A new shed

Couple of days off and taking advantage of the good weather. Cut the hedge yesterday which had not been done for years. Looks a lot better and people can now walk past the house without getting attacked by a hedge. Now have to dispose of the cuttings. Highlight of the day is that our new shed has arrived. Friend is coming round this afternoon so hope to get it up by this evening.

We can now use the gate and hopefully the box turns into a shed.

Road closure

Frome back last few days and last night approached Hungerford to be confronted with the A4 closed. No problem I thought just follow the diversion and drop the passenger off. One problem, the diversion was cars only! I followed the HGV diversion which took me back to the M4 and no way to get back to Hungerford. Luckily the passenger arranged to get his friend to pick him up from Marlborough so saved the cost of a taxi. However it would have been a lot better if this had been correctly signposted.

Terms and conditions (again)

For those of you who do not travel by National Express you will not be aware of Funfares. These are cheap tickets. They are available on certain services and from specific stops only. The problem comes when people try and use them to go to an airport. They think that as we stop there then they can get off. However these are not valid for travel to or from an airport. This is also very unfair on passengers who have followed the rules and paid the correct fare to travel to an airport. So if you travel with a Funfare note.

• You can get off at an airport but the driver does not need to open the locker to get your luggage
• If the coach is full it may well not stop at the airport. (you miss your flight)
• You will proberly not travel at all as you will be told to buy another ticket.

The moral of the story is play the game, but remeber the rules and the driver plays as well.

Renewal time

Well age has finally caught up with me. For those of you who do not know holders of PSV and HGV licences have to renew them when they reach 45 and then every five years after that. I have reached the first milestone. Today was my medical which went OK.
However, I have to send my licence off to the DVLA and having seen BBC Watchdog
I was a little concerned as I do not want to loose my bike entitlement so I have :

• Sent a letter to my MP. He has been very helpful and contacted DVLA for me
• Kept copies of my licence
  
• Taken a trip to DVLA in Bristol. They were very helpful. They checked my application, stamped my copy with a DVLA stamp, and even sent it off without me buying a stamp. They also gave me a receipt which at least ,means if I get stopped I do have prove I have a licence.

So I now have to wait a couple of weeks to see if I still have a bike licence. I am wondering if I should should pay £5 to get my details under the Freedom of Information Act?

A Bit of overtime

Rest day working today. Long day 'Frome up' so 10 hours 'in the bag'. Though now I wish I hadn't done it. Feeling a bit knackered! Did have a strange one though. Just passed a stop and about 100m on a lady was waving. I do not stop unless someone is at the stop so carried on. Arrived at the next stop and the lady plus man appeared. She was not happy and gave me the I was at the stop etc. etc. Anyway there was nobody booked at the stop, further check of the ticket showed it was yesterday!! Apology accepted! Was planning to go out tonight but the wind is over 30mph so don't fancy a trip through the lanes in the dark.