Slick Southampton Sojourn
On Thursday last, the fbbs hied happily to Southampton to share lunch with a former Sheffield teaching colleague. Ann will be 90 next birthday but way, way back she was very helpful in encouraging fbb in the traumatic change from a small private school to a large comprehensive.
Her most memorable advice was to remind the oft struggling, not quite so f fbb, that a Christian never goes into a classroom alone. Very true and a source of strength when learning, at the chalkface, to cope with a very different clientele!
Lunch on Thursday was at the Cowherds hostelry located on "The Common" a pleasantly picturesque part of the City.
The journey c/o Great British Railways and First Great Western was just how rail travel should be; with all four trains spot on time and all staff courteous and helpful.
A few observations.
Axminster station has been equipped with cushions in the waiting room ...
... plus one comfy chair ...
... reminiscent of the "Spanish Inquisition" sketch from Monty Python.
Ximinez: [with a cruel leer]: Now -- you will stay in the Comfy Chair ...
... until lunch time, with only a cup of coffee at eleven. [aside, to Biggles] Is that really all it is?
Biggles: Yes, lord.
Ximinez: I see. I suppose we make it worse by shouting a lot, do we? Confess, woman. Confess! Confess! Confess! Confess
Biggles: I confess!
Ximinez: Not you!
Well, it seemed funny at the time!
But those metal seats are very uncomfortable, especially the outside ones which seem to have a mechanism to lower the temperature of your posterior to only a few degrees above absolute zero no matter what the ambient Celsius may be!
But these are appearing ...
... made of fake plastic wood. Maybe a trifle more amenable for fbb's extensive sit-upons!
Outside the station, Devon Bus (The County Council, in a thin and easily penetrable disguise) have installed new departure screens.
For anyone with even a slight visual impairment, the detail, the scrolling line of intermediate locations, is illegible!
So why put it on the screens?
Talking of screens ...
... have you ever listened to an announcement along the lines of, "The next station is Tisbury. Only the doors on the front three coaches will open." And have you wondered whether you are in the front part or the rear part of the train?
Now Great British Railways tells you!
At Crewkerne, fbb had a chance to see Notwork Rail at its best. It appeared that a couple of slates had fallen off an outbuilding. In the good old days the Station Master would send "the lad" up a ladder to fix them.
But now we have the Notwork Rail slate glueing team. Note first the blue safety barrier to protect the public from the team or, indeed, the team from the public.
We have the fully trained slate fixer on the ladder; the expert stabiliser holding the ladder plus the safety officer (c/w backpack containing a full medical and rescue kit! Note also the high viz overalls) watching the ladder. Note also helmets, goggles and steel toe cap working boots.
Impressive eh?
Then did you know what was special about Yeovil Junction station?
Yep! Yeovil Junction is "The Home Of British Helicopters"!. fbb gazed out of every available window, but spotted not a single solitary helicopter. They must have been out for the day.
Most notable, now that South Western Railways is part of Great British Railways, was a dramatic expansion of retail therapy at Axminster station.
There, next to the ticket window, were supplies of home grown eggs at £1.50 a box. Eat your heart out, Tesco!
The lunch at the Cowherds was excellent and, tada, Ann paid; which made it taste even nicer!
Remember These?
They were tiny car models with very free running wheels.
You could buy tracks which were flexible and could make for crazy race games.
It all kicked off in 1968! But, like so many kids hobbies, Hot Wheels have become a pastime for adult and often wealthy grown-ups! Here is a video!It is amazing what people collect!
Oil Pots?
Back in the day, when fbb was nobbut a lad, your Triang loco came with its own little pottle of lubricating oil. The cork had a stiff pin affixed and you used that to transfer just a drop of oil to gears and connecting rods of your prized engine.
The above is from Triang Australia, but it does show the applicator pin!
So some guy on-line has posted his collection of Triang oil pots!
Yankee Tankee?
Another enthusiast has sent a picture of his collection of Transcontinental bogie tank wagons into the disbelieving ether.
He claims that they are all slightly different.
OOZ Going On The ZOO
Earlier thus year GoAhead's Bluestar re-launched its "ZOO" service to Marwell of that ilk. ZOO is the route number.
It only runs from Eastleigh bus station, but an hourly service is offered ...
... on Saturdays, during school holidays and on Sundays when a similar service to the "red" schedule is in operation.
Needless to say, there are all sorts of out-of-date versions of the timetable and days of operation, including one, believe it or not, from 2016!
But the best of all the useless sets of times is this ...
The operator is First Bus, now departed from the area and certainly not running this yeat!
Why don't bus companies clear out their cupboards of our-of-date and confusing rubbish.
Answer, "Just can't be bothered!"
Anyway, the truth is now irrelevant as the service is being withdrawn despite the publicity for the 2025 season.
It seems particularly daft to cut the funding for the operation part way through a pre-publicised seasonal timetable.
People in posssession of the on-line information may well turn up for a bus that isn't coming. You've advertised it - so run it!
Next Variety blog : Sunday 8 June
Helicopters overfly Yeovil Junction most days usually test flights from the Leonardo/Westland factory, occasionally helicopters from Historic Helicopters from Chard overfly.
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