Midnight Walk

Last night was the Dorothy House midnight walk. Bath Raynet was asked to provide communications for the organiser and for the local council. Our role was to report on the progress of the walk and also to be on hand should a major incident occur. Bath is a difficult place for communications and normally we run a Talk Tru unit or relay station, this enables stations to use hand-held radio's without the need for complex set ups. We usually use a members house which has a clear view over the city. However he is currently in the RUH after some problems with his back. I hope he recovers soon. We were left with two options, one was to use simplex/direct comms or use GB3UB. Given the locations and the buildings it was decided to us GB3UB. Despite some problems within the South gate centre this worked very well. Myself and Fiona were in control and thankfully it was a very quite evening. There were no incidents, the first walker was in within an hour and a we were stood down at 0230. So what lessons have we learned from this exercise?

1. Even 'line of site' locations can still suffer problems.
2. Use of headphones a must.
3. GB3UB has proven it's use in 'emergency' situations. Though it would be good to have remote control of the logic.
4. Care must be taken at night in the city due to Pub and club users.
5. The car park is 30 feet under ground with no comms cover.

Bottom line though the event went very well and everyone performed well and I believe over £7000 was raised on the night. Well done to everyone.

Blimey!!!!!!!

http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/alberta-oilfield-terrorists.html

Out of area driving

One of the problems of bus driving is that you drive in areas you are unfamiliar with. You know all the routes and maybe some of the sites/landmarks, but if someone asks 'do you know where ..... street is?' you have no idea. You do your best and if possible ask other passengers, but a lot of the time you end up not being much help, which is not what a passenger wants.
Today I was doing the 337/318 to Cribbs Causeway This is a 'driver breaker'. It is, at least a four hour round trip and like today full of traffic hold ups. (how do people commute?) However when I arrived at UWE a lady came up to me and said she had something for me. My mind raced a bit and then she returned with a little old lady in tow! A very pleasant lady but somewhat confused. It appears she had got on the wrong bus and the lady had taken her for a cup of tea and kept her company until I arrived. (there are still people like that) She said she knew where she was going so off we went. When we arrived at Cribbs the lady was still on the bus! I sat with her to try and find out exactly where she lived. With the help of another passenger it turned out she lived near Ikea in Eastville. Now, as I have said the problem of driving in an unfamiliar area is that you may know where things are but do not know what buses go where. Again with the help of the passenger and a local driver we worked out how she could get home. I felt bad having to leave her there so to make sure I gave her a note to give to the driver. I just hope she managed to get home but if you see a little old lady riding buses in Bristol, do me a favour and take her home.