Hello and welcome to my Blog, my name is Chris, a bus driver for First West Of England based in Wells, Somerset. I am Chair for the depot branch of Unite the Union. Married to Fiona, we live in Midsomer Norton near Bath, with Boots the cat. My main hobby is Amateur Radio and I hold the call sign G4KVI. I am the repeater keeper for GB3UB and MB7UB. I have a fascination for the weather and all things to do with nature and science. As a Christian I worship at St. Nicholas Church in Radstock. These are my observations on my life, both at work and at home.

29 May 2009

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.

20 May 2009

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.

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