Age catches up

The Best Mate used her bus pass for the first time today.

The car has been troubled by an intermittent fault on the braking system and needed to return to the Main Dealer today to have the automatic electric brake system dismantled lubricated and reassembled to stop the brakes locking on.

Thst meant the chauffeur had most of the day off.

With a meeting arranged on the outskirts of town, the Best Mate was thrown onto the horns of the public transport system. Leaving 40 minutes this morning for a two minute car ride was not enough and she had to resort to a taxi to ensure getting there on time. This is because the buses run every half hour and she saw one pulling away from the bus station while she asked which bus she should catch at a different stop. The taxi driver was pleased as he had been on the rank for an hour. He could justify a trip to his spinning class at the gym after doing a job!

Getting back there was no time constraint. So she waited for the bus.

We learned a lot about the buses this morning. The B1 changes to the B2 and vice versa. at the Bus Station so that passengers who want to stay on the bus to get across town don't need to change buses or stops!The routes go within 50 yards of each other but do not quite meet. The GA01 and GA02 are the same bus but listed separately to get over Euro regs that limit the length of bus routes. Rugby to Banbury is too far, they should change the number half way but most drivers don't bother. The 499 and 500 are the Brackley Circular! The 500 goes clockwise and the 499 goes the other way! It could take you 1 hour 56 minutes to do the 3 mile trip from Cropredy to Fenny Compton as the hourly buses miss a connection and you have to wait 58 minutes for the next one!

No wonder we are glad to have the car.

Pleased to be of service

To the ladies of narrowboats Puddleduck and Digitalis, who were looking for the bus stop in Cropredy to get a bus to Banbury, I just say that I am pleased to have been of service.

I always wonder how these little villages carry on with only two buses a day and, in this case, the return bus leaves Banbury at 2pm which is early in any body's book. To have to depend on the village shop (if there is one) must be diffucult. In the case of Cropredy however, the village store (Bridge Stores next to Bridge 153) is excellent even though it is a bit pricey by supermarket standards.

I just happened to use the luxurious 2pm service to get back to Cropredy this afternoon as we left the boat there overnight. An excellent trip.