My Council Tax Bill arrived today and the Hampshire Police Authority element of it is up by 8.1% against last year! I feel quite angry about it – see my postings from 14 February and 15 February. I never did manage to speak to them, giving up after being in a queue for some time. By the time a week had passed I realised that I was banging my head on a brick wall in trying to get them on the ‘phone – we could describe the hooligan, a local shopkeeper who’d seen it even knew the hooligan’s name! And now they want 8.1% more money!! That will be 8.1% on top of the speeding fines they collect on Lances Hill. Lances Hill is the main road out of Southampton going eastwards, it’s dual carriageway with a barrier in the centre and some of the side has railings. Yet the speed limit is 30mph and one of the many speed cameras will book you (well, me actually) for doing 36mph at 06:30 on a summer Sunday morning. Thanks, that’s another 60 quid in the fund.

This is Brighton beach around 1:00pm

I really struggled to get any picture, first problem was simply crossing the road to the sea front. I’m less aerodynamic than a brick and it took real effort walking into the wind! I actually had to lean forward and use every muscle just to move. Second problem was that it was raining, I didn’t know that water could hurt so much. The rain drops hitting my face felt like lead pellets fired from a shot gun.

A couple of years ago when I was driving local buses for Stagecoach in Winchester one of the routes I covered was Winchester to Guildford. The route followed the main road but would turn off and serve a village before joining the main road until the next village came up. Once there were roadworks meaning Bentley could not be served in the normal manner so a minibus would meet the bus and take those passengers into Bentley. At an earlier stop a passenger asked for a ticket to Bentley and I told them that this bus wouldn’t be going into Bentley, because of road works, but to transfer to the minibus when I called out. At this point the local ‘nutter’ shouted out from the back of the bus that this bus always went into Bentley. I explained again why this bus couldn’t and he told me that the last driver had gone into Bentley. I gave up and set off. When we reached the point for the transfer to the mninibus there was no minibus there! I called control and they said they’d just heard from the driver that he’d broken down. I thought about it and decided that I couldn’t wait for a replacement minibus to arrive from Winchester but would, with the controller’s consent, take my bus into Bentley (the problem was that with the road closure it meant the bus had to be turned around in Bentley, much easier done with a minibus than a larger bus). All the way into Bentley the ‘nutter’ kept telling everyone on the bus “I said this bus went into Bentley”, “I told you you were meant to go into Bentley”!

Later, a passenger on leaving the bus leant over to me and said “Have you ever considered a career in the priesthood?” I must have looked a little quizical because he added “You’ve got the patience of a saint”.

I’ve pondered since how such a career might have gone and thanks to FACEinHOLE.com I now know ;-)

Yesterday I did the Birmingham Megabus run and during my break went industrial archeaology exploring. This was, I believe, the Co-op bicycle factory. Great word “Workpeople”! I can see our Stagecoach depot with ‘Workpeople Entrance’ over the gates to the depot :-)

And at the other end a grander entrance.

The end wall had an interesting brick pattern, like an English bond but, with three courses of stretchers to one course of headers. I believe this is called English Garden Wall Bond but I’m sure a knowledgable person who sometimes visits here will confirm, or correct, this.

I did the Megabus run to Brighton today and it’s only in Brighton where you’d see a larger than life size (about 8 feet tall) picture of a transvestite, in a very short skirt barely covering the buttocks, on the side of a bus! Stephanie Starlet, Miss Alternative Brighton, appears on the side of a Brighton and Hove bus and is quoted as saying how easy it is to use the bus to get to ‘her’ engagements in Brighton. So, if your thing is to sit on seat warmed a male arse clad in a mini-skirt get yourself down to Brighton and onto a Brighton and Hove bus ;-)