Here are the newest additions to our mini-flock of chickens, they were hatched yesterday! Just have to wait 16 weeks and we’ll get more eggs .. so long as thay are hens. Otherwise it’s coq au vin!

I’m no amateur astronomer but on Monday night I couldn’t help but notice that things looked different in the western sky. Here’s a picture I took with my mobile ‘phone, click on it to see a larger version with more detail.

Pointing my mobile at the moon using the Google Sky app showed that object nearest to the moon is Venus and the feinter, but still very bright object lower in the sky is Jupiter. More detail here.

Today, as I neared a bus stop I noticed a lady who kept looking over her shoulder, toward the bus, as she walked in the direction of the bus stop. I was about to pass her since I was still 20 or so yards short of the bus stop. As I half expected she waved her arms to signal that she did want to catch the bus so I pulled up. I should point out that I was running about 4 minutes late at this point. As the lady boarded I said in what thought was a cheery manner “You’re lucky. If I’d been on time you’d never have seen me!” “What do you mean?” she replied in a not very friendly tone. “I meant that since you’re late it’s lucky that I’m late as well so you haven’t missed me”. “I know you’re late” was her response said without the slightest hesitation and in an accusatory tone.

Mentally I gave up. “Sorry” I said “it was meant to be humorous. “I see nothing humorous in the bus being late” was her parting shot as she went off to sit down!

Another bus fire, this time a Bluestar bus in Totton near Southampton.

Full story here.

I first heard about this whilst listening to the radio in my car. Two presenters, one male and one female were discussing the story which appears in the Mail Online. The female presenter said that she’d not be offended if she were addressed as ‘love, ‘darling’ or ‘babe’.

This followed a notice put up in the offices of Brighton & Hove buses saying ” ‘Please can drivers be aware that some of our customers may take offence at at having terms such as “love”, “darling” and “babe” directed towards them’. ‘This can be seen by some as by some as being a sexist comment, as a recent complaint has highlighted’. Calling someone ‘love’, ‘darling’, ‘babe’ etc is not my thing but is it really so wrong? It seems to me that the manner in which something is said carries almost more weight than the actual word/s used. Although I wouldn’t address a passenger in these terms I’ve heard other drivers do so in a cheerful, jocular, warm, genuine manner. Bus drivers are often criticised for being monosyllabic to the point of rudeness, now they’re being criticised for being cheerful and human to their passengers.

I say I wouldn’t use those words to a passenger but many times a passenger, often elderly, has called me ‘dear’ or ‘love’. I take no offence whatsoever at being addressed this way.

The Department’s website is one of the worst sites I’ve ever come across. Worst in the sense of having no uniformity, some pages appear almost amateurish in their design! However there is some interesting stuff buried within it. For example under Passenger Carrier Information For Consumers a two step process first guides you in selecting a vehicle type for your journey, then helps you to ‘Find a Safe Company Near You’.

“Companies with a graphic (! mark within a yellow diamond) status or an unsatisfactory safety rating are considered to be a higher safety risk”. It’s surprising therefore to see Megabus being rated a higher safety risk in Illinois where they are 72.5% worse than other companies in the Fatigued Driving category. In New Jersey they’re rated 76% worse than other companies for Unsafe Driving!

I think the equivalent to this in the UK would be VOSA making public its statistics on company inspections. Would that be a good or bad thing?