Hello and welcome to my Blog, my name is Chris, a bus driver for First Mendip based in Wells, Somerset. I am Chair and H&S rep for the depot branch of Unite the Union. Married to Fiona, we live in Midsomer Norton near Bath, with Boots the cat. My main hobby is Amateur Radio and I hold the call sign G4KVI. I am the repeater keeper for GB3UB and MB7UB. I have a fascination for the weather and all things to do with nature and science. As a Christian I worship, when shifts allow at St. Nicholas Church in Radstock. These are my observations on my life, both at work and at home.

21 Jul 2008

Cash back Website

I have just registered my own online shop which you can have a look at if you visit


I’m sure that like me you buy things over the internet and even if you don’t buy anything regularly, we all do it at Christmas to get the best prices. This is a totally new way to earn cash back from anything you wish to buy online at a time when we are all looking to make extra savings where we can.

Ei42 will pay you a cash back commission on anything you buy from within your own shop, which I think is fantastic, as the shops are all the same places that we all buy from already. Everyone we know is in there such as EBAY, Argos, Woolworth, Curry’s, Amazon, Asda, PC World, Debenhams, Miss Selfridge, Screw Fix, ToysRus and far too many more to mention.

It only too me a couple of minutes to register and it isn’t any fuss believe me. They do everything automatically, and best of all its totally free.

Take a look for yourself, Join, Shop and get paid. It really is that easy.

19 Jul 2008

Where's Harvey!!

It never fails to amaze me how stupid people really are. Thursday was 'Street back'. This is direct from Victoria and Heathrow to Bath and then out to Street. Between Stratton on the Fosse and Oakhill there are a set of traffic lights. I approached them at red and waited. What happened next was... a vehicle overtook me!! I and the passenger could not believe it. As he came passed he obviously realised I was stopped for a reason and stopped just passed the red light. It does not bear thinking what would have happened if a motorcycle or another vehicle had been coming around the corner.

I only had 2 passengers charted for Glastonbury but when I checked at Wells there were 4 left on. I said nothing and continued on. 'are you going to street?' came the voice. I said I had no passenger and would not. 'Oh we have tickets but our mate got off!!' I knew this not to be the case as they had tickets for Wells. I arrived a Glastonbury and 4 passengers got off!!! Good try, but I keep a note of where passengers are getting off. Of course if they had asked if they could buy a ticket to Street that would have been a different matter. If you don't ask you don't get!!!

Yesterday day off and the weekly shopping to do. Had Harvey with us as we had been for a walk. It was a little warm so left the sunroof open and the drivers window open a little. Returned to the car to find the passenger window wide open a.. NO HARVEY!! We were devastated and desperately looked around for him, had he been stolen, run over etc. Fiona went back into Tesco to find he had been taken to our vets. We shot off and found a very sorry looking dog waiting for us. It turns out I had left the passenger window open and Harvey had followed me into Tesco!! Why nobody put a tannoy call out is beyond me. he does have a coller and tag with name on number on. Anyway all ended happily and important lesson learned!!

14 Jul 2008

Earned my money today.

Last few days have been 'all dayers'. 0900 - 2100 and 0800 to 2015. Saturday was Ok apart from the A4 being closed at Earls Court. The traffic was not as bad as I would have thought and run pretty much to time. Yesterday was a bit different. Signed on as normal at 0919 to be told there was no coach. That meant up to 12 hours sitting in Bath and doing bus work. However, I was told the coach would be fixed and would be ready by 1300 and I would have to run 'dead' to London. So what to do till then? I would not be able to do much as I required 4 hours to get up, a break and 4 hours to get back that did not leave much time. So had a bit of free time, surprised Fiona by turning up in church, and had a nice bit of lunch. Phone call confirmed coach ready at 1300 and empty to London and uneventful trip back.
Today was anything but. Joined the M4 at J18 just after 0900. The first sign we came to said 'M4 J5 Accident'. Not too much of a problem as it was still over 1 1/2 hours away. At the same time a passenger came down and asked if I knew the M4 was closed at J5? Various calls conformed closure at J5. I had pick ups at reading which meant going to at least J12. After more calls to drivers, in front and behind route was decided at off at J10 down the A329 to the M3. Up to M3J1 and then A308 to Heathrow. Then around the perimeter road past both T4 and T5. Finally arriving in bus station at 1115 1 hour late. The place was chaos. Terminated drivers everywhere. I still had plenty of time left so filled up 402 passengers, collected our 1430 driver and continued to Victoria. Some of the passengers had 1200 connections that they had missed so confirmed with control the action they should take. Arrived in Victoria at 1215 so not to bad. Passengers were relieved to arrive and as I had tried to keep them as much informed as I could they were all thankful. It was then off to park up and have a lie down!! Trip back at 1630 was very peaceful and arrived home at 2030.
Our Wedding Anniversary tomorrow (19 years) so hopefully a quiet day.

10 Jul 2008

An expensive day

Day off today and it did not rain. Well not until I had outside jobs to do!!! First job of the day was a trip to the Vets. Harvey (the dog) was due for his booster injections. He loves the vet and as we pulled in to the car park you could see his excitement!! Anyway we managed to get them done without too much drama and we walked out with a clean bill of health and a lighter wallet. next job was to replace the microwave, this had departed a few days ago with an associated bang and tripping of the main house fuse. Tesco was next on the list and after filling up with petrol the spending was done. One bright spot was a friend delivered a very large quantity of wood. This was his old conservatory and will come in very handy in the winter. Only problem is cutting it up. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit cheaper.

4 Jul 2008

Cyclists (an observation)

Very busy few days. Passenger numbers seem to have increased. Monday saw the introduction of new services to Victoria and Gatwick. No change YET to our services they are due to start ????? Been a lot in the news about cycling and reducing speeds in built up areas. I have no problem with this as I am a cyclist (well I have a bike) a motorcyclist, a car driver and a pedestrian. So can see the problem from all angles. What I find hard is where cycle ways are provided, as in Swindon and Chippenham you find cyclists riding down the road!! What more they hurl abuse at you if you get too close or dare to give an audible warning!! So cyclists, if you want more routes etc. Use the facilities already provided.
For more information on cycling have a look at http://www.ctc.org.uk

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