Saturday Variety

Why Is The X30 Like a Drill  Bit?

Because it has a boring end! (snigger snigger, chortle chortle, groan groan). 

Having failed to serve Exeter Airport; having failed to serve the burgeoning warehouse and technology developments near the Airport ... 

... and new housing and employment East of Exeter ...

...  the X30 stops on the main road near the edge of the Science Park. There is a lot more of both since Google bought aerial views  from a passing satellite!

Here fbb's trip almost picked up a real, genuine, employee passenger. Wowsers. Unfortunately he was not interested in the convoluted run into Exeter centre on the X30 and opted to wait for the direct 44.

The bus then turns north again to serve the "Technology Centre" which is a new bit of Exeter College painted red ...

... before joining the Pinhoe Road and lots of other buses going in to Exeter.

You could, of course, use the X30 to get to and from the Met Office.

But fbb spent a joyous 15 minutes in Exeter bus station, failing to buy a bottle of fizzy from a machine despite kind advice from two eight year old young gels. ("Only the Sprite button works" - it didn't).

Soon it was time to join the crowds for the return trip. The crowds consisted of fbb and one other joy rider returning for his tea at Honiton. The traffic was awful at Whipton ...

... with single file one way traffic controlled by lights and two sets of lights intersecting the whole caboodle. The X30 was delayed by 8 minutes, yet managed Honiton only three minutes down and was three minutes early into Seaton.

There it is again! It is so much easier to run buses if those irritating passengers don't want to travel.

But fbb still cannot work out what the X30 is for.

Saturday Surprises (1)

Battery Trains - Not Such a Good Idea?

An area of Germany with "lesser" branch lines, is planning for the future. 

"Was ist mit batterieelektrischen Zügen?" asks Hans.

"A bit sobering in terms of time and cost"

Well that IS a surprise!

Saturday Surprise (2)

Appel d'offres pour les chemins de fer français.

According to the EU, every member country has to appoint train operators using competitive tendering - and we know how astoundingly successful a similar policy has been in the UK. The French Government doesn't like the idea of tendering and ideally wants SNCF (nationalised) to run all the railways.

But rules is rules.

So in France the first genuine (honest, it is genuine) tender has raken place.

And, lo and behold, SNCF has won the first tendered mini-network.

Well that IS a surprise!

Syrpreis dydd Sadwrn (tri)

Working Straight Out Of The Box - Not

Transport for Wales is one of the operators intending to use Vivarail trains. Despite the company having gone bust, TfW has bough a few boxes of spare parts and taken on some ex-Vivarail employees to make sure the operation runs smoothly. Well done TfW!

But ...

Well that IS a surprise!

Puzzle Picture

Who operates/operated this tram and where is it photographed?

More Of Our Money Spent

Yet another big investment in electric buses, paid for by "The Government" i.e. all of us. Nobody asked fbb and they are VERY expensive.

Should We Have Bought It?

McGills, having bought big from First, is now doing its sums very carefully.

More tomorrow!

Well that IS a surprise!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 9th April 

Abbreviated blog due to pressure of "stuff" and lack of 30 hours in the day.

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Good Friday

Nothing Saturday

Resurrection Sunday

It was necessary for those who wanted to show respect to the body of Jesus by giving it a proper burial to "get a wiggle on" before the Sabbath started at sunset on Friday. His body was placed in a borrowed tomb and, just in case of any hanky panky the tomb was sealed and guarded.

The events of the crucifixion are well documented referring to reliable witnesses. It really happened. The evidence for the events of Jesus' life is technically more reliable than the evidence for much of William Shakespeare's life.

But what people find hard to take is what happened "very early on Sunday morning".

Can the accounts of that event be reliable?

Part of the problem is that so much that we think we know about Jesus has been made unreliable by human attempts to illustrate it.

Did Jesus look like this?

Of course not, he was a Jew! Did he lool ike this?

Of course not, he was a Jew with well known racial characteristics. He probably looked like this:-

Everything written about Jesus soon after his life ended rings more true if we understand the story in a gutsy, real-life way; not a prettied up sanitised way.

But one thing is absolutely certain. If that tomb was not empty on Resurrection Sunday, then Jesus was an utter failure.

These are the labels posted on the cross as part of the Good Friday service at the church the fbbs attend.

Yes. A Crucified Jesus was a failure.

But if the empty Tomb were real ...

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