I’m in London now and writing this on a public PC in Victoria Library. To gain computer access you have to be a library member but don’t have to live within the City of Westminster to join. Not sure I’d be happy about that if I paid my Council Tax to the City of Westminster then couldn’t get use of a PC because all the ‘out of towners’ were using them! Still it suits me very well to able to check e-mail etc. while I’m having my break before the return trip to Bournemouth.

The drive up was pleasant this morning. There was no snow at all in Bournemouth, a sprinkling around Southampton and increasing amounts as I headed north up the M3. The prettiest part of the trip was between Basingstoke and the Surrey border. No sign of the travel disruption which gained headline news on the weather forecast last night.

Unfortunately, my passengers were none too pleased this morning. I was told that the coach I was driving was needed in the workshop so to transfer all passengers to a replacement coach which would meet me in Winchester. The replacement was there waiting for me and everyone swapped over and the coach I’d been driving was whisked away. Then I sat in the replacement coach and tried to adjust the seat – there was a 6″ gap between the squab and back where it was slid so far forward, the back was at what felt like 45 degrees and the front of the seat was rearing up to several inches higher than the back. Not one single adjustment button would work! The seat was totally locked up in this ludicrous set up (it’s air operated and I suspect that it had lost its air supply). It would be impossible for me to drive safely whilst contorted to fit this seat. I called control and explained the problem, the original coach was returned to me, and then I had to tell the passengers that not only had we lost 15 minutes while all this went on but we were now to get back on the original coach. The only redeeming factor in all of this is that I still managed an on time arrival in London.