Failed

Well my car failed the MOT, big time. Has a bent rear suspension arm so think that is it. Really could have done without it as money is tight and we are trying to down size and move to a smaller house. I always wonder how people with kids make ends meet. Worked yesterday on 337,318,319 and X39 so an enjoyable day. Off now until Tuesday so spending some time trying to clear the house, find somewhere to live and something to drive.

Glad that is over

Finally finished my run of early shifts. Glad to be at home and not have to worry about setting the alarm. Tomorrow is MOT day. I really hope my little Peugeot passes. Had to get a puncture repaired so now have four good tyres.

Tirdness

Been on early shift for over a week now and it is beginning to get hard work. Trying to get as much sleep as possible but difficult to get 8 hours in one go. I have been having a nap at Victoria and when I get home, this seems to help but really looking forward to Thursday's rest day.
One thing that has been good is that the traffic levels have been low and I have been able to take my time. Must comment on the M4. I think we should have a competition to see who can guess how many yards of motorway are NOT being worked on. Driving standards have not improved but I think there are enough comments on that.

Quick Post

Been on early shift all week, and next week. Will update with my usual moans and groans latter.

If you are on the M4 count how many sets of roadworks there are!!

Park and Ride

Nice day Saturday. Rugby Park and Ride. bath Rugby have a training ground and on match days we run a Park and Ride from there to the ground in the City. Not too busy and the traffic was much lighter than I had thought. Even better, Bath won.

Couldn't last

Last three days have been on Frome back. Nice run, plenty of time and not normally much traffic.
Yesterday it all went wrong. Just got to Earls court when the low water light came on. Not a problem check it when we get to Victoria. As we got to Cromwell Road the temp went up, and up. Maybe it is not just low water. Stopped at the lights by the Natural History Museum and a great cloud of steam passed me!! Maybe this would be time to stop. Pulled up and contacted the office. Only had a few passengers, some were staying in the local area so walked to their hotel, the others waited for a passing 412 to pick them up.
breakdown came and had a look and turned out to be a split water pipe. Due to it's location and kerb side repair was not possible so had to wait for recovery.
Had to wait ages for the truck to take me to Victoria. But once we got to Victoria the repair was made and we were off home without passengers. Nice drive back, radio on etc.. Finally arrived back in Bath at 0030.
Two day's off now and Park and ride overtime Saturday.

Traffic in Bath

Had a few good days this last week. Only problem has been the traffic in Bath. Friday and Saturday it has taken some drivers over 2 hours just to get out of Bath. It seems due to some roadworks in St James Street. All they seem to be doing is resurfacing which should take a couple of days but our council has the road closed for 5 weeks!! I am glad that this week I will not be around at evening rush hour.

Bath Amateur Radio Club Meeting

Bit off topic, well for driving, but an advert for my hobby.

If you are a local amateur there has been talk of starting (restarting) the Bath club, well it's happening.

The first meeting of Bath amateurs is planned for Wednesday 17 October in the Boathouse (map), starting around 20:00 - 20:30.

Come along and help get this club off the ground. Remember when you sign the book you will be part of history!!!!

To keep up-to-date with the latest local ham ragchewing, please join our active discussion group.

Well that was a better day!

After Sunday, yesterday was great, 1530 start and not many passengers or luggage. Had CSQ's though (customer satisfaction questionnaire) These are a bit of a pain as not many people fill them in and anyway half of our passengers are not English so cannot read them any way. Did have a few back, not bad comments about me so none to throw away!! (just joking).
Did have a bit of traffic into London and arrived a bit late. Was suppose to leave at 2030 but it had to be 2040 to get my 45mins in. Good trip back and arrived nicely on time and back home by 0030.
Two days off know so going to relax and enjoy.

M4 problems

Sunday started out great. Nice weather and a good drive up to London at 0715. Everywhere on time, which was great as was being shown where a new cafe was!!
Arrived in London at 1030 and had to wait for the 1100 coach to come in, he arrived on time and we headed off for South London. After a nice lunch we went and parked by the Thames. Very nice pleasant afternoon.

Left Victoria at 1430. Drive out to Heathrow was good and as I had a dupe arranged to go directly to Bath. This meant we should have arrived in bath at around 1730.
As we approached J14 signs the matrix signs where showing '50' no problem there as they often show this.

However as we passed Membury they changed to 40 and - standstill!!

After about 10mins I rang control and asked them to check Traffic master. The reply was ' M4 J14 -J15 Closed!!!!

Ok big problem now, passengers, driving hours etc.

We got reports after an hour that the earliest the motorway would reopen was 2030 (it was 1800) things were now serious, very serious. At 1900 things began to happen, the Highways agency turned up and began to turn traffic around. We ended up doing a 'U' turn and heading in a convoy the wrong way up the M4 in lane 3!!!.

When we got to J14 we were sent back down the slip road and onto to the A338. The journey to Marlbough was a nightmare. When we got to Marlborough most of the traffic headed back to the M4 leaving the A4 free. We had a good run back to Bath via Melksham and finally arrived back in Bath at 2130, 31/2 hours late!!! Still the passengers were very good and calm, thankfully.

Was supposed to start work at 0600 but with had well exceeded the driving hours so had a nice 0900 - 1600 day today!!!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.