John

This is John - one of the regular drivers on a bus route we often use.

John is one of several regular drivers who are all excellent and we have got to know them as we have travelled to and fro. John is what would generally be called a cheerful chappie and we can always rely on him for a smile. It's just a pity the same cannot be said of the buses that always appear to be breaking down. We have the best drivers but the worst vehicles in the fleet.

Silly Season

I've stood over an hour today waiting for buses. The service is not reliable at all and the old vehicles regularly break down which one did today so the half hourly service was anything but. It's still no excuse for this though.

A new timetable was put up in this bus shelter a few days ago. It was defaced almost immediately and today it had been inverted. So for all my friends in the antipodes, this picture is for you. It doesn't matter what time of year it is, it seems it is always the silly season for some people.

Mobile Information

Just when I thought this "information" trend had reached a natural conclusion, a green MacMillan bus took up a position outside the Town Hall in the Market Place and offered a whole load of information about cancer.

Although the information boards seen so far are permanent or semi-permanent  fixtures the information provided here is most definitely of a mobile nature and will soon move on to some other location but the work carried out by the dedicated MacMillan nurses is priceless.
Link

Blast From The Past

Red double decker buses were once commonplace around Ilkeston but over the years have disappeared from our streets. It was something of a surprise therefore to spot this one today but it made me realise that as with many things, changes take place in our lives and we never really notice until something crops up to remind us. The sight of this was a real blast from the past.

Bottleneck

Derby's new bus station has been open for some months now (I think it was March) but the work outside the entrance is still ongoing in addition to adjacent roadworks and it looks as though it will be a few more months yet before either are anywhere near completion. The passageway created at the bus station entrance is a real bottleneck for pedestrians and earlier before I took this shot, a street cleaning machine was adding to the problem by blocking half the walkway. You would have thought that the Project Manager could have done a better job in the planning phase so that the pedestrian access was completed before the road works started but that's common sense talking again!

 

Go Mango!

It sounds like a cry from the Rock'n'Roll age but "Go Mango!" refers to the man dressed as a mango on Ilkeston Market Place today. He was there to help celebrate a birthday. It was just a year ago that Trent Barton unveiled the new buses for the Two service between Ilkeston and Nottingham and today saw the start of a long distance balloon race with a free bus pass for a year for the winner.

Don't Blame The Driver

Friday's experience of standing in the cold and wet waiting for a bus in Heanor didn't exactly put us off using public transport so we went out on Saturday morning with the intention of taking the half-hourly bus up to the Market Place - just in time to see it going up the road. Now you can normally rely on this service being at least a few minutes late but just for once it was bang on time. So we walked up the hill did our shopping and then walked down Bath Street from the Market Place and did manage to catch a bus that took us most of the way back home.


Then I forgot to transfer the pictures from the camera until this morning and missed posting this blog yesterday. What did I say about buses being late? It happens to the best of us so better late than never and I'll try and remember to post today's blog later this afternoon.

The Wisdom Of It!

Governments often come in for a lot of criticism and their decisions are often met with disapproval by at least 50% of the population but one thing the older generation are grateful to our current administration for must be the introduction of free travel on local buses. You do however wonder about the wisdom of the decision to leave the car at home when standing in the rain with an icy wind nearly blowing your ears off on Heanor Market Place whilst waiting for the public transport to arrive!


Even more disappointing was the fact that the one item we had travelled to Heanor for had sold out but we did enjoy a nice mug of hot chocolate before we went to catch the bus.

Recurring Theme

It came as quite a surprise this morning to find that there had been a good snowfall overnight and while it created a picturesque scene in the middle of the town it also highlighted what could well become a recurring theme with this blog. One of my pet hates is the number of times traffic rules and regulations are being broken in the town. From vehicles in pedestrian zones (see yesterday's blog) to parking offences; from cars and vans travelling in bus lanes to others passing through no entry signs and travelling the wrong way down one-way streets you can see them all on a daily basis. And nothing seems to be done about it.


The snow today provided evidence of another violation with tyre tracks across the virgin fall on the Market Place. I really must take a lead from the temperature and chill out!

Slinky & Kinky

Continuing the feline theme from yesterday, here's another black cat.


For many years, the Felix Bus Company had the famous logo but copyright issues raised their ugly head last year and the logo had to be dropped as an extortionate amount was required for its continued use. The service from Derby to Mansfield that passes through Ilkeston still goes by the name of the Black Cat but the spanking new buses now sport a different logo.