Bath Tec School

Hi Anth, nice one, should have emptied the pool sooner!

Know what you mean about Steve and hols though I'm afraid Spain does not do it for me.

Went to Barcelona once, only hours before we arrived the factory had an exploson in the boiler house, killed two blokes, demolished said building and blew all the office windows out. Turned around and came back. Factory was without power for a week!

Sort of put me off a bit.

Hope you have a good time down in darkest Devon in the motor home.

John.

Just a quickie to wish Rich a happy holiday, hope I caught you before you left Rich, have an Ouzo or two for me.

 

Just in case anybody's been watching the coverage of the Tour of Britain, I may have mugged my way onto the cameras as I was standing close to the winner when he was being interviewed after the finish, I've been marshalling for the day so look out for the fat bald git with dark glasses and a yellow flak jacket.

 

Stu

Hi all.

Was wondering where you had all gone!

Enjoy your well deserved hols Rich.

Whilst on the subject, I go back to Ireland next Sunday for about a week I think, unfortunately not a holiday though.

S'pose it'll be raining as usual! Ah well.

Regards to all.

John.

PS Did anyone notice the bus chassis pic and details?  

Hello all,

The weather was exceedingly kind to us, arrived wed p.m. @ site above Sennen, sun shone.. took the open-top all day bus service to Padstow, St. Ives, Hayle, Marazion, Penzance then onto Lands end, Sennen Cove at and back home. A short sleeved shirt, no hat .. was no match for the sunshine that day.. I arrived home with a burnt face .. and blistered nose .. too k two days for it to go brown and started flaking off .. Ha Ha.

 

Did about 430 miles in total, had no rain .. and it was sunny on demand..I`ll see if I can get her indoors to move down to Barnstable way for you Stu.

 

I have to go as Anth is on the phone.

Hi all.

Glad you and Carol had such good weather Bill, ideal for gadding about on open topped buses.

Shame you never had chance to visit the London Inn whilst you were at Padstow, but never mind maybe on another occasion!

I thought you may appreciate the bus photo Anth, as you say, not sure what plod would make of it these days. I particularly liked the temporary front mudguards, but none on the back!

Took the caravan to the local dealers today to have movers fitted, when I brought it back home tonight it took me about five minutes to achieve what used to take over an hour. Last time I brought it home it took four 'Look outs' to assist. This time I did it on my own. Terrific toy, great fun, and the look on the neighbours' faces when they saw a caravan apparently parking itself was something to behold! Smashing old job.

Might go out in the van again when I get back from Ireland, just for the fun of parking it when I get home.

Thinking of getting a solar panel to keep battery topped up whilst the van is parked. I'm told that 300mm square will charge at about one ampere on a sunny day. Does this mean that I will have to keep going to Cornwall to keep things tickety boo?  

Bi for now.

John. 

Well me moment of fame lasted about two frames on ITV4, if you didn't know where I was standing you would've missed me, i was standing about two feet away from the stage winner when he was being interviewed immediately after the finish, it was os short I couldn't even catch it on freeze frame, and I didn't even get a goodie bag after standing in the hot sun for 8 hours either. I had my hair cut, (head shaved), the day before, result I now glow in the dark, like you Bill I forgot the hat.

 

From that John, you'll gather that you don't need to go as far as Cornwall, the weather here in N Devon's been cracking for the last week, hardly a cloud in the sky, don't forget to take your water wings and wellies to Ireland.

 

Talking of pubs in Cornwall try the "Bucket of Blood" in Hayle and see if you can quess how it got it's name.

 

Loved the pic of the bus chassis, I'd love to know just how quick it was in that "undressed" state.

 

Stu

 

PS I just knew Williams would be off on Solar Panels etc. while I was writing this, remember him at Kemble Tony? I thought we were going to be there till midnight !

Only joking Bill.

Hi again guys.

Just checked the E Mail from Pete. He does not say where the Bristol works were, but he does say that he can remember bus chassis travelling up Brislington Hill on their way to Lowestoft in the early eighties. There may be a clue there!

Thanks for the tips Bill re charging of caravan batteries. I like the idea of a water turbine working off waste toilet water, p'raps frequent visits to the pub not such a bad idea then?

Glad you had good weather as well Stu I must admit that it has not been too bad here, but we've probably had more overcast than you. Still, got the water wings and wellies ready for Ireland as you advised. Sorry I missed your brief moment of fame, and you with a haircut specially for the occasion!

Gotta go now.

John.

morning all

 

Sorry about that, must have dropped off during the fascinating conversation of naked buses and other forms of bygone transport!!! Only joking, always good to learn something new. Have been a bit busy with the celebrations and visitors. All back to normal now, whatever that is. Weather really pleasant now with blue skies and sunshine. Temperatures are high of 30C and a comfortable 18 at night.

 

I extend a welcome to Chris Wiltshire as well, a year behind most of us which is light years away when you are at school!! If he is interested in buses I am going to buy a packet of razor blades!

 

Glad to see Bill is back safe and sound.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Steve

 

PS Did I tell you that interesting story about a no. 18 bus I was on in 1964 going to Weston village ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Not into buses then Steve?

 

Stu

Hi Stu

 

Whatever gave you that impression? What happened to wine, women and song?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hi Steve,

Hope you and yours are well .... wine women & song? .. the women are old too, got their bus passes, go into town, get pissed and sing..(well they say it`s singing, I`m not so sure !)

 

Temperature in Bath is a whopping 55 degrees, and it`s very sunny with a light breeze. Catch you soon...

Thanks for the welcome Steve!

 

as it happens I AM interested in nude buses. For some strange reason we used to see them in Keynsham. Mind you the drivers were real men and I don't remember them wearing skid lids as in the photo. People don't believe me that they used be piloted all the way to Lowestoft which seemed like the end of the known world ( and still is....and that from someone who lives just down the coast.....don't put it on your holiday list!!).

 

thanks for letting me join the big boys

 

 

Chris

Thanks for the tip re solar panel Tony.

 

My VW van could do with one but the expense looks scary....better than a flat bat tho'.

 

This group is proving wothwhile after all ......what with buses and van tips.

 

Regarding wine women & song. A year or 2 ago When my mother was still alive I asked her if she knew the whereabouts of my 1st girl friend. Mother reminded me that she would be over 60 too.........so I didn't bother. Bugger in' it

 

Chris

Evening all, yet another nice day, there might have even been people on the beach still if the tide wasn't in. Had a holiday on the Norfolk Broads many years ago Chris, paid a visit to Gt.Yarmouth, have to say that was enough to put us off Lowestoft, beat a hasty retreat to the watering holes around Thurne. Regards solar panels have you checked out e-bay? might take a little while but you may just turn something up at the right price, I've had some bargains off it, although the Mrs. might disagree on the electric guitar being any sort of a bargain.

Like you Steve I'm not much of a bus fanantic, but the idea of one of those bare chassis and a big torquey motor does seem appealing, one of my biggest regrets in life was turning down the opportunity to do a run in a friends dragster, I'm afraid I chickened out, regreted it ever since, bored out 3.8 Jag motor running sub 9 second quarters on methanol, ah well.

Surprising how many of us have campers (motorhomes for the more affluent), isn't it? and John with his caravan we'll be able to do our own rallies, although I haven't had much use out of mine recently due to work, must try to do a bit of renovation work over the winterr, and a interior refit wouldn't go amiss, anyone know of any good parts and accessory dealers?

Wine, Women and song eh? all I can say is that you're as old as the woman you're feeling (non PC, I know), (sexist as well, so wot!), thing is at my age I need plenty of wine, (not necesserily cider Rich), to confuse the vision, and if lucky well that's where the singing comes in. One thing to remember Chris, old girlfriends, they might be 60, but then again so are we, heh heh, and you can't beat experience, (I hope my Mrs don't read this otherwise life ain't going to be worth living).

 

Stu 

Hi Guys,

Just thought I`d pop in before settling down to a night with the wife .. Goodly weather here as well today Stu. Hpe you have sucess with refurbing the caravan, there are a number of dealers who specialise in bits for caravans ..I don`t think you`ll have much trouble locating and fitting what you need.

 

Chris ... solar panels for van .. Maplin Electronics have a (3ft x1ft) 12w (amorphous type) solar panel for sale at £49 at the moment. I have eight of them on my bungalow, they work really well in subdued sunlight (which is what we usually get in the U.K). There are other more efficent panels but they tend to be both more expensive and also require direct angled sunlight to get the best out of them.

 Amorphous panels can cope with a wide incident angle to the sun without undue loss of efficency. No regulator will be required with a panel of this capacity on a standard (50a +) battery. I use a shunt regulator set at 14.4v to prevent overcharging my battery bank (I have a wind turbine as well, you can`t use a series regulator with these beasts .. they just go faster if you try !!!)

 

John, don`t know if the info will be usefull to you also for your needs, the panels are a good size and well protected against knocks and cracks etc, very solid moulded frame .. sort of thing to sling onto the roof and forget item.

 

I could, (and probably will) go one for England on this subject.

 

I have been doing a bit with the old Somerset Coal Canal lately and I have bumped into Adrian Tuddenham from our School, he is associated with both Trams for Bath and the Canal Society .. I`ve sent him an invite to join us.

 

So, it`s goodnight from me to one and all.

Hi all

 

 

Oh God, it's getting worse! Buses to solar panels. I love you all. More vino needed.

 

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hello...

Does anyone want to know about small low voltage wind turbines? .. or turbulance and the vagaries of the lesser spotted swirlies?

 

I just thought we ought to get away from trains, buses and solar panels for a bit.

 

Now, hot sunny days and wind powered buses...there`s a thought, `eh lads? 

 

Hi Anth,

Thanks for the sterling work on the canal path, I`ll look forward to seeing it .. I was just about to post a query to Adrian Tuddenham (webmaster for the Somerset Coal Canal Society) about the stretch between Gooseyard bridge and a basin at Paulton .. I`m sure I`ve read somewhere that there was an intended link toward Clutton at some time, not really sure how far it went. Forty years ago it was fairly well visible as a waterway, but now is terribly overgrown and from the air is difficult to see where  water and land separate.

 

I will be away for next weekend if the other half is willing, no point in wasting all that good weather eh?

 

Catch you soon.  

Steve, I've only got onr thing to say to you - "BARGES" - there how do you like that? Seriously I hope the weather down there in Spain is still goou and you're still soaking up the sun, we've had a bit of a set back in our Indian Summer for the last couple of days but are promised fine weather for the weekend, so we'll probably have monsoon conditions, always the pessimist that way I can be pleasantly surprised.

Started my new job Monday, anybody interested, No? I thought not. Oh well that's enough mindless waffle for now.

 

Stu

Hi Stu

 

You never used to swear at school!! Barges indeed, wash your mouth out. Believe it or not friend I am interested in your new job, it's not a bus-driver is it?

 

We are having our autumunal thunderstorms with heavy rain showers but we are getting some sun in between!

 

Have fun

 

Steve

RE. New Job, Bill already knows what it is, but he's been keeping mum.

 

Well lads, you know I've been working as the Slipway Warden at Appledore for the past two years, that job was overseen by the parking department of the District Council, well a couple of months back I was made aware of a part time position coming up in that dept. all year round rather than seasonal, so I duly applied and passed the interview, scored highest on the literacy test as well, 84% if you want to know, and as of Monday I'm now a Civil Enforcement Officer (Parking), i.e. Traffic Warden, or as one of y mates said I've gone over to the Dark Side, and he gave me a reference. Thing is a just over 20 hour week that pays me £11.000 a year plus benefits was a no brainer to turn down, My Mrs. wants more expensive, exotic holidays, she wants to go to Tibet next year and who am I to argue.

 

Yours Public Emena Number One. 

Hi Tony, in answer to your question I'll spend most of my time in Torrington, with occasional trips to Holsworthy, Hartland and Clovelly, I don't know if picnics are included in the expenses budget yet. Our office in Torringon is in the same building as the 1646 exhibition where all the staff wear period costume, currently ours is the standard black and fluroscent, but I'm considering suggesting a medieval costume, then we could offer people an afternoon in the stocks rather than pay a fine, it could be a good aid to business, tourist draw, greengrocers selling off spoiled veggies, fun for all the family as they say. Unfortunately the downside to the job is that unlike Appledore there's no sea, so I don't get young ladies in wetsuits, or indeed young ladies out of wetsuits, in the car parks. Best part is being a small town there aren't many transgressors, people are generally friendly, and you are doing more of a public service than being authoritarian, a fair part of the job is looking after the Pay and Display machines in the car parks, and a lot of walking so I'm keeping fit as well. I'm hoping to tie this in with the Slipway for next summer, this weekend being the last of the season for this year, it pays for the hols, Shirl's already studying travel brochures and we haven't been this year yet.

 

Stu

Well I'll let you know how it goes Tony, we're having a day out on Monday, I do hope the weathers fine and we can have a picnic, a quick trot round Torrington first, after coffee of course, then onto Holsworthy, that's half an hour so it'll be coffee break when we get there, rest of the morning there then on to Hartland for lunch, first stop in the afternoon in Clovelly, apparently there are some yellow lines on the footpath and the road into Clovelly is a clearway, so even though the place is likely to be empty we've got to go there, then onto Bucks Mills to make sure nobody's vandalised the car park, (not that you'd notice if they had), into the office in Bideford to drop off the weekly machine check list and that should be about it. Mind you that's probably all fantasy and reality will just prove to be a lot of walking as usual, I'm on between 7 and 12 miles a day at the moment, keeping fit though.

 

Stu

 

PS Wet yesterday but a lovely warm sunny day today.

Hello,

Picnic, scmicnic, and all that, people off on holiday .. (sunny weather again Stu) .. what ever next?. I`m at home this weekend (fior a change). Weather is supposed to be good for the next four days on south coast Tony. 

 

As for monsoons in Spain .. didn`t know they had any over there .. do you have any buses in Spain Steve? .. only joking .. thought I`d  get  that one out of the way.

 

I`m recovering after tramping around Combe Hay woods for two days this week .. all in the course of preseving a bit of our history  you understand .. doing my bit to record a 200 year old "liquid Motorway" all done by hand .. you have to see the scale to believe the lengths that humans will go to make a shilling selling coal. ( And shuffling water about ). I have 40 or so piccies of a tour of the site, I`ll post them if anybody is interested at looking at them.

 

Hope everybody has a good weekend and doesn`t get too carried away with the sun ..ha ha.  

Sadly it won't be Shirl that'll be coming on the picnic Tony, not in works time anyway. Some nice spots near Ashburton especially out towards Hexworthy and Cornworthy Tor, speaking of picnics the River Dart just after Hexworthy is especially pretty, and it's not far from there to the Two Bridges - Princetown road, just as you enter Princetown from the Two Bridges direction there's a right turning into a minor road, a no through road, that eventually leads to the old "Whiteworks" at the edge of Foxtor Mire, these being the setting for Conan Doyle's old mineworkings and the Great Grimpen Mire from The Hound of the Baskervilles, roads can be a bit narrow but not impassable if you fancy a trip out.

 

I did hear from someone else the other day who was telling me that their daughter had been in Spain on her hols, that the weather there had been awful, torrential rain etc., so perhaps Steve's been bailing out, perhaps he's had to use Spanish buses, having had the pleasure, no, not pleasure, experience of Cretan buses, I can understand his dislike, contempt, of buses in general.

 

And you be careful down there in Combe Hay woods Bill, to my knowledge there's still cannibals down there, I believe a couple of missioneries went missing down there a year or two ago, or perhaps they moved up the valley and discovered the "Apple Tree" in Shoscombe.

 

Stu

Hi Anth and all, Thanks for the congrats, Mother and Baby doing well.

 

You lads have been busy while I was away, I've got a lot to read up on. One thing I can add is where the old Bristol Bus Factory was. If you are heading into Bristol about 400 or so yards before the ITV studios on the right is the MFI and Focus DIY stores. It was there on that site. It's a ruddy long way to Lowestoft from there in the winter with no protection !!!

 

I'm off to do some catch up reading.

 

Cheers all,

 

Rich

Hi Rich et Al,

Thanks for the info on the Bristol bus, glad I wasn`t too far out then .. Ha Ha ..still it was the right road, and on the right side of it.!

 

Great grandad eh?, a few more years for me (I hope) still coping with grandaughters .. not sure what to do with little bundles at my age now .. not much puff left for swinging them about now.

 

I have been busy tramping Combe Hay again, the gardener at Bridge Farm, (where I park up), is calling me by my first name now !!!!. He is callled Raymond Stevens, used to work as a crane driver at Irelands (next to Steve coffins old house) in Bath at the same time as I did in the 60`s.

 

The resault of all this scurring about is that I have discovered the lost long Caisoon no.3 , not just the location , but the actual structure, (well the last 24ft or so of it). It languishes in a farmers yard, full of cow dung ..I ask you, how is that to treat an ancient historical relic?.

 

No doubt the farmer may not know what it is, I have to inform the necessary authorities now to have a preservation order placed on it as ancient monument. It`s only been missing since 1796, not too long then. I just thought you might be interested, it is visible on Google Earth .. believe it or not !!. More news will appear as it breaks.

 

Catch you all later, time for some well earned sleep (none for two days)