A quiet day in South Yorkshire
No screaming customers, no delayed buses, no pressure, just a quiet day to round off the month with! I come home tommorrow though, with plans to stop in Sheffield for an hour or two before getting the bus north - I used to have a contact/pen-friend-person in the days before email, so I've wanted to go for some time, and Meadowhall interchange (and passing through Sheffield on a through train) last autumn didn't quite do it.
Dundee to Barnsley
I'm away to Barnsley for a few days!
Left Dundee on Megabus Neoplan 50147 from Dundee to Perth (Broxden), where new colour coded swing tickets are being used to distinguish the luggage (presumably in time for the new luggage handlers arriving at Dundee Bus Station). MAN 50042 then took me nearly all the rest of the way. We left Broxden 27 mins late, Edinburgh 20, but we sat at 20-30 late all the way down. 50042 was very slow when I did a Manchester trip in it, but then it appeared to be fixed when I got it to Aberdeen some time ago. It's back to "normal" now.
We left Perth just over half an hour late, crossing the Forth and into Edinburgh, down the A1 to Newcastle. On the way down, got to Newcastle. I saw the back end of a Go-Northern bus showing "via M.Centre No.1" rather than via MetroCentre - the ultimate use of stop specific names? I also saw the building under which I sheltered in the rain and wind in March is being rebuilt... well, that side anyway. On the A1/M1 (junction 61), saw a parked bus which had been painted in an advert for a local car garage. Shortly after, the northbound London - Inverness megabus then passed us... before we stopped at Oak Tree on the A1 for fuel.
Final bit was a train journey from Meadowhall to Barnsley, on a Class 140 train (Leyland Nationals on tracks!), standing for nearly 10 minutes before getting the slightly bigger half of the trip to sit down. I'm really going to have to investigate the Stagecoach Yorkshire/Traction route to see if I can avoid these...
I was staying with David & Jacqueline, the couple I met before, and David had booked me a taxi. Trouble was, he took well over thirty minutes to get to the pick-up at Barnsley Interchange, despite the rank only being one street away, and then getting lost, two mobile calls, and then when we got there, "oh, I recognise him" when David was looking out the window...
Yes, I'm enjoying my "holiday", despite all that!
Monday...
... went quietly in the end...
"... we go out live, don't we?"...
... seen
this? well I didn't..
WARNING: Contains language likely to offend the reciever!
Let me introduce you…
To our new friends. I found all bar two of these blogs all directly or indirectly via Bus Driving, which is a blog of a Stagecoach Devon driver from Service 12, and includes his daily insight into life from behind the wheel.Then came the London Underground blogs! which I loved reading through... The Bardic Lamp formerly had his blog here, but managed to delete it. Oops.
Anyway, he has a fantastic post from the 16th May, in which he gets to go to the track, and finds an object on the track which is interfering with service… reminds me of my now-legendary "we apologise for the delay and holding you in the tunnel… due to a coat hanger on the line…"DSM's Log Book is from a Duty Station Manager from an unspecified group, somewhere out there. Perhaps worthy of note, apart from the fact that she's pregnant (congrats etc. all round), she owns a Routemaster which has been converted to a play bus, and it's for hire for any London area parties etc. you may be involved in planning…District Driver has been driving trains on the "dark green" line for most of his time on the tube, having spent two years on the Jubliee Line before that (maybe he was the driver we halted)… anyway, I digress. His days on the tube are numbered, because he's about to move up north with his pregnant wife (contrats all round, again), and go back to the buses.Rail Temp appears to work on the overground trains, making a nice change of reading direction. Don't worry, still plenty of gubbins on trains, tickets, passengers, politics etc.LU Tube Diary has tonnes of tube stuff in it, including pictures of people on the tube. Warning, this one is very addictive!The Great Orme is the diary of a station supervisor. I liked this, which I'd seen before, but still found touching.I also found a few bus related blogs…Route 79 is a diary of the life of a passenger, who has the occasional insight onto the life and times of Service 79, currently ran from First (ex CentreWest/Challenger) from Alperton garage, linking Edgware with Alperton, using low floor double deckers. The blog has more to do with the passenger than the service, which includes a variety of food items and recipies.Omnibuses is a general bus blog, with most on the south-west of England43 Bus Blog is one of two Manchester bus blogs I found, both relating to passengers. The other was Bus Rider Blog, who also has had problems with PayPoint outlets losing the laminate cards for bus tickets (go back to mid-February and see my issues re One-Ticket… issuing)Anti-Crapitlist is not transport, but I just liked it. His most recent rant picks up on McDonald's own blog… now there's no food for though… as well as some mischievous ideas for use on the drive through!Having said that, as I've added these to the blog list (I've not worked out blogrolling yet), I've (wo)manually added them in. Our other friends have also been enhanced and updated..The other new onesCouncillor Fraser Macpherson is Dundee City councillor for the "Tay Bridges" ward (from the city centre to Strawberrybank - one of Dundee's narrowest streets!) since winning a by-election, and then winning a second term in 2004, and has subsequently endured many scrapes along the line! His blog was designed to show what he does in between his newsletters… to keep things going. He did manage to get the Saturday bus service on the 72 back in 2004, following requests from his constituents, which survived the six-month trial, and is still running.The Unofficial Princess Diaries Bethany is a similar age to me, is also ts, and started her hormones at almost the same time as I did. That's where the similarity starts to get worrying, but it's good. Her blog shows what she's been up to of late, complete with family rants… see what I mean?The existing onesMusings Of A Creative Slacker was previously shown by me as "Korvar", and as I was updating the template, I decided it was worthy of the full title! It is the blog of a former colleague who is now working in Livingston, having made the right choice when he got offered two jobs at once.Groovymother Rod Begbie has done a lot of miles since I linked to his page on Scotland's real national dish, the Deep Fried Pizza back in 1998. He's since moved across to the states, got married, and the rest, and now blogs a lot of quality items on an almost daily basis.West End Poet I've known Bobby for quite some time, and I usually to at least say hello when I'm passing through Glasgow. Here you can read his thoughts, including music and transport related musings. Currently worth a look for the next set of First in Glasgow service changes - and by the way, didn't I suggest that the 11 might get cut due to lack of demand?
So, here they all are. I've not yet introduced myself to all the new ones yet, so if they've not listed me back, it's my fault, not theirs!
Operations Manger Job
I don't normally back down from a challenge. But after earlier in the week, I don't want to extend my stay in the current employment beyond finding a job with enough hours and income to let it go, so I've not appilied for operations manager. It may well have been a bit of a "joke", but I was serious - even if I saw myself as somewhat of a Screaming Lord Sutch type person… for the non-Brits, Lord Sutch ran the Monster Raving Looney Party, and he would stand in by-elections (called when the existing politicians snuffs it, or gets caught with his black bag and rope around his ankles - sometimes both), and came up with crazy ideas by our standards, but might be worth a try. When Sir Nicolas Fairbairn died, and the Perth & Kinross seat was up for grabs, his manifesto involved turning the castles in the area to a theme park, and renaming it Loonyland.
I would have loved to have surprised everyone, and defined th laws or logic and gravity, by succeeding, and taking the case for improving front line working conditions, and guaranteeing us more definite future, rather than just hanging on, and then looking for a slight pay rise, and perhaps some "premium" work i.e. back office type stuff, to add to the ever existing portfolio at Riverside House. Did you think that was loony?
What's loony? Standing up for British jobs and workers, or being a yes-person and telling the client what they want to hear? That's loony… shame they can't see things that way.
And they wonder why we walk out the door, sometimes never to return…
Oh, by the way, the agency phoned me yesterday, just on the way back through Freuchie on the X54. It's been checked - we WON'T be paid for bank holidays not worked, despite out contract. I just said "yeah ok", because I've not really got the time or the resources to think of a response. I'm away next week, so maybe afterwards.
Sell your motor mister?
No easy questions here, with TWO PAGES of questions that the seller received, and his replies to them, about his car for sale. Some of my favourites are a reply to someone who thought he was her ex-husband from Arbroath, and "the very kind gent (Donald) who offered me a weekend with his wife (and him it would appear) I have a special message for you. The pictures you sent me of your wife did not, in all honesty help. Some of them looked more like a traffic accident than something that I might remotely find alluring. I am sure that if you set up your own website (assuming that it's not illegal) there will be plenty of sad sacks (many from ebay land going by this experience) who will indulge your (and your wifes) desires…, and finally… "For the 34 people who are interested in the tyres. Firstly I am sure that your interest in rubber ...no I can't be bothered, I'm sure Donald and his wife would like to meet you (see above)…" and many more besides, including a discussion with Bob about cup holders…
Day Out - via an Interview
Had a day out in Fife once more today - Dundee to St Andrews, St Andrews to Leven, Leven to Methil, Methil to Glenrothes, Glenrothes back to Dundee. The interview went reasonably well, and I was one of just a handful. It's a part-time job, so initially it will be fitted in around my own full-time "commitment" (I won't even call it a career now), and then we shall see from there. Some of you may well have "guessed" where the interview was, but I'll let you sit on it for now. I've been promised word in the post early next week either way, and I will tell you once I know, what the job was/is.
After I got home, I made a few phone calls, and then went onto messenger. Interestingly, one of my friends in Brum - his bf is about to be made redundant, or as good as, whilst one the women I talk to in the states, her gf is also looking at being no longer required. Am I a jinx on these things to these people this week, or is it just a co-incidence? I feel bad now…
A new acronym for Technical Support staff
Being bored, I was Googling my potential future employers (just in case…) in an attempt to salvage something from this evening. I leafed through several pages, before finding the Bus Driving blog. This lead to a number of links clicked, and eventually I found the blog of Richard Allan, former MP for Sheffield Hallam if I remember rightly. Here we are advised of a new one. GFE.
Yes, the polite version is GFE - Google Flipping Exists, but I'm sure you can make up your own…
I tried it on one of our managers - he liked it! Basically, the concept is that now, RTFM is redundant - because Read The Flipping Manual - well, quite often there is now no manual these days! So, doing a google search will find a post on a newsgroup, or whatever, of how to fix your problem. From the tech's point of view i.e. me, it's also useful when customers ask us to fix things we know we aren't allowed to - but I've not used that one yet, I must admit!
More on work
Following the letter, and discussions, and everything else that happened today, the response from ClientLogic (the company who Search, the agency, have us working at, doing work for BT Business Broadband) said that the fixed four day week contract amendment was just an agreement between me and the campaign, and they are still entitled to change my shift on occasions like this.
i.e. when they feel like it, or when they can save money by doing so.
OK, maybe so. That's the last time I'm doing that manager any favours - and I did come in at 8am was it? on a Saturday, just a few months ago…
Re the pay rate, the agency were then going to take it up with their own managers, and let me know tomorrow by phone… and they know about the interview, so they've promised to leave me a voicemail.
I went back to my own person who is covering for our team coach, and he's quite willing to get my days changed back (for next week) to how they should have been. That's good, but the management response doesn't inspire confidence, does it? No real interest in the issues of replacing staff with staff, no real interest in what happens if someone walks out…
I've now lost the will to continue. You know when you get to the point where there is one moment that just pips you over the "I want out of here" swing-o-meter? I have been working there since October 2002, and I do like the people there, and the job's ok, and the money is bad for what we do, but for the locality it's quite good.
I've got just about everything crossed for tomorrow… and it might not be much, but it's always going to be a start.
… doh!
… and then she came downhill very quickly, with a clattering bump.
I got into work, and my team coach is now on holiday for two and a bit weeks. After previous warnings about last minute holiday inputs and shift changes (thankfully they no longer change our breaks whilst we are actually taking them - the system breaks too easily now, and the staff who input it have been slimmed down dramatically), I decided to, today, check my shifts for next week, to make sure I got the Wednesday and Thursday off that I applied for, and that I was told should not be a problem. I've got those, but once again, my "fixed" shift has been altered for a public holiday! It happened four weeks ago where the "older" staff were subbed off, and replaced by others. As well, I am required to work Tuesday, when I'm meant to be heading down the A1.
Now, that's one thing. But, despite the writing on our contracts, we are apparently NOT to be paid for these days if we do not work it - not even at single time! Fact - the money you save replacing a member of staff who gets paid the old enhanced rate contract is enough to train a whole new member of staff, provided the person you are scabbing keeps quiet and does not ask any questions for just over 2 years (at 8 bank holidays a year!) I've done a formal letter of complaint - hoping it will make a difference, but there is always hope!
Some of you have asked me why I don't write more about the day job. The truth is, I am too ashamed now! Really I am…
Woo hoo!...
...remember that job application I was working on at the end of last week? Well, I've heard back… and I've got an interview for it this coming Friday! Woo hoo! Good way to start the day…
Pierre goes o-irish
According to reports on The Register, former BT Retail chief executive Pierre Danon has been recruited by the investors behind a buy-out of Irish phone provider Eircom. He will become chairman of the Eircom once the deal is completed. Last Autumn, he took up a job at JP Morgan, after parting company with CapGemini after he blurted about having a job interview with Accor, to one of the biggest papers in France,… oops, small mistake. Now you know why I'm being quiet about mine!During his time in BT, Pierre did visit us at Riverside House, and very nearly walked into me as I was walking along the corridor with a large box in my arms… One little bit of consultancy for free - you make a better door than a windae (window) !
Grandma doesn’t know everything…
As posted to AD2-jokers earlier
Little Tony was staying with his grandmother for a few days. He'd been playing outside with the other kids for a while when he came into the house and asked her, "Grandma, what is that called when 2 people are sleeping in the same room and one is on top of the other?"
She was a little taken aback, but decided to tell him the truth. "It's called sexual intercourse, darling." Little Tony just said, "Oh, OK" and went back outside to talk and play with the other kids.
A few minutes later he came back in and said angrily, "Grandma, it is not called sexual intercourse! It's called Bunk Beds! And Jimmy's Mom wants to talk to you"!!
Lathalmond
The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum’s Running Day last year (10th anniversary) was so successful, they’ve added one this year, today My pics on the Fotopic site include getting there, (with pictures of the Compass Leopard at Guardbridge), pictures from the event, some at Dundee, and then some of model buses which I’ve had a friend customise and repaint for me.
Centra destination blinds for sale on eBay already...
As some of you will be aware, London bus operator Centra had their last day of operations last night, with remaining services 200, 201, 493 off to London General, East Thames Buses, and Armchair, as of today. The company's performance was blamed in the end, but the problems had gone back to before when the company had bought most of Mitcham Belle's bus work. Centra also operated outwith London, but that's now even distant memories. In the meantime, with less than 24 hours since the end of operations, the blinds are already up for grabs on eBay...
This auction is for a set of Caetano Dennis Dart blinds manufactured by McKenna for Centra London for use its routes from Beddington Farm (BC). This company ceased trading on 19/05/06, this will give you a chance to own a piece of London's failed bus industry.
These McKenna Glo blinds are made from tyvek and are printed in dayglo yellow out of black.
(Except the South West Trains/London Underground/ & Driver Under Instruction, these are black on white)
All blinds are in an 'as used' condition which means that they may benefit from a washing with soapy washing liquid water ONLY.
This lot includes the following blinds:-
2 X MM Front & rear numbers
1 X NN Front ultimate
1 X CC Side numbers & vias
Strange thing is, I'm perversely tempted. Yes, and I'm also stoney broke, and tommorrow's the first SVBM Lathalmond event of the year!
Big Brother golden ticket on eBay
Right... first things first, KitKat's are running a promotion whereby 100 selected Golden Tickets will qualify you to enter the Big Brother house. and guess what... there is (or rather, there was)
one on eBay....
Even buying one this way may not guarantee you access to the house. As
The Register says
"Potential bidders should note that only one golden ticket holder will end up in the BB human zoo. He or she will be selected by a rigorous screening process including psychological profiling to ascertain whether or not they are sufficiently mentally retarded to take part in Big Brother. Big tits and/or spam javelin* and a penchant for having sex while drunk on live TV are also likely prerequisites...*Channel 4 execs can only hope that there's one neurotic, exhibitionist pre-op ladyboy out there with a taste for KitKat and three-in-a-bed. Now that's what we call entertainment."... and the "update" says...
"As expected, the auction was pulled at around 2pm UK local - whether by eBay or the vendor we know not. At that time, the bidding had reached a very silly £10m. You lot ought to be ashamed of yourselves..."
Tesco offers Rum as a contraceptive...
See here... well, they do say "every little helps"...
No more 8mb upgrades - for now!
If you are planning a speed upgrade, no matter who you order your 8mb from, you (probably) won't be able to get your regrade at the moment - see the story here.This is good timing, as BT Business Broadband launched their 8mb service on Wednesday past... and it's been taken up well, but not to the point of last time where the server "couldn't cope".Still, from experience, it's worth the wait. Would be nice if I could afford a new pc though... maybe if I get the ops manager job LOL...
It's The End Of The World As We Know It - Anime Style
Thanks to Ewan for sending me this ...
Brentford Survey
Back on Tuesday, I was unable to find a survery where Brentford had came seventh in something else... and I've found it - it was on "The Register". Brentford was actually the 8th loneliest place, shortly before being the 7th highest comsumer of porn.In case you are wondering, Coventry is 3rd highest likely in the "get your mobile knicked" stakes... ironically my friend from Cov is about to move out after being robbed just before Christmas, so the survey is probably right.
Going London Underground
WARNING - Clip contains strong language likely to offend Group Station Managers! No, I'm not saying GSM's do nothing and earn thirty grand a year, of course not... mein furher!
Work - new job?
Whilst my application for the job I mentioned last Friday has to be in tommorrow (I'll fax it over, as I got the form yesterday), the role of Operations Manager at my work is about to go up for grabs. Well, can you imagine me at it? Did you ever see the movie Filofax (which then later was released as Taking Care Of Business) ?In it, a convicted felon breaks out of jail to go and see a baseball game - well, Chicago Cubs in the World Series - despite the tickets being for the opposing end, and getting his jailbirds to help by pretending he's been kidnapped until they get to watch the game - and oatmeal cookies twice a week... He finds a marketing executive's filofax book, with his life in it, and starts living as him. In a marketing meeting with clients, he beats the japanese boss at tennis, despite the "real" person being under strict instructions to lose! Later, in a meeting, he rips apart the quality of their products, in front of all the directors, who are usually used to being told what they want to hear..."I think your oatmeal sucks. nobody likes it. It tastes like dirt. chewy dirt.
Your bologna tastes like rubber. You have to smother it with mustard, so you don't taste it. but not your mustard'cause your mustard tastes like shit. Your frosted flakes have half the sugar that Tony the Tiger's does.And your bread just rips apart. Just try spreading peanut butter on it... right in your hands."....."Your potato chips are pretty good, but then again I like greasy food. lt's not bad that you sell cheap stuff. not everybody can afford a box of fruit Loops.but you shouldn't call it high quality foods, 'cause it isn't.big sak, if you want to be honest, you should call it Low quality foods. but you don't want to do that... Why don't you try calling it something like Affordable foods. Or change the ''best there is'' thing to, ''high quality food because you ca afford it.''..(thanks to the person who put the script online!)Now, that's honest. Everyone I've spoken to at work and online tonight thinks I'd be good for the job - and that's exactly why I won't get it. Lack of experience may also be a problem, but I do just about meet quite a few of the caetgories... lets just see how the rest of this month plays out.
Where has this been hiding all this time?
Believe it or not, this
review of my work was posted way back in August 2004 - and I've only just stumbled across it by accident... anyway, I rather liked this... posted by
Humphrey, who's current LiveJournal can be found
here...
The internet is a strange and wonderful place. I was in the middle of compiling some rant about Glenrothes when, by chance, I came across this gem of a site http://www.scotbus.com/index.htm
If you had told me last week of the existence of a webpage devoted to bus-spotting in Dundee run by a Scottish transsexual I would have punched you violently in the stomach and called you a lying bastard. However here it is in all its gruesome detail, a web domain that claims to be ‘more than the average bus-spotting page’. Its funny, when I see a bus, that’s exactly what I see, a large boring people carrier driven extremely badly by some balding obnoxious twat who’s clearly no stranger to a fish supper. Seen through the eyes of someone in the know however, a boring view of a decayed 60’s bus station gains a greater excitement…
... and then he goes on to pick on a few of the captions I wrote for previous pictures (as well as spotting me calling a Citybus 9cc - which was because I forgot to go back and change it!), and also query my observation of the Cupar Town Service that day... which was fine that day, but excessivly late on a previous visit to the town.
Yes, he used to live in St Andrews - how can you tell? Oh well, guess he's not seen the new layout of the bus station - better drop him an email and send him a link to
Friday's pictures.
If I plug or mention you anywhere in this blog, feel free to reply in 18 months time too!
John Lennon Invented The iPod
... bet you didn't know that... watch the video!Found it via Groovymother once more...
Brummie Porno
Paul H tells me "Its a fib... (or should that be a fallacy...)"
Birmingham tops web porn search
Web surfers in Birmingham are more likely than those in any other city to search for pornography, according to internet search engine Google. Google Trends analyses the type of searches made from different cities around the globe.
Manchester came second, followed by Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Brentford, in Middlesex, was seventh.
The facility showed the number of searches on the word "porn" reached an all-time high in 2005.
Two things here... firstly, didn't Brentford come seventh in another survey earlier on the week? something to do with the people? If you find it, let me know. Secondly, more people were looking for porn in 2005 - the year when 2mb broadband became availbile more cheaply to all via ADSL speed upgrades. Co-incidence?
Broadband issue resolved...
... almost hot on the heels of the issue with BT, my issue with the broadband (
EFH) appears to be fixed. The "no web" I was getting appears to be because - wait for it - my account had been twisted with someone else's, who had called up today... so it's now fixed, and the three months I'd paid up front starts today - giving me a week and a half for free. Well, that's happened often enough to customers at work, but I've no idea what they get for it. Sounded decent enough to me!
Bangalore calling...
Regular readers will be more than aware of the battle I've had with BT over the last few months, regarding my phone line etc. and more. When I'd "left it" last time, the billing had been halted to allow for the last little bits to be worked out - like changing some of my extras on the line, and more. Yet, for some reason, I recieved a call this afternoon from someone in India querying the account... you've probably
read about this before, but it's cheaper for someone in India to call and nag you, than it is for BT to send you a paper reminder.
So, he calls up, obviously reading my name off a screen. Twice, I tell him who I am, and twice he ignores me. I then said I was the only one here, and offered him my internal Employee Indentification Number (EIN) - it's not strictly work related, but does usually stop anyone asking further questions as to my identity. Anyway, he ignored that totally, and carried on to query the "outstandig balance on the account". I wasn't quite going to do a Student Grant and say
"Yah I'll say it's outstanding, I'll take it in fifties..", but you get the idea. I said to him "You are aware there is still a pending high level complaint on this account?"
He's either ignoring me, or there's no answer to that on his sheet! Poor guy, now I feel sorry for him. "You are aware the account is pending further action" he says. This is good - considering that 60% of the account was cleared with the "goodwill gesture" credit I gained... but he obviously isn't looking, or can't see it. I repeat myself, namedropping the name and division who was dealing with my complaint. That isn't on his script either, so twice I get warned about further action pending. He then asked if I would sign up for direct debit. I refused, saying "I'd not decided to keep my service or move it elsewhere. "
I then started to explain a bit more, so he gets the idea.... but as I start saying "Sorry...", half way through the word,
HE SLAMS THE PHONE DOWN ON
ME!
I was then somewhat hysterical... but I could see why a lot of people would find something like that upsetting. Spoke to my contact who is dealing with the issues, and a few clicks later and there was no follow-up - at least, not until everything else is sorted out. Now,
that's what I call a response team...
Bam Bam Bye Bye
I meant to post this back on Friday... yes it happened back in April, but I'd only just found it then...
Kiss breakfast show host Bam Bam has left Kiss100. After seven years presenting the show, Bam Bam leaves the station on a high. He has the biggest breakfast show among London’s 15- to 24-year-olds and is the third most popular morning DJ in the city overall. Bam Bam recently attracted global interest for his Faceless podcast, which topped the download charts in the UK and the US. Clips of the podcast - containing the musings of an anonymous London student on her colourful life - were played on his breakfast show. Bam Bam also completed a pilot TV show for a UK broadcaster, which is a take on the hidden-camera format. BamBam will be missed certaintly... how many people can remember the "Zero Budget Advertising Campaign" when he got punters to scribble "Kiss100" on the back of dirty vans and cars, or some of the "hidden camera" tricks... One that was played most often was when StreetBoy left a mobile phone on one seat of a bus, and then BamBam called the phone, claiming to be the Government, please give the phone to our secret agent... only for the guy to leg it! Then, my own personal favourite was when they were promoting their remix of "Hooked On You", and they dived on a bus somewhere in North London, went upstairs, and did a live session... only for the driver to turn the bus short less than a minute later...
Transform a $3 pen into a $200 pen in just seconds...
transform a $3 pen into a $200 pen in just seconds. Mont Blanc pens are the worlds finest writing pens but they make specialized refills so you must buy their $200+ pens to use their amazing ink...until now. This is the easiest hack/adaptation to give anyone the king's writing ink.
I like the steps here...
One Big Weekend
Had the weekend off – well, in the end, I only needed the Saturday off – to see the various buses on the “1 Big Weekend” Shuttle Buses – pictures here.
I liked the Strathtay buses displaying M In The Park... which came from a post to the Forum about how the event was to be sponsored by Miller, and said with a dundonian accent “ehm in the park”… and the name just kind of stuck. Lots of punters got the joke too! Tails stayed out later than I did – and got more pictures (and came back on the Sunday too!)
Friday trip
I had a trip today around Leuchars (“Taylink 99” launch), St Andrews, Stirling, Edinburgh and Livingston – see the pics here
The list of buses… Stagecoach 20327 99 Dundee – Leuchars
Stagecoach 20322 99 Leuchars – St Andrews
Stagecoach 20328 23 St Andrews – Stirling
WJC JUI7362 909 Stirling – Edinburgh
Lothian 840 and 859 on the 27 within Edinburgh
First 36023 28 Edinburgh – Livingston
Horsburgh W597 PFS X90 Livingston – Dunfermline
Stagecoach 52479 X54 Dunfermline – Dundee
All bar the 909 were on a One-Ticket - now just £10.65 for Area 4-1 which includes travel from Dundee and Perth south (in fact, as far south as Berwick). This was the first one I bought since the recent change to the zones, and even more surprisingly I had NO drivers question it - the whole day! (in the past there has always been one who doesn't recognise it - like last time, when someone said "I've not seen one of those before..." but he said that the last time...) - which was good!
I did notice a job advertisement as I travelled around that may be of some use to me – made a note of the details, watch this space!
Broadband
After the “difficult first week”, my connection has started playing up… getting intermittent no or little throughput… having tested every possible combination, I just know it’s the connection… because if you connect via dial-up, the pages come down! Shall see how it goes…
BBC tickets - can't get them, and can't give them away!
Following the web ballot for tickets for Radio 1's Big Weekend, it seems the posties have been caught swiping them...
Posties suspended over ticket claims
By Alan Wilson
TWO POSTAL workers in Dundee have been suspended by Royal Mail after they were suspected of stealing Radio 1 Big Weekend tickets.
The employees, a man and a woman who both work in Dundee East delivery office, are alleged to have been found in possession of six pairs of tickets.
If an investigation confirms their guilt the two are likely to be sacked and a report sent to the procurator fiscal who will decide whether they have committed a criminal offence and should be prosecuted.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said the pair were uncovered by the company’s security staff….
Now, this is interesting… in that everyone who did not get tickets considers it unfair, whilst everyone else who got them via the post is happy. However, down in London, it seems as if the BBC have tickets they can’t give away – well, not legally anyway. An oversight when it came to local government legislation lead the Beeb to bring in members of staff to make up the audience, when they could not legally have public on site.
BBC staff asked to form audiences
The BBC has appealed to staff to make up the numbers in studio audiences after it found it was breaking the law by hosting shows at Television Centre.
E-mails have been sent to staff asking them to form the studio audiences for shows such as Top of the Pops.
Television studios need to be licensed if the public is admitted to events featuring live music. The corporation is in the process of obtaining a premises licence to cover the complex in west London. The situation emerged after a Red Hot Chili Peppers show held in the forecourt of Television Centre last month, as part of a recording for Top of the Pops. The 2003 Licensing Act, which came into force last year, requires some public entertainment to be licensed. At the time of the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, the BBC said it had originally been advised that it did not require a licence. Studio audiences have been admitted to the building since it opened in 1960. But following discussions with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, the local authority which covers Television Centre, it has been advised that a licence was necessary. A BBC statement said most programme production at the Shepherd's Bush complex would continue as usual. "The majority of BBC programmes will be entirely unaffected but we may need to make some changes to a few studio shows involving audiences," it said.
But staff members are being asked to make up the studio audience for shows such as Top of the Pops and Strictly Dance Fever until the situation is resolved. "We're asking for your help, and also hoping we can offer you some fun at the same time," director general Mark Thompson told staff in an e-mail.
TfL Oyster cards now finally valid on National Rail trains – soon
After much neogciation, TfL have now struck agreement with National Rail to use prepay and travelcards issued on Oyster smartcards, on overground National Rail trains around the greater London area.
Transport Secretary and Mayor of London announce new Oyster deal
A deal that will help London's rail passengers get the full benefit of Oyster cards and lay the foundations for a nationally accepted smartcard ticketing scheme has been struck.
The details of the announcement were set out by the new Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander and London Mayor Ken Livingstone today.
Transport for London has agreed to pay for Oyster validation equipment to be provided for all London rail stations in Zones 1 - 6.
It is a significant breakthrough that offers train companies the opportunity to accept Oyster pay-as-you go products on their services.
Transport for London has also agreed to work with the Department for Transport to ensure that all Oyster equipment is capable of accepting other smart cards.
These are currently under development for use on public transport across the country by the Integrated Ticketing Smartcard Organisation (ITSO).
But... this came just one day after…
TfL shelves Oyster e-money
Reconsiders 'uneconomical'
Transport for London (TfL) has taken a step backwards in its plans to extend the use of the Oyster smart card to payments in shops. A TfL spokesperson told Government Computing News that it has decided it is "not economical" to carry on with the plan it has followed over the past year.
In July of last year it announced a shortlist of potential partners with which it would discuss the possibilities of adding new services to the Oyster card. These could include using the card – currently used to prepay for travel - at parking machines or paying for low value items at news agents, supermarkets and fast food outlets.
Its discussions have since led it to believe it has to reconsider the plan, as it could not fully define the procurement.
"No one in Britain has done it before, and we did not know what exactly to procure," the spokesperson said. "We've cancelled the notice in OJEU that said we were looking for a partner, but we are still interested in getting it up and running. "It may be that someone comes to us or it may be that we ourselves have an idea on how we can do it." There is no timetable for further developing the idea, and the spokesperson said that, as the Oyster card was originally developed to pay for travel, the change in plan would not affect the economic structure of the scheme.
The card was originally said to be non-ITSO compliant – TfL made up their own specification – which may be why they’ve considered it uneconomical. Nice to see what a difference a day makes, i.e. not a lot...
Blog updated
I’ve spent a few hours typing up my blog – as you can see, I’ve been very busy this past fortnight, making lots of good progress. I’m feeling good right now – although after a few hours of typing I want more coffee! – but the flu-ey feelings just keep coming and going. I am getting 7.5mbps downstream right now… just so you know!
First ScotRail puts fares up and down
I shall let you read this press release from First ScotRail. No matter how they say it, it’s a fare rise. The Dundee – Glasgow and Dundee – Aberdeen apex options were removed near the end of the NatEx ScotRail franchise.
Firstly, this may be unavoidable, but it comes in the middle of a huge rail replacement operation, whilst Network Rail takes up most of the tracks arund Perth, and buses replace trains between Stirling and Dundee.
Secondly, if you are going for the day to Glasgow, it is cheaper to buy two tickets than one! Assuming you can avoid getting there before 0930 on weekdays, and don’t come home during the evening peak, then you will be cheaper to buy a Cheap Day Return from Dundee to Perth, and another from Perth to Glasgow. Why? Partly because the Cheap Day Returns are based on a different fare structure, but there is no Cheap Day Return from Dundee to Glasgow.
Current fares for walk-up travel
Dundee – Perth Cheap Day Return £5.80
Perth – Glasgow Cheap Day Return £10.90 according to National Rail Enquiries website, or £11.90 according to First ScotRail
This makes £16.70 or £17.70 – which is still a lot less than a SuperSaver (not Fridays or Summer Saturdays) at £23.20, or a Saver at £32.70. These two tickets have no evening peak restrictions, but cannot be used before 0915.
One other travel offer – if you can travel off-peak on selected trains on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, the little-advertised Midweek Mover which is £12.00 – yes, that’s return, despite being less than the price of a single £23.10 upwards.
Right, now which ticket did you want again?
Beware surveys which are not all they appear to be…
El Reg has published the results of a “survey” by Uswitch.com – and I quote…
Three of the UK's leading broadband providers have been slammed for being pants, according to research carried out by price comparison website uSwitch.com.
Its survey of 16,000 grown-ups by pollsters YouGov found that BT, NTL and AOL - who between them account for half of all broadband subscribers in the UK - came bottom in seven out of nine categories between them.
In particular, the research found that four in ten BT customers believe the telco doesn't provide value, while a quarter of AOL customers are unhappy with the quality of their connection.
And when it comes to overall customer satisfaction, NTL came bottom of the pile, closely followed by BT.
The top performing ISP was Sheffield based ISP PlusNet.
uSwitch.com broadband product manager Chris Williams said: "It is encouraging to see that the overall level of customer satisfaction is so high across the market.
First things first, anyone going to a switching site may well do so because they are not happy with their existing service – not just to put across their point of view. I went for a look for DSL Max providers on Uswitch.com last month, and came across no such survey! I say this as an impartial non-broadband user at this point, and with no leanings either for or against BT – given my current work, and also the near six month complain of 2005/2006… I went there because I wanted to seek out more choices, having rifdled through all those suggested and recommended, and found them of no use. I was given various “switch now” buttons, which I ignored, so I could make my own definitive choice, rather than being “pushed” into something for the sake of someone making a few pennies.
Now, this might just be a co-incidence. But on El Reg back in March…
BT has called on uSwitch to come clean about commission charges following concerns about the transparency of the online price comparison service.
uSwitch - which was snapped up by US outfit EW Scripps for £210m ($366m) earlier this month - describes itself as a "free, impartial...comparison and switching service that helps customers compare prices on a range of services including gas, electricity, home phone, broadband providers and personal finance products".
It claims to be able to save consumers money on their bills and generates its own revenue by a "small commission payment [from the gaining provider] when a customer chooses to switch or apply for a product through us".
But documents obtained by the Mirror suggest uSwitch was prepared to offer BT the chance to recruit more punters for a fee - something that is strenuously denied by uSwitch. Quoting from the letters, the Mirror reports that uSwitch wanted a £40,000 a month "advertising" fee to add BT and its logo to the uSwitch website. It also proposed a commission of £50 for each new punter it signs up to BT.
The story has prompted John Robertson MP, chairman of the all-party telecoms group, to contact regulator Ofcom about the allegations amid concerns that switching sites should be more open about the fees they charge.
"It is vital the advice given by switching companies is totally impartial," he told the paper. "It would be highly improper if the advice they give is determined by financial incentives."
Now BT has hit back at what it calls "a lack of full transparency" and is demanding changes be introduced to ensure that consumer confidence is not undermined.
BT Retail chief operating officer John Petter said consumers "may be surprised to know the huge commissions involved for the switching companies".
"There is obviously nothing wrong in competition and choice - both of which are great for consumers. But customers also clearly deserve open and transparent information about the levels of commission-based selling and the potential savings that can be made from switching. We would welcome the size of commissions being made public to a customer - just as they usually are when advice is given in the financial services sector."
"We would also welcome clarification from uSwitch on what information they use to underpin product comparisons. BT recently worked with a leading accountancy firm to examine what we know about uSwitch's data and we don't recognise the amounts of potential savings being claimed," he said.
But uSwitch has rejected the allegations claiming that the "context in which uSwitch has been cited is wholly inappropriate and there have been serious misrepresentations made in these articles".
A spokeswoman for uSwitch told us: "The allegations that form the basis of the articles in question, whereby uSwitch is accused of industry failings and 'murky money making methods' are completely unfounded. Consumers can be assured that our service is accurate and impartial. uSwitch is transparent about the fact that it has commercial relationships in place and is independent of all the companies it represents, these relationships are in place to help us maintain a free service and to make the switching process as convenient as possible for our customers."
A spokesman for Ofcom declined to comment on the story insisting it was a matter for BT and uSwitch.
Happy Free Comic Book Day!
In work… still!
I was at work today… again… despite having a very quiet day on Friday, I was still stuffed with the cold! Our operations manager (i.e. “big boss”) was in today, and even she mentioned she’d noticed I had looked under the weather this week. I can’t explain why… right now, I can’t explain anything…
During work today, a poster was passed around looking for applications for the E-mail team i.e. to respond to emails rather than calls, five days a week 1500-2300. I did give it some thought, then rejected it. Why?
1. I would lose 5.5 hours a week, but get paid an extra 3.5 – when you count travel time and unpaid meal breaks.
2. My travel costs would increase by 25%, as I would need to go to work five days a week, instead of four.
3. After tax and NI, taking the extra money away from what I would spend on buses to get to/from work, it would be less than £10 benefit.
So, even excluding all the past history, it still didn’t make sense.
For me, for now.
Tube falls apart
Yes, it’s a Friday, so there has to be a Tube related story here somewhere.
Speed restrictions imposed on Tube network after Metronet fails to carry out routine works
Speed restrictions are being imposed across the Tube network after a failure by Metronet Rail SSL to carry out routine track work to cope with summer temperatures. This is a standard rail industry activity to allow for expansion due to heat. 20mph speed restrictions, to ensure safe running of trains, are currently in place on sections of the District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines.The areas most affected are the east and west ends of the District line, the north end of the Metropolitan line and the west end of the Piccadilly line.
Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport for London (TfL), said: "This is the latest in a series of inexcusable failures by Metronet. "Why should Londoners put up with this? We're not even in a heat wave yet. This is simply poor management and planning. The reputation of Metronet's shareholders - Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Bombardier Transportation, EDF Energy and Thames Water - are being severely damaged by their association with this shambles.The consortium's shareholders will have to step in and sort out this dreadful mess."
London Underground management is holding talks with Metronet to learn how they plan to rectify this latest series of failures, and to ensure London Underground does not face similar problems throughout the spring and summer. Metronet Rail SSL is responsible for the renewal and maintenance of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines. It is also responsible for the maintenance of the Piccadilly line between Hammersmith and Acton Town.
OK, who remembers the performance of various First CentreWest bus garages before Mr H. left them to join the board of TfL? Large holes in the performance of the 207/607 and U4 spring to my mind… and indeed non-appearance of hourly overnight N207’s to Uxbridge left many with no alternative except to pay for taxi fares. But, this defiantly in no way condones the lazy actions of the PPP hit squad. It’s not the first time this Spring that a PPP contractor has not done the work, is it?
Spot The Clifference
Spot The Clifference
WARNING - Contains an audio snippet of "Mistletoe & Wine"....
Brum transport funnies
I've had a few amusing text messages and responses to this week from Paul H in Brum - and he's added a few items of his own today.
Have you ever seen The Great Bear? It's a version of the london tube map, with named changed to various celebrities and themes. Well, someone has taken the Travel West Midlands Birmingham Connections map - done by him and his colleagues - and made a modified version called The Great Bull, which "we rather liked".
As a bonus, he sent... "And since you've now got broadband, I quite like this - its almost an Inner Circle cab ride, but not quite..."
Yes, thanks Paul - ten minutes before I realised it was on loop! lol
Investigation
I was at work today, and had been called to see the agency re lateness. 6 times in 6 months sounds bad, until you realise that two were days when I was in on time and could not get a computer. 2 were my fault – one day I slept in, one day I think I slept in, but I logged travelling on a much later bus that day, so I guess I did. 2 were “other” – one on my search across the west of Dundee and Invergowrie following my doctor’s 2nd visit (look up 8th March), and the other was a Saturday past when Boots took 20 mins to sign my medication, despite them being on the shelf for two days… On the basis of four lates only, I was given a verbal. Fair enough, especially as those which were not my fault, or that of anyone outside work, were removed from the record. To be fair, there has been a tightening up of minutes and hours worked and timed recently at work, so I doubt that I will be likely to be in without a pc again (unlike last Saturday, when I had to try three machines to get one that worked…) Anyway, that will go well with my final written for attendance – which is just about cleared during the last 8 months or so while I’ve been on a fixed shift.
Broadband Again
It’s syncing at 7.5, 7.6, 8.1mbps – don’t think it has gone below 7.5mpbs yet...
Broadband
Remember I mentioned my order with EFH Broadband? Well, I got an email earlier today, as I was looking for my activation date – by my estimation, it should be mid-late this week. It’s tomorrow i.e. Thursday. Good. It’s the usual BTWS time of “up to 6pm”, so it could be at any time betwen midnight & 6pm on the day of actvation.
So, I came home from work, and decided to have a play around. I had a SpeedTouch 330 modem (which I despise, largely on the grounds of sloppy coded drivers for Windows XP which cause 680 errors, and their technical support staff being rude and aggressive to us at work, despite moving from Belgium to Amsterdam. They once accused a BT home worker senior manager of having an illegitimate copy of Windows, despite me advising them that the computer was supplied by his employers i.e. BT.) So, I tried their drivers twice – nothing.
I dug out the old Intel 3220 which I had from last time. Some customers had problems getting these to work on 2mb, but it’s worth a shot – especially as I’d heard one of our 8mb trial people had – allegedly - used one of these fine on 8mb. So, installed the old original 3320/3240 driver, and rebooted.
It powered up.
It got sync after about 15 seconds.
It CONNECTED at 8.1mbps, with 50 minutes to go until the start of my activation date!
Now, even I was surprised by this! The line test expected me to get 6.5mbps, and here I was getting 8.1mpbs in plenty of time! After downloading some stuff – one piece of software that last night was going to take three and a half hours, downloaded in ten minutes. My mail was finished getting picked up within seconds… I rebooted, and had to remove the plug of the modem before it got sync. No fear, that happened sometimes before too – especially if you booted via ScanDisk. Anyway, on at 7.5mbps – can’t complain about that… 40 minutes into it, lots downloaded, Mix 100.5 streaming in the background (yes I am sad, but the first thing I could find to prove it was all working!) – and someone tried to port scan me, all within the hour. And, yes I do know it’s probably because I am just round the corner from the exchange (three minute walk), but for some reason I am getting more upload (about 450k) than some Telewest customers right now - a very rare bit of one-up[wo]manship!
As you can imagine, I went to bed (a few hours later!) very happy…
Glasgow & Dundee
As I posted a few months back, I was to come back after two/three months to the Sandyford Initiative, where I had last been in January/February this year. A lot has happened since then, and this i the “drop in on the first Tuesday of the month” clinic, hence no appointment. I did have a card, just in case work changed my shift… and what duly happened? You could almost say this is writing you material. On the way into Glasgow, a truck had shed its load on the M8 at Townhead, with what looked like a truck load of ladders. No signs of any snakes, after all the First management probably didn’t want to come out of Larkfield! (Lol)
The clinic was closed the day before (it doubles up as a clinic for a variety of other issues, including a family planning/morning after clinic), hence it was very busy. After a medium wait (i.e. not the worst I’ve ever had at the hands of the nhs – try six hours in A&E at North Middlesex Hospital), John (who saw me last time) called me in. I explained the loss of the letter at the hands of my doctors, but he was glad that they had prescribed the hormones after all. This was a co-incidental week, as it was 12 weeks since I saw him last, and one day short of eight weeks since the first dose (and I’d just started another pack). After some discussion of how things are going, he’s said I can double the dose of oestrogen I am taking – now that was a sort of surprise, but given that there has been no negative side effects, and mild positive ones, it’s worth carrying on.
On the way home, saw the Miller Glasgow Comedy Festival liveried open top Metrobus from City Sightseeing Glasgow, an advertisement for XFM Scotland which I liked… and then as I was taking this, I could swear I heard a Leyland Atlantean climbing North Hanover Street… and I was right! It was former LA1204, which is usually based at the GVVT at Bridgeton. It was displaying 100, which is weird too because the 100 (SECC & City Centre) used to pass up this way…
I headed back to the bus station, just passing in time to see a Trident on the 88 heading north – still with Route 11 branding (see yesterdays blog post), and with no working destination display… talk about rubbing their face in it!
Just in time before I got the bus home, met the West End Poet - who tells me work have had him working hard on lots of things. I’m sure he will post it all up in time.
On the way home, I saw a new Strathtay Trident – one of the four at Blairgowrie – prepping for the 1530 short run to Muirhead, on the 59. I went out to Seagate to snap it, after the bus was delayed by a regular drunken “passenger” who became less than vertical four times on the stance, and then attempted to land a punch on one of the stance spares… anyway, the new Alexander-Dennis Tridents are something for another day, as I’m happy enough today!
The Tridents are the only new buses currently on order for Strathtay, after the original company order for four Volvo B7’s was vetoed by the new management. Having said that, it is not the only Stagecoach investment in the City though, as Fife are about to launch the updated Service 99/99A/99B group (Dundee – St Andrews), using Bus Route Development Grant funding for more buses, and eight new MAN/ALX200 low floor buses. The total investment in the twelve new buses is expected to leave little change from two million pounds.
Bank Holiday Monday
We were almost not working today. Interestingly those of us who work to older contracts, i.e. paid more for bank holidays, were rostered off for this day, to be replaced by new starts, who do not!
Most of us do not work Tuesdays anyway, but we all had something planned… I’m through in Glasgow tomorrow morning… Adam is off home to visit the family… etc. – so it was mostly reversed.
I was stuffed with the cold for most of the day, despite taking as much painkillers etc. as I could! But I was there…
First takes away easy access buses… and this might explain why…
onight’s Glasgow Evening Times quotes from various people along First Glasgow’s No. 11 route (Parkhall – Bishopbriggs), a fairly long two hours or so end-to-end trip, which was converted to ex-London Dennis Trident/Plaxton President’s last year. At the time, the recycled buses (remember they became surplus to First in London when Stagecoach won the 25 when it was converted to bendibuses, stating that the garage they had was not suitable for artic use) were put on the route under great fanfare. At the time, some people questioned why the fanfare for what was basically the same as the low-floor single deckers, and the Volvo/Gemini’s entering service on the south side, mostly at Larkfield depot, and the “investment” of a bus that had already done many hard years at work in east London. The press release at the time (4th August 2005) said…
Local bus passengers in Glasgow are set to benefit from significant improvements to service 11, thanks to an investment in higher quality vehicles from bus operator First.
From early August, this route will be upgraded to operate with low floor double deckers, in response to feedback from passengers and locally elected representatives. These new vehicles will benefit from bright modern interiors, equipped with heating and ventilation which will allow for a more comfortable, relaxing and pleasant journey for passengers. They will offer super low floor, easy access for parents with buggies, people in wheelchairs and the elderly, making public transport more accessible for everyone. All buses are fitted with a ‘kneeling’ mechanism, which allows the driver to lower the front passenger side door to the pavement for even easier access.
Commenting on this latest move, Eric Stewart, First’s Managing Director in Glasgow said:
“These low floor double deckers will be used on service 11, providing maximum comfort and capacity on one of our key corridors which provides vital links to key landmarks in Glasgow such as Asda at Robroyston, Tesco Extra in Springburn, the Royal Infirmary and Glasgow University. We hope that by offering customers better quality vehicles, journeys will be more pleasant and comfortable for our regular passengers and more people will be encouraged to travel with us ”.
(Cut)
This most recent investment in new vehicles comes just months after First announced a £29 million investment in 220 brand new vehicles for Greater Glasgow. The first 84 of these vehicles are currently operating on services 16, 18 and 44, which serve the west end of the city. Last year, the route of service 11 was improved to operate to the St Mary’s Road area of Bishopbriggs to allow passengers greater access to shopping and leisure facilities.
First’s representative basically said that the reason for this was because the service was not busy enough. So, why use the PS types – a Volvo single deck bus with Alexander bodywork, which has a flat floor but three steps up at the front – instead of some of the new single deck Volvo/Wright easy access buses that are now flooding the city? They’ve got even less seats in them!
Yes, you might begin to wonder why. This is not the first route to lose easy access buses – the old 71 (now the 40), X8, 41, are just three random examples that spring to my mind – and I live around 90 miles from these routes! So, why did the 11 seem to qualify for an upgrade anyway? Well, former MD Eric Stewart, who has just left on medical grounds, used to live on the route…
I’ll let you write your own punchline on that one… suffice to say, it’s at times like this when those who like to stick it to privatisation and profits have it in the bag… if the 11 is reduced to a 30 minute daytime service due to “lack of demand” (and First has been fairly tight at removing low demand services, following their public enquiry and licence restrictions), well, just wonder “what might have been”.
