You meet all sorts

First day back after my holiday and a very quiet day, I think half term must have started in some parts. I have to say after a week driving a car I much prefer driving the coach, sounds strange but that's the way it is! Had a decent coach to come back with, one of Bristol's Scania as I said before the drive of these is so much better than the Volvo. However, the one thing I do not like is the lack of a window in the bottom of the door. You have to use a mirror to see the kerb. As with most thing though after a while you get used to it.
One of the things I enjoy with this job is the people you meet. You can get all walks of live and it is always interesting to see what happens when people have to sit next to each other. With National Express if you have mobility problems you can ask for assistance. This means people can have extra help with boarding and help with luggage etc. Yesterday had a couple in the front seats. This was the first time they had used the the coach as they thought they were a little old to use the car. Chatting with them I found out they both played golf and bowls and seemed full of life. As we went round to departures it turned out the gent was 92 and his wife was 87!!! All I can is good luck to them and I hope that I am like that in 47 years time.

A few days away

What a fantastic few days. Fiona has gone line dancing this weekend in Bournemouth and as I had some holiday I said we would go down a few days early. What a good decision. The weather was fantastic and the Travelodge we stayed in was only 5 minutes from the beech. We took Harvey and he had a ball. He has never been to the sea side so had great fun running in and out of the water and then rolling in the sand, this results in one nice clean dog. Not. Thankfully we don't call him 'Teflon dog' for nothing and in no time he was clean and dry.
One thing I did find driving around is that many towns seem to have road systems and signing designed only for locals. I found it very difficult at times to find my way to 'A' as the road sign often pointed to 'B' but you had to know 'B' was on the way to 'A'!
Still a great time spent away and will go down on Sunday to pick Fiona up.

Better get the coach!

From the BBC

Rail services halted by repairs

No trains will run through the Bath area for the next six weekends due to essential maintenance works.

There will be no services between Bristol and Bath, Bath and Westbury in Wiltshire or Westbury and Swindon while tracks and embankments are repaired.

Replacement bus services will be provided during October and November.

First Great Western services will also be affected as services to Paddington from Bristol Temple Meads will not stop at Bath or Chippenham.

A spokesman for First Great Western said: "We apologise to any customers affected by this change to our services while Network Rail carries out essential maintenance.

"We would have liked to provide alternative bus services much closer to Bath Spa, but with the huge regeneration project currently underway in front of the station, this is unfortunately not possible."

The work, over the next six weekends, starts on Sunday, 12 October and should be completed by Sunday, 16 November 2008.

The bus replacement service in Bath will run from Riverside Coach Park and not from Bath Spa railway station.