sky, some moving and some static. Above the rain waters was the heavens, where God lived. Below the earth was Sheol, the grave or place of the dead which was not at all nice.
So their Creation account used terms which they could understand.
If we were to re-write Genesis Chapter 1 using as our guide modern cosmology, we would be amazed at how accurate the ancient version was.
Day 1 LIGHT
Day 0 NOTHING
yes, absolutely nothing
ionised and glowing hydrogen plasma fills the entire universe
Day 2 SEPARATION
the formation of lumpy matter ultimately condensing into rock
Day 3 PLANTS
a primaeval soup, the source of life 
Day 4 SUN, MOON, STARS
oxygen clears the atmosphere. Only now can physical light penetrate.
Day 5 FISH ETC
simple life in water moves on to ...
Day 6 LAND ANIMALS
... land, leading to human life
It is mind-blowingly astounding that people with such primitive knowledge could "guess" so correctly - so much so that it simply couldn't be a guess!
Every few years there are new theories of what happened before the Big Bang. God, author of the Great Opening Directive provides a perfectly respectable theory and certainly no worse that those proposed with confidence (and sometimes misunderstanding) by many of the now-discounted thoughts of cosmologists.
You pays your money ...
For those of our readers who do not have a Bible in understandable modern English, the story of Creation is available below. No need to read it if you know it!
=================================== Next Grantham blog : Sunday 4th December
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In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light appeared. God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness, and he named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day.
Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”—and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it. 8 He named the dome “Sky.” Evening passed and morning came—that was the second day.
Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear”—and it was done. He named the land “Earth,” and the water which had come together he named “Sea.” And God was pleased with what he saw. Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit”—and it was done. So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw. Evening passed and morning came—that was the third day.
Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals[c] begin; they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth”—and it was done. So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. He placed the lights in the sky to shine on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw. Evening passed and morning came—that was the fourth day.
Then God commanded, “Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds.” So God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw. He blessed them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce and to fill the sea, and he told the birds to increase in number. Evening passed and morning came—that was the fifth day.
Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small”—and it was done. So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.
The map in the Grantham booklet is the Grantham Zone, no boundary is needed as all points on the map are within the zone and all points beyond the map are outside the zone. As for the Network ticket, as its name indicates it covers the whole Centrebus branded network (there are some exceptions but these are not geographic but contractual status - closed door school buses & certain contracts to Hospital Trusts or Universities for instance).
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