Saturday Variety

Why Wybourn - And Now ...

There have been several more recent additions on he edges of the Wybourn estate. On the southern boundary ...

... we have a strip of new housing called Sky Edge, served by the complex circular service 10/10A with no easy way through from Wybourn.

On the western boundary, under the shadow of Park Hill flats ...

... we have an in-fill block of housing which probably doesn't have a name but fbb will call it "Manor Oaks" ...

... for obvious reasons.

Then there is new and/or replacement housing going up to the east, just beyond Mary Queen of Scots Sheffield sojourn!

In layout, at least, Wybourn is unchanged since its creation in the 1920s. There have been some little bits of infill ...

... but there was a problem with the housing stock. Much of the property had only two bedrooms. considered less that ideal for post WW2 occupancy. The upshot of this is that some of the estate has been demolished ...

... with the remaining properties being refurbished and updated, now in the hands of a private commercial landlord rather than the council.

What has suffered is the estate's "facilities". Pubs have become residences ...

... shops have been closed and demolished ...

... whilst some have been replaced with alternative facilities. The row of retail on Manor Oaks Road ...

... is replaced by one general store ...

... and the estate's "Children's Centre."

The most significant change observed by an explorer by bus is at the Southend Road Boundary Road bus terminus.

Here was a pub flanked by four shop units, two each side.

The pub, a typically large establishmemt of its age ...

... was closed and boarded up ...

... only to be reborn as posh flats!

The bus stop, which used to be right outside the front door, has been moved back so waiting buses do not overlook the residents.

To the pub's left, the two shops are now closed ...

... and to the ex-pub's right, two shops ...

... have effectively become one.

There is no sign of the "Beef King" still plying its burgers and chips! To be fair, the establishment does have a presence on line ...

... so perhaps ot bursts into beefyness late in the day as the hub of Wybourn's nite life?

But, through all this change, the bus route 56 has remained remarkably constant, but iccasionally dramatic.

Sadly, Wybourn folk never got to ride on a left hand drive right hand loading articulated bus running on trade plates. The strange vehicle is pictured above outside the Windsor Hotel on a test run

More on the buses in tomorrow's blog!

Let There Be Lights

Peterville carriage shed, made of two bits of gash second-hand plywood and five Airfix/Dapol platform canopy kits ...

... which finally fell to bits as the ply disintegrates in the weather!

It was rebuilt with plastic walls but reusing the original roof.

But it neeeded some treatment when it was re-installed inside. ...

... notably to the roof!

The work has taken ages, due to fbb's ineffectiveness and a run of other commitments, but, at last, it is almost ready to install properly. Much of the rebuild has featured in this blog, but the final stage was to fit lighting. 

Internal lights were joined by wall lights illuminating a nearby siding. Lights do not photograph well with exposed LEDs taking over the exposure. But this is a view in the dark.

Here is the building in "daylight" ...

...with a sweet little bracket light over the entrance.

Along the wall there are six over-scale bulkhead lights.

They consist of slices of Bic pen with the LEDs poked down the tube. The black "hoods" are a bodger's attempt to (a) reduce the visual impact of the over-scale fittings and (b) to disguise fbb's incompetent sawing of the brittle Bic! Neither bodge is overly successful, but from the normal viewing distance it will do!

For Tomorrow's Blog ...

What links a blue train in the UK ...

... with a pink bus that once ran in Eastleigh ...

... an a dark green train with pale pink bits n France?

All will be revealed tomorrow!

NO Thanks, First, For The View

The great thing about windows is that you can see though them. On a lengthy trip from Doncaster to Rotherham via Edlington and Maltby, fbb's enjoyment of the ride was partially impaired by this mega sticker on the top deck of his First Bus bus.

What was more upsetting to fbb was that it was promotion for "Pride". As a committed and Biblical Christian fbb simply cannot accept the promotion of the "gay" life-style. It is contradictory to 4000 years of Holy Scripture.

Please keep your "Pride" private allowing personal choice to remain personal.

Stop offending those who wish to see a Godly nation with Godly morality upheld in this sadly broken world.

At least let us have a few buses bedecked with helpful and uplifting extracts from Scripture as an alternative.

But don't plaster the Words across a window.

 Next Variety PLUS blog : Sun 6 July