The first full working week of 2010 was a hectic affair after the previous weekend’s snowfall and that during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Many a website was being hammered in the search for travel information during the disruption and this one was no exception with it getting as many hits in a week as it normally does in a month. The past week has seen things calming down though there have been problems in places. One of these has been the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton and the 58 was being diverted even as lately as today because of snow drifts and troublesome road conditions. However, the Cat and Fiddle webcam shows a clearance from the way that things were not so long ago. Hopefully, the run of normal Atlantic weather will continue to normalise things even it means getting wet from time to time (or was that nearly all of the time?). The sad part might be having to find another talking point but anything’s better than seeing people getting hurt on ice.
Archive for the ‘Site news’ Category
A Yearling
In Site news on November 1, 2009 at 8:04 amIt’s been a year since this edifice was begun and occasional contributions have sputtered in here from time to time. Though economic conditions have been challenging, there haven’t been too many setbacks for public transportation yet. However, 2010 could see changes with an expected change in the U.K.’s government and what that might bring. Everywhere you care to look, there are sirens wailing about the need for cuts in public spending but let’s hope that doesn’t have to go too far. Largely, bus and train operators do their job well but that will could be tested in the not too distant future. My only hope is that any rough edges already seen won’t become rougher; it would be a pity to lose the progress that has been made over the last few years. Fighting to keep what’s been gained might become unavoidable but let’s see how it goes.
A Matter of Introduction
In Site news on September 1, 2009 at 10:43 am
On my hillwalking blog, I did share, on an occasional basis, some experiences and observations of British and Irish public transport. That changed after a posting regarding being crammed into a Transpennine Express train while travelling to and from Edinburgh last year. Since then, this has been the place for sharing my thoughts on and experiences of public transport. So far, this has been limited to travel by train and bus but related air and sea travel musings cannot be ruled out either; naturally, an associated train and/or bus journey would make such things fit better under the site’s title.
The subject of public transport is one that attracts its share of negative commentary and you do have to wonder if that is justified. Of course, things don’t run smoothly all of the time but there’s a not so limited network out there that needs both publicity and celebration. That is why I have pages celebrating helpful local authorities and useful train and bus company websites as well as a listing of selected bus service timetables. People often don’t realise the extent of what is available and get to hear the complaints instead, not a good state of affairs.
Some may counter that public transport cannot serve every need but the spectre of global warning and the finite nature of the world’s fossil fuel reserves mean that the concept of taking the car everywhere has to be challenged. What really has been felt over the last decade is that there isn’t enough space in our towns and cities for personal motorised transport anyway. That may have been the cause of the upsurge in train travel seen in recent years. If so, it’s no bad thing and, if there’s a corresponding rise in bus patronage, that’s even better. My hope is that I’ll have some small part in helping this along.
Brightness?
In Site news on April 27, 2009 at 8:31 pmGiven the times in which we are living and the time of year that it is, my sensibilities responded well to a new WordPress theme that has come my way. It certainly got me changing things over and I hope that you enjoy it too. That’s not to say that there mightn’t be a few rough edges waiting to ambush the unwary but my intention is that there shouldn’t be many of them and that I can find them before you do. All in all, replacing the more austere black and white forbear with something brighter just feels right. With all the talk of austerity, I reckon that it is badly needed and let’s hope that bus service provision doesn’t get too curtailed as we make our way though the current difficulties. After all, when all of the woes are extracted from Pandora’s Box, hope remains. That’s never not a bad thought…
A refresh
In Site news on February 20, 2009 at 11:34 amThose who have been here before will notice a few changes. With spring on the way and the chance to play with a new WordPress, I decided that I’d refresh the site’s appearance and brighten it up a little bit. The weather’s very grey where I am writing this in the U.K. and a spot of sun wouldn’t go amiss so I thought that sprucing up the appearance of this thing might offer something to visitors in the meantime.
