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Skills Coaches National Express Caetano Levante BV74 LLN, featuring the “if you know, you go” strapline
Carrington Street, Nottingham
26.7.25
National Express Special Events! I have no idea what NatEx have to do with it and I assume it’s only on the Skills blindset because they do NX coach work. SIL 6437 is seen departing Nottingham down Derby Road on 8.2.25 with a UoN trip to the horse racing.
The Championship Play-off Final starring Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest produced just over 200 coaches at Wembley in late May 2022. On this occasion, Forest won promotion to the Premier League.
Taken at The Skillion, Terrigal NSW, Australia.
I thought I'd try a vertical composition to add more depth into the scene.
As always, thanks for any comments, views or favorites, they are much appreciated!
Copyright © Paul Hollins. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my explicit written permission.
Skills N438 BRR in green rather than the usual yellow livery for the ex-Dublin Volvos and other double deckers in the fleet.
I assume this is operating shuttles to the tennis tournament.
University Boulevard, Nottingham
G55 RTO was one of four Volvo B10M-60 Duple 340s supplied new to Skills in 1990. On 26th June 1993, it was enjoying Brighton sunshine.
What a gift it is to truly be together in the presence of another person, connected in a healthy, meaningful, mindful, validating, authentic, caring way, to be seen and accepted in a healing way.
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Recently as I looked through some photos I’d taken this summer I noticed a few that I categorized and called “together” (it seems perhaps this has become a new, naturally occurring photo project)—they were photos of two dandelions or two leaves together at various stages of growth or decay. This reminded me of moments with a few people who are of incredible support to me, moments when I was not alone (feeling and/or being alone has often been my experience throughout my life and something I’d often been drawn to capture—the feeling of “alone”) and what a gift it is to truly be together in each other’s presence, connected in a healthy, meaningful, mindful, validating, authentic, caring way, to be seen and accepted in a healing way (which I believe also has some similarities to relationship with God) though it can be scary and overwhelming because it’s so unfamiliar to me. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I look at, share a few of the “together” photos and notice and capture more “together” sightings I encounter. And it has taken me a significant amount of time to even been able to try to put the meaning I see in the photos into words because it is a very deep, foreign experience to me and I didn’t really have the words for it.
It's always a good day out watching the coaches arrive at Wembley, especially when the less regular teams from outside the London area play.
If you haven't been since Covid then you'll be in for a shock! The new Pink and Green dedicated coach parks are almost entirely undercover which makes photography a challenge. Nevertheless, decent shots can still be obtained with good planning.
Here's a reminder of some of the visitors to Wembley Stadium seen in 2022.
Saturday 16th April 2022 saw Liverpool play Manchester City in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. With the West Coast Main Line affected by engineering works, it was bound to produce a good selection of coaches with around 250 turning up. I noted 22 different coach body manufacturers to give plenty of variety to the day.
After snapping the spare E200 out on 39s, I decided to head back home, making my way back to Upper Parliament Street for a Calverton back to Arnold. On the way, one of Skills newer deckers was sat at the lights, so decided to hang on for it. Unfortunately, a delivery van came out from the Litmus building at just the wrong second... D'oh!!
SFZ5770 leaves Nottingham on an EMA3 to Eastwood Amazon via Basford, Bulwell and Phoenix Park. This was new to Lothian Buses in 2004 as their 678.
Seen at the UK Coach Rally in Brighton in April 1997 is Skills of Nottingham Kassbohrer Setra S250 Special C48FT 10 P210FRC.
The Championship Play-off Final starring Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest produced just over 200 coaches at Wembley in late May 2022. On this occasion, Forest won promotion to the Premier League.
Why do I love becoming a woman? A question I often ask myself as well as hearing from others who know of my liking to take ion a female persona. Do I regret being a man that desires to dress as a woman? Where is it all going to end up?
Questions, questions…
I accept we all have our own motivations and aspirations for expressing our desire to dress as women and which can also be a desire to inhabit a female persona. I have my personal feelings, emotional needs and ambitions for my female alter-ego which are not necessarily a reflection of how others feel about their own situation. For me, I have a need to actually pass as a woman and be perceived as being female when I cross-dress. I will admit to frustration over the years through a combination of my lack of skills in the art of male to female transformation, limits imposed by my physicality (being male) and I’m sure well meant advice telling me to forget passing and just enjoy it. To forget passing undermines everything that motivates my female side. When I become Helene I want to be a woman not simply a man dressed up. I dream of having a feminine appearance and emotionally being female rather than male. If this all sounds like serious transexual characteristics and an urgent need to start transition then let me say with utter certainty that is not what I want.
I don’t buy into the simplistic view that if you have a powerful desire to be a woman then the only answer is to transition. Nothing is that straightforward that you can boil it down to a one or the other answer. There exists a huge area of crossover. I genuinely like my male life and like being me. The idea of killing off my male self and only existing as a woman is not something I want. If I were to indulge in being simplistic, I could say I want it all, to be both a man and a woman. However, I know, especially now I am sixty years of age, how my feelings operate in terms of my transgender feelings. I can see now I have real intense moments of wanting to be female and this are all consuming when they occur. I do understand though, that these intense desires being too diminish and I am happy to return to being a man again. I would say that is reasonably creative cut as to why transitioning would not be a happy course of action for me.
I doubt I am alone in having these intense moments of wanting to be female forever but knowing they will at some point ease off. I will admit that it is these feelings that drive me to want to actually look convincingly female and to behave as a female both physically and emotionally when I transform myself from a man into a woman. It’s a fundamental part of my being and needs to be set free now and again.
In recent months my focus and aspirations for my female self has shifted towards passing myself off in a believable way as being a real woman. I find myself observing real women more and more and noting their choices in clothing, footwear and make-up. I also observe what men find attractive in women they encounter My goal is to be accomplished enough to be perceived as being a female and I too want to behave and respond as a female with any social interactions be that shopping, a polite hell, having a coffee in a cafe, visiting a gallery, having a meal and even creating some intrigue and desire with men. In short my aim for the few hours I take on my female persona I want o be able to cease being a man in every way and exist as a female.
Having outlined my feelings and aspirations does that answer any of the questions I began this narrative with? I think it partly addresses them. I do have many regrets about being a man that dresses as a woman. I kind of regret I never accepted this part of myself throughout my life. It caused me a lot of angst and made me a shy not very sociable person. I think I was far more transexual as a teenager and young man than I am now. Once I settled into a career I liked and a relationship that means more to me than my own inner desires and then had a family, everything took on a different level of contentment and also responsibility. My wife and family far outweigh my lifelong desire to become female, I would hate to cause any disruption to that. I do regret my cowardice as a young person not to act on my inner feelings in regard to desiring to be female. I chose the easy option of denial and suppression. Inevitably, I failed in that attempt at self control and had to come out as being transgender at the age of forty one. I do have regrets that certain people I came out to have used it against me, I misjudged their trust. I have regrets I don’t have breasts, a female body and look female, I dream of being feminine. Im not feminine though so this does distress me somewhat and I regret the lack of femininity.
Despite the regrets, they are not enough to crush me as I do enjoy my life, it’s an aspect I can handle, I know it is down to my own inaction that these regrets exist. I try to not let them intrude as I do enjoy my rare moments as a woman and find each opportunity incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.
Recently I was asked by a female friend where all of this was going to end up? It really made me think and I wanted to answer as honestly as I could. At the moment I think in the next few years I will start to spend time out and about as a woman not a man. This is a reflection of where I am going emotionally and also I do have personal ambitions in regard to the challenge of existing as a (part-time) woman. I want to do it well and never be considered as a man when I head out as a woman. I therefore see an increase in this kind of activity and a change in my wardrobe, hair and make-up to reflect this. I did consider what would occur if I were single. I don’t want to be single but it was a hypothetical scenario I felt I should muse over. I believe I would likely spend a lot more time as my female self if I were single but I’m pretty certain I would not transition. I still like my male self so I see such a scenario as being a less inhibited opportunity to fully express myself more freely.
It has taken me pretty much fifty years to accept myself and I don’t feel I’m still quite there yet, there is a lot more self acceptance I need to embrace. I think it’s my fear of damaging my relationship with my wife and family, who all know I have a female alter-ego, that prevents me from pushing things further. Al I can say is I do feel a lot more at ease with my inner female self than I did in past decades.
Skills Coaches - BF73 CCX seen on Temple Newsam Road, Leeds operating a 'Big Green Coach' service to Slam Dunk Festival (North) on May 24th 2026
Skills SV07ADO Volvo B12B tri-axle Plaxton Panther C65FLt coach at Derby Bus Station on National Express route 397 to Blackpool on 14 June 2017.
Originally Stagecoach Bluebird 54016 used on Megabus services.
A little while before I'd been preoccupied while within the hospital grounds, when I suddenly heard a familiar noise from down on the road below, which warranted stopping what I was doing to look. That noise was the roar of a Dennis Trident, which was slowly making its way along the hospital loop road - of course I was pleased that I'd seen it, but disappointed I'd missed photting it.
Disappointment didn't last long though, as the very same Trident (or at least one that looked identical) appeared out on the main road, at just the perfect moment for me to encounter it while walking towards the roundabout. Although I've photted this particular one before, it's nice to see Skills ex-Lothian Plaxton President SIL7028 again. Is this the only one in their fleet, or have Skills got more of these that I need to try and track down?
Derby Road, Nottingham, 14.9.23
New to Parks of Hamilton and still in their Citylink Gold livery,Volvo/Plaxton Elite is seen on the M1 on National Express 240 Victoria-Bradford...now with Skills,Nottingham....Dec 29 2015.
Cassandra Cain is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott, Cassandra Cain first appeared in Batman #567 (July 1999). The character is one of several who have assumed the role of Batgirl. Over the years, she has also assumed the names of Black Bat and Orphan.
Cassandra's origin story presents her as the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva. She was deprived of speech and human contact during her childhood as conditioning to become the world's greatest assassin.
Consequently, Cassandra grew up to become an expert martial artist and developed an incredible ability to interpret body language to the point of reading complex thoughts, while simultaneously developing limited social skills and remaining mute and illiterate.
Cassandra was the first Batgirl to star in her own ongoing Batgirl comic book series. She was replaced as Batgirl by Stephanie Brown in a 2009 storyline. She returned in late 2010, where she was shown working as an anonymous agent of Batman in Hong Kong before adopting the new moniker of Black Bat.
The character was brought back to mainstream continuity after the company-wide reboot in Batman & Robin Eternal, using the code name Orphan, previously used by her father, David Cain. The character's full history was restored in DC's 2021 Infinite Frontier relaunch.
Fictional character biography
Early history
Cassandra's birth and childhood are revealed in the Batgirl series. While seeking a perfect bodyguard for Ra's al Ghul, David Cain finds a potential mother when he sees Sandra Wu-San fighting her sister Carolyn in a martial arts tournament.
Believing that Sandra is holding back for Carolyn, Cain lures Sandra into a trap, sparing her life. David and Sandra have a child, and Sandra leaves the child for David to raise, setting out to become Lady Shiva.
Cain trains Cassandra from birth to be an assassin. She is not taught to read or write; instead, reading body language is her only language. She is able to read people's movements and predict what they are going to do.
When she is eight, Cain takes her to kill a businessman. As the man dies, Cassandra reads what he is feeling, realizes what she did, and runs away from her father.
After that, her activities are a mystery, until she first appears during the "No Man's Land" story arc.
No Man's Land
During the "No Man's Land" storyline, after Gotham is leveled by an earthquake and isolated, Cassandra Cain saves Commissioner Gordon's life and gains Bruce Wayne's approval, and, eventually, becomes the new Batgirl.
Her father, David Cain, sends a video of Cassandra's first murder to Bruce Wayne (Batman) attempting to disrupt her status. However, Wayne continues to accept Cassandra after she takes several bullets to save the life of a hired assassin, proving her devotion to protecting human life.
Batgirl
Bruce Wayne sends Cassandra to Barbara Gordon, currently functioning as Oracle. Barbara says she prefers to live alone but since Cassandra is never home and doesn't talk, it is just like living alone.
A telepath "rewires" Cassandra's brain so that she can think with words and use language, but these abilities come at some cost to her ability to read people's body language.
As she had relied completely on this ability to fight, she is unable to effectively fight crime. Worried, Bruce Wayne takes away her costume and begins training her in defensive skills.
Cassandra soon discovers that the assassin Lady Shiva can read people like she used to be able to and asks Shiva to reteach her.
Lady Shiva accepts on the condition that they would have a duel to the death a year later. As Cassandra would rather be "perfect for a year" instead of "mediocre for a lifetime", she accepts the offer.
When the women fight in a year's time, Cassandra dies within minutes. Realizing Cassandra had a death wish, Shiva then restarts her heart, so that they can have a real fight. In the subsequent fight, Cassandra beats Shiva but does not kill her.
Though not known for her private life, Cassandra does have a one-time romance with Conner Kent after meeting him on a cruise ship. He shares her first kiss, and she even visits him at his home in Smallville, though the relationship never becomes serious.
Cassandra then helps Batman control the violence of a gang war in Gotham City.
Later, Batgirl moves to Blüdhaven with Tim Drake (the third Robin) at Batman's suggestion and with his financial support.
There, Deathstroke takes on a contract from the Penguin to kill Batgirl and decides to let his daughter, Rose (the current Ravager), do the job instead. Cassandra beats Rose by playing on her emotions to leave her open for a critical strike, giving Deathstroke no choice but to get her medical attention.
During this time, Cassandra starts developing a friendship with Brenda, the woman who owns the local coffee shop, and even a very short-lived relationship with a boy named Zero. Unfortunately, her friends are all killed in the Blüdhaven disaster.
Cassandra also goes undercover for Batman, as Kasumi, in the Justice League Elite, working under Sister Superior to track and eliminate metahuman threats to the population.
She works with the Batman's old fellow Justice League members Green Arrow and the Flash, and forms a bond with Coldcast, who is the first Leaguer to whom she reveals her identity.
Although he is subsequently accused of murder, she and the rest of the team soon realize that he has been manipulated by renegade Elite member Menagerie, who was himself being manipulated by the spirit of Manchester Black as he tried to drive his sister to destroy London.
As the JLA falls, the Elite, united by the spirit of the deceased Manitou Raven, free Vera and vanquish Black, although the team disbands after this last mission.
Cassandra gathers evidence that indicates that Shiva could be her mother, and seeks her out to confirm this, rejoining the League of Assassins. After she is proclaimed by Nyssa al Ghul as the "One Who Is All", the students of the League are split, half following Shiva, and the others Cassandra.
In the following confrontation, Cassandra is mortally wounded by her "adoptive brother", the Mad Dog, while heroically saving one of the students under her leadership. Shiva revives Cassandra in a Lazarus Pit, then answers Cassandra's questions about her parentage.
When Cassandra asked Shiva whether she was still killing, whether she would ever stop, Shiva says she was, and responds, "It's why I had you", so Cassandra agrees to fight her to the death once more.
After a closely matched battle, Cassandra manages to break Shiva's neck, paralyzing her. She appears ready to place Shiva in the Lazarus Pit, but Shiva pleads with her not to do so. Instead, Cassandra impales Shiva on a hook hanging over the pit, apparently killing her. Cassandra then abandons the identity of Batgirl and returns to her life as a wanderer.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
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A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Cassandra Cain
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Batman #567 (July 1999)
Created by: Kelley Puckett (Writer)
Damion Scott (Artist)
This one step, choosing a goal and sticking to it, changes everything.
Scott Reed
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Seen here in Leeds working route 240 for National Express.
Skill are now running 12 coaches on the network