From a casement
There was a time when you only had to stick your head out of your bedroom window to see interesting stuff. Here, on Friday 21st November 1975, one of only four Bristol FS Lodekkas (not counting open-toppers) in the Bristol Omnibus Co's fleet goes "out round" a parked car and drifts past the front of our house. It was working the 12:45 journey from Hanham on the 380 service. The bus had spent almost its entire life allocated to Swindon, but was now seeing out its final months on the Hanham Local Services, probably for reasons connected with "mileage balancing" ...an interesting feature of the Company's operation. Bringing up the rear is an RE almost certainly belonging to Hanham depot, but unidentifiable in this rather grainy shot.
Taken in the interval between a visit to the dentist and leaving for work. I would be conducting the last Warmley journey on the 87 service and walking four miles home from Lawrence Hill depot. I lived well outside Lawrence Hill's staff catchment area and disliked putting its staff bus driver to the trouble of taking me home. I walked every time I had a late turn. My transfer to Marlborough Street added an extra mile to the walk from 1977 onwards. This went on until I first had the use of a car in 1982. I declined to work from Staple Hill depot ...five minutes' walk from our house... because I feared recognition by local people, or encounters with neighbours. And you'll hear people say that shyness is a form of selfishness. I should, however, declare that I quite enjoyed those brisk, hour-long walks through the empty, fox-frequented streets, and the opportunity they presented for introspective contemplation.
From a casement
There was a time when you only had to stick your head out of your bedroom window to see interesting stuff. Here, on Friday 21st November 1975, one of only four Bristol FS Lodekkas (not counting open-toppers) in the Bristol Omnibus Co's fleet goes "out round" a parked car and drifts past the front of our house. It was working the 12:45 journey from Hanham on the 380 service. The bus had spent almost its entire life allocated to Swindon, but was now seeing out its final months on the Hanham Local Services, probably for reasons connected with "mileage balancing" ...an interesting feature of the Company's operation. Bringing up the rear is an RE almost certainly belonging to Hanham depot, but unidentifiable in this rather grainy shot.
Taken in the interval between a visit to the dentist and leaving for work. I would be conducting the last Warmley journey on the 87 service and walking four miles home from Lawrence Hill depot. I lived well outside Lawrence Hill's staff catchment area and disliked putting its staff bus driver to the trouble of taking me home. I walked every time I had a late turn. My transfer to Marlborough Street added an extra mile to the walk from 1977 onwards. This went on until I first had the use of a car in 1982. I declined to work from Staple Hill depot ...five minutes' walk from our house... because I feared recognition by local people, or encounters with neighbours. And you'll hear people say that shyness is a form of selfishness. I should, however, declare that I quite enjoyed those brisk, hour-long walks through the empty, fox-frequented streets, and the opportunity they presented for introspective contemplation.