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I make no excuses, little has happened in the bus world that I haven’t already mentioned in the past and I’ve enjoyed the rest if I’m honest but perhaps it’s time to dust off the keyboard and knock out a few ‘a day in the life of a bus driver’ stuff.
The seaside town of Bognor Regis has always been the butt of jokes along with Littlehampton (insert sound effects of schoolboy giggles) but I have started a personal vendetta to remove Bognor from the map completely (just a large car park would be nice), Locals to the town may have read of an incident recently involving a bus, the local bowls club and a large brick pillar. To add insult to injury, Worthing will now be hosting the famous Birdman competition because we’ve got a bigger one, Pier that is, at least the end didn’t fall off ours!
Back to Bognor. There is a large section of the town that has a Bus Only road right in the middle, leading in to it is a narrow road with two large signs saying ‘Buses and cycles only’. Imagine my delight as I was just about to set off when I saw this car staring down this very road, I held back just enough for the car to pass the half way point, then I set off from the other end coming face to face with the errant car driver, my how I smiled down at him, my how embarrassed he looked and what a long distance he had to reverse.
Free bus passes go national. If you have a bus pass you are now no longer restricted to your home county, you can go ANYWHERE (except Scotland and Wales but who’d want to go there anyway) but there are some drawbacks and Worthing is one of them. Most places in the UK allow travel from 9am, not Worthing, oh no, it’s 9.30 and lump it matey, now here’s the twist, Worthing borders the village of Ferring which is a different time zone (in oh so many ways) and anyone waiting for the bus at 9am can get on, now those living on the ‘wrong side’ have cottoned on to this and of course walk that small distance to cross the border into Ferring, now here’s the rub as they used to say . . . .
There is a difference and it’s written on the passes so we still have to refuse travel to those that have ‘migrated’ because I’m afraid to reveal, many of the drivers can now read and know the difference. We do get a triad of curses and insults and no matter how much we tell the potential passenger that’s it’s the council that decides (you voted for them remember) and not the bus company, please don’t pick on me, I’m just doing my job.
‘I thought this was an every 10 minute service’ said the woman boarding the bus, ‘Yes’ replied I, ‘Well I’ve been waiting for half an hour now’ she retorts, ‘I’m sorry, there has been a bit of a delay due to the road works on the seafront’, She didn’t reply but offered up one of those looks that only women can, one of pure disbelief. Three stops later we join the end of the traffic jam at said road works. 43 minutes later we pass the obstruction (normally a 3 minute journey) and she gets off and I offer up my usual .thank you, have a lovely day’, strangely she didn’t reply.
Whilst on the subject of road works (very popular with drivers at the moment) why oh why do they open up a hole and then leave it for days, no workmen, no vans, nothing. And another thing, they put up the cones and barriers then pile in to the van and sit there having lunch! And just how many times have we seen one guy working and 4 guys watching . . . and another thing I’ve noticed . . . have you seen just how many vehicles are towing a trailer of some kind that has no number plate, or a hand written one or one that’s completely different from the vehicle towing it and often no working lights and in most cases the towing vehicle has the words ‘Highway Maintenance’ in large letters on the back, yep, it’s those guys who dig the bloody holes.
Rant over.
Jimmy (still not dead)
