Good Friday

Well I did not take part in the Walk of Witness today as I have been having some problems with my ankle.I did feel a little guilty considering that Jesus walked up to four miles with a large cross after being flogged and beaten which he was then hung on until he was dead. However, the outdoor service was pleasant and provided a time of reflection on what God does for us. There was also a time after for lunch and a time of fellowship. As I said before I am working Easter Day which hopefully will be quiet as no shops are open.

Easter

Worked half day today as a 'Rest Day' 318/319 to Cribbs Causway and back. Very quiet as we are now into the Easter holidays. I am off tomorrow Good Friday and plan to take part in a walk of witness. This is where Christians re-enact the walk Jesus made with his cross to where he was crucified.
Unfortunately I have work both Saturday and Sunday. A little annoyed about the Sunday as it is properly the most important day in the Christian calendar. This is is the day when Jesus rose from the dead. This one day gives us the knowledge that we to will rise again and live forever. Some people will say how can you work? why do you nor refuse on religious grounds? the reason is that I knew when I started the job this would be the case and my view is that I am on this earth to do Gods work so by working Easter Sunday I will be helping people to attend church, see their families therefore carrying out the work of God. Happy Easter to you all. 

Thinking on your feet

Most of the time driving a bus is fairly straightforward. You drive down a road you know, a bus you know and even passengers you know. So apart from weather, traffic etc you tend not to take much interest in the area you drive. However, every now and then a situation arises that forces you to think and act in an 'out of the box way'. Monday was one of those days. I had the 319 to Cribbs Causeway I like this route and until Parkway Station had been uneventful. As I approached Parkway the traffic stopped, I managed to fight my way to the bus lane and got into the station. The traffic had still not moved much so I assumed it was an accident. Leaving the station I saw two of our vehicles at the side of the road and I thought the worse. I pulled up behind them and saw that the cause of the hold up was the road towards Cribbs was closed with Police carrying out accident investigation work. This is never good to see, one, because someone is very badly hurt or worse, and two, it can mean the road is closed for hours.
So we now had a situation where we had three buses with passengers wanting to go to Cribbs.'Can't you go another way?' was the question. Well yes but which way? This is where you have to contact the Traffic office and seek advice. they have to check width, height, weight restrictions. It turned out that the only way out of this was a long detour back the way we came. Having sorted the route what to do with the passengers. Out of the tree buses I was the only one with enough time so I took all the passengers off to Cribbs. At Cribbs the situation was interesting as very few buses had got there many passengers were stranded. I decided to take any one going beyond Parkway. This worked well and a few others came along as they could be dropped off along the way. I was displaying 'Not In Service' so would not normally stop on the way. However, the situation dictated that I stop and enquire where waiting passengers were going. This resulted in some very relieved passengers getting to their destination. Back on time at Downend a passenger boarded and said my doors were broken. They were correct as I discovered the air working the doors had failed. The procedure for this is to take the bus to the depot empty as you can not have passengers on with open doors. However, I had about twenty elderly passengers who were going to Kingswood. So the 'procedure' used here is to move the passengers as far down the bus and drop them at a safe stop which in this case was their destination. A some say driving a bus is boring.