... but I can't see Dundee TOA accepting this...
Following a successful start, the newt farmer Mr Livingstone has recently hailed (geddit?) the launch of a new ladies-only taxi service in London, called Pink Ladies (believe it or not). None of the 15 pink leather Renault Kango's carry cash, just a card swipe machine, but the chances for franchises anywhere else in the UK are currently up for grabs. Can't see Dundee Taxi Owners Assoc being too pleased about anyone coming to take their work etc.etc. said the cheif kingpin, Mr Part-Timer...
... A True B*stard For Everyone...
Simon Trevaglia's B*stard Operator From Hell series continues on a weekly basis, and this week's is especially amusing. Not just one for the Linux bods, but one that we can all enjoy (hence the title). I am sure we can all appreciate this bit... I've been there myself so often, and not just on training courses!
"If there's one person that gets on my tits, it's the person at a training course that thinks they know more than the tutor and continually adds their 10p worth into the conversation when it's not wanted. I realise that I'm in danger of becoming that soldier, but I can't help myself, this guy is just crap!"
Saturday news...
... Following yesterday's day out, back on "dry" land now.
Firstly, the long-awaited replacement footwear has turned up (similar to these from the end of 2004, but with a narrower heel!) - I had a pair at the end of last year, and the right heel had a bit more "give" than the left... making me stumble a little more than usual! The replacements were due to get delivered to me on Thursday - so they didn't, but arrived at work yesterday whilst I was "hooring and touring". Now I can get rid of what is left of this pair of diesel-soaked trainers... :-D
Then, I get into work to open up the bag (and a box of TD timetables, thank you Mr H!), and pull back the wooden seat. The seat is broken, and is almost "bendy", despite being made of solid shaped pine! So, I get ready to do a note to leave for management on Monday, and the handyman comes walking past. I demonstrate, and he takes the chair away for replacement... in under two minutes end-to-end! Result!
Right, now to work!
Day out
After a very early start, I didn’t like the temperature out, and as a result, I decided to make it a “lite” version of the day trip. The cards arrived just before I was getting ready to go out the door for the X54… but the first driver had still never seen one… which is exactly what he said last time!… New AirDirect Service 747 was tried, which is funded with Scottish Executive Bus Route Development Grant funding, as was the extension to Lothian Buses 35…
Stagecoach Volvo 52253 X54 0945 Dundee Bus Station – Dunfermline Bus Station
Stagecoach Solo 47229 84 1120 Dunfermline Bus Station – Inverkething Station
Stagecoach Solo 47232 747 1145 Inverkething Station – Edinburgh Airport
Lothian Trident 541 1220ish Edinburgh Airport – Old ERI
Lothian Olympian 857 23 1330ish Old ERI – Bristo Square
Walk via Chambers Street
Lothian Dart 164 49 1430ish Newington Street – St James
Walk via Bus Station, St Andrew Square
First (Midand) Scania 65716 1500ish 38 Edinburgh Waverly Steps – Linlithgow Cross
First (Midland) Scania 65719 1600sh 38 Linlithgow Cross – Stirling Bus Station
Stagecoach Volvo 20315 1735 23 Stirling Bus Station – Cupar Crossgate
Stagecoach Volvo 20307 1900ish 42 Cupar Crossgate – Dundee Nethergate
… and home. The 747 was dead, but plenty time to take off. The 747 Solo’s may have AA Buses Ltd legal lettering instead, but I didn’t know to check until it was too late…
Tayport & Work
In the plans for tomorrow’s day out, I decided I could do with a One-Ticket. At the moment, you can use these from Dundee via Fife to all points south… and buy one from any PayPoint, but it has to be bought from someone on the Fife side of the water, as they are the only ones with the sealing laminate cards.
“So the story goes…” as Blur said once.
I got to Tayport, and went to the newsagents in the street near the Post Office. Initally, they didn’t know what I wanted, which was perhaps to be expected… then “Do they do those in Scotland…” After a discussion with her husband, and pulling out the terminal to show me the options, we finally managed to get it printed off, at the correct price of £11.20, dated for tomorrow. But no cards.
I had a look back to their website, and filled in the contact form. A shuttle of emails then went back and forth re the cards, and some cards were sent out in the mail… just in case… but for the meantime, it may be possible to send some cards to two Dundee outlets. There have been a few cases of sending cards to outlets who lose them, so it would appear if they send some to somewhere that someone might ask for them, then the chances of them being chucked are more minimal…
Anyway, from home to Tayport to Perth Road to work then back home again…
More hard drive
... it's back, in a cardboard box, delivered by Special Delivery early this morning. It's clear they've had a good look at it, and the extra pcb (printed circuit board) has been bunged in for good measure. Not sure what I will make of them, but they might become Exhibit A and B....
Anyway, day off today! Round town for some more pictures (Stagecoach Strathtay 614 STILL eludes me - 611 was sent down on the 59's instead, because 614 is going out about now on a school and evening runs!), and a few things here and there. Nothing spectacular though.
Hard Drive News
The hard drive from 2003-2006 is now no more! Despite lots of lovely attention from Datasavers, this time they couldn't. It's coming back to me in a box, and they've not charged anything - even for the return. Now, lets see what happens...
The legal and moral questions about a hard drive - that is still under warranty - going up in smoke, are for another time!
Early on a Sunday
I was up and about very early this morning… as I was out on a Strathtay Rover. I’ve never been out on some of the Sunday only stuff for a long, long time (last time I think was the 45 when it was the Arbroath Caravan Site service in 1989…), apart from local stuff around the City. Today’s sights included the Sunday morning “church bus” (basically a way to get all four town services done in two loops, and get everyone cleverly to where they want to go), the Forfar Solo’s on 27A/23 and 21A/30, the Montrose Solo on 21A/30, a Forfar Dart on the 20C, and the only non-low-floor bus that I saw out was MetroRider 218 on the 8/9 tendered early evening run.
So, today…
716 0845 40 Dundee Bus Station – Arbroath Westway
Breakfast & walk to Hospitalfield
716 1010 42A “Church Bus” Hospitalfield – Bus Station – Cliffburn – Bus Station
252 1135 27A Arbroath Bus Station – Forfar East High Street
254 1235 21A Forfar East High Street – Stannochy Bridge (just outside Brechin).
255 1300ish Stannochy Bridge – Forfar East High Street
315 1335ish 20C Forfar East High Street – Glamis Village
315 1415ish 20C Glamis Village – Forfar East High Street
(driven by an ex-Lynx driver who was very friendly and played with a toddler for about 15 minutes whilst on his layover… and making the journey slightly more pleasant than it would have been otherwise…)
255 1435 21A Forfar East High Street – Brechin – Edzell/Stracathro which then continues as Service 30 back to Brechin and Montrose Station
219 1635 9 Montrose Station – Laurencekirk
219 1705 8 Laurencekirk – Montrose Hume Street
713 1815 40 Montrose High Street – Dundee Bus Station
Right, how many miles was that for my £5.70?
Choccie horror show...
A post from Tubegroup this evening that caught my eye...
One of the regulars asked "Does anyone know why the Cadbury's vending machines all seem to be 'out of order' at the moment? Certainly Canada Water, Canary Wharf, Hammersmith, Green Park are affected - they all seem to have the same note stuck to them..."
The reply, believe it or not, was...
"The chocolate machines have been turned off as one machine was not only dispensing them, but cooking them at the same time, so LU decided to reduce the risk of a fire and turn them off. "
Hot Chocolate, anyone?
Busy week so far
In addition to those that I've just posted, lots has been happening this week. I was doing floorwalking for most of last night (Wednesday night), and I've already produced two temporary timetable booklets (42 pages in total) and two leaflets for Strathtay during the Blackscroft closure. I took on two new starts to listen in on my calls tonight, and have generally crammed a hell of a lot into this week...
So much so, that plans for tommorrow never got a chance to be thought about!
In other news... hard drive - they were awaiting a new circuit board to replace it, and ended up with the wrong one... now it looks like some data could be moved. Apparently, if I understood them correctly, it was moving, but VERY slowly. phone line - as was. work - contract now extended until further notice again, but a huge number have walked, with one from my team coming in yesterday, handing in his letter, and walking right back out the door again... and that's about it, but if I've missed anything lately, please forgive me...
Which MegaTokyo Character are you?
You are Yuki!
Which MegaTokyo Character are you? brought to you by Quizilla
DEFINATLY no connection with me!
A bus driver has been jailed for eight months after setting fire to four minibuses in Inverness in a bus feud. Stephen Walkden, 47, from Auldearn, Nairnshire, told police he was fed up with "aggravation" he had been getting from rival company drivers.
Walkden, who was working for Scotbus, walked into Stagecoach's Inverness depot and lit rolls of tickets inside four vehicles on 16 October last year. The married father-of-three was also banned from driving for 12 months.
Sheriff Alexander Pollock sentenced Walkden at Inverness Sheriff Court. The court heard claims of friction and bad blood between drivers at Inverness-based Scotbus and Stagecoach over certain routes in the Highland capital.
Two fires
It was alleged Stagecoach and Scotbus had a disagreement over services from the Black Isle, near Inverness, to the city's Raigmore Hospital and Aquadome leisure centre.
The court heard that Stagecoach drivers goaded Scotbus staff by making a zero sign with their hands to signify they had no passengers.
Fiscal depute Ron Phillips said Walkden was drinking with friends before he carried out the crimes.
A Stagecoach worker at the Burnett Road depot noticed that one of the vehicles was on fire at about 0115 GMT and a driver who had just finished his shift could see flames coming from another bus.
Mr Phillips said: "Between them, the two men contacted the fire brigade and in the meantime tried to tackle the two blazes with fire extinguishers."
'Drunken mayhem'
Fire investigators later found attempts had been made to start a blaze in the glove compartments of two other minibuses.
Walkden then went to a nearby Rapsons yard and drove off with one of the company's Volvo coaches before dumping it in a lay-by.
Mr Phillips said the cost of replacing the two destroyed vehicles was £160,000 and the bill to repair the other two ran to £2,160.
Walkden's solicitor Duncan Henderson said his client's actions were a "drunken wish to cause mayhem" rather than a carefully laid plan.
Mr Henderson said Scotbus had complained twice to the Office of Fair Trade about Stagecoach and there were problems about the Raigmore and Aquadome routes.
Walkden pleaded guilty to four charges of wilfully starting fires and a fifth charge of taking a coach without consent or lawful authority.
Blogger wisnae working!
...on Saturday past - which is why last Saturday's bit didn't seem to show until now. Well, it kept giving me errors anyway. I wasn't avoiding getting a card from my mum on Saturday... in reply to the print of the out-of-print book that I gave her, I think she's missed the point, and not answered any of my others. See how it goes anyway...
In other news today - the bit that was awaited to repair my hard drive did not work! It now appears that the actual disc itself is physically damaged i.e. burnt more than likely - and it was going for another dip in the "clean room" this evening, to see what data could be bodged off it. C:\WORK and C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\100FUJI would be nice :-D at least...
One Live From Camperdoon...
This year, Radio 1's One Big Weekend is coming to Dundee, on 13th & 14th May. Click the link for more.
More on the Fleetlists
Thanks to Andrew MacIntosh, who has produced all the Excel-based fleetlists as PDF's for me. This means for anyone who doesn't have Excel or an equivalent, you can open up the PDF with -whatever - on any platform.
Oh, and you can see them here - then click on the red on yellow bit on the right.
Fleetlists updated
Thanks to Chris Forbes, the fleetlists on ScotBus have now been updated. 21 new lists, all current up to the end of January 2006, for free downloading. The 2005 lists can still be had, if you still want them...
For those who've not seen one before, it's a list of all buses owned by a certain operator (they are called 'bus rosters' in the usa, I am told), and include fleet and registration numbers, chassis/body/vin numbers, seating capacities, depot allocations where applicable, year new, etc.
If you spot anything untoward in them, let me know - and also let me know if you can fill any of the gaps i.e. missing VIN's. All info will be passed onto Chris, and for my local operators, to DABF.
... oh, forgot to mention...
Re yesterday's post, I'm going to be started on oral estrogen, 1.25 dose Premarin, and yes I do know where the name came from! Although I don't think it's taken in the "traditional" way now, as I am sure there was some sort of animal rights issue...? Please tell me if you know, as I'm going to get letters about this anyway...
Wednesday. Not a day of the week, more of a state of mind...
The day started well. I'd been after a new lid for my coffee grinder, and the proprietor of Braithwaite's suggested contacting the makers. I did so, and for £1.75 and less than a 48 hr turn-around, the cheque went out Monday and the new lid is with me now! Good, make a start on that stuff I bought the end of last year - before it all goes bad.
But, there was a bit more to it today. Remember I came to Glasgow two weeks ago today? Well, this was the follow up. Blood tests (which, incidentlly, to advise the person who asked, were for blood counts, as well as to count the existing hormone levels in my blood, both sides,) were all fine, so John has agreed to do the usual and write to my GP for prescribing a low dose to start with, and then building up depending on my response and reactions etc. As with everything else, you won't know how you react until the start.
So, it's just been a chilled day otherwise, and I'm leaving for Dundee in an hour or so. Met up with the
West End Poet, as he was cashing up bnetween my bus arrival time, and my appointment. He's got an extended shift on Friday to cope with some pallets of new First leaflets...
When you look back at days like today - not that you draw too much into it - but in the grand scheme of things, it is days like this that do change your future. Maybe that's why I'm just in quiet reflection of everything I see passing. It was more than just a formality, it's the start of the next little bit of the "revised edition" of me.
That, and i've had a bit of a numbing headache all day... I'm sure the by-product of the coffee mill might knock that out when I get home though...
