The Searchers...Part Two
Once again they gave you your money's worth...on stage for almost two hours...so many "Newer" acts seem to do an average of 90 minutes.
I came out of the theatre around 9.40pm and found it to be quite mild(perhaps the fact the theatre was lovely and warm had something to do with it)Perhaps having my thermals, thermal socks on helped too.
Before the concert I was wearing thermal gloves, a scarf and a woollen hat. I was able to discard those afterwards. I have found a fish and chip shop that is open seemingly every day(all day until late)near the bus station and a sheltered seat near that. So I sat there with my portion of chips and two home made buns of ham, tomato, watercress and pease pudding. In my backpack some sweets/chocolate and some drinks to keep me going.
On the way home, I know this exists and I am not naive but I have only seen it on TV. Not far from the theatre I was coming past the shops and most had cardboard boxes awaiting collection by the refuse service.
There was a small breeze. I noticed that a piece of cardboard move, well I heard it first...then I realised that someone had arranged and moved it into the doorway of Marks and Spencer and someone was hidden underneath it and planning on spending the night there, obviously homeless. Sadly, there are too many such people and it could be anyone of us in that situation. The way things are going, I suspect more could be joining them and we are fortunate if it is not one of us...
So I made it to the bus station where I had to wait approx 30 minutes for my bus home(the last one)brought forward by approx 40 minutes under the new timetable. So if/when I now go to a theatre show I will always have an eye on the clock to allow myself the time to catch the last bus home and get from the theatre to the bus station which is a struggle for me.
The bus service around here is now very poor...not only are they infrequent running no better than one each hour. After teatime roughly(6pm-7pm)you can virtually not reach any local areas unless they are on the two routes that seem to come through my town.
You can if you are lucky take a detour(add more time and mileage by travelling further North but that fails as coming home if you try to do the same journey in reverse unless you come home really early(which if you have gone for a night out)means you cannot get a bus home.
The best I can do is catch one on either route that will leave me stranded either 5 or 7 miles from home and one of those buses completes 75% of it's normal journey and terminates virtually in the middle of nowhere, you'd think it would complete the route.
If there was a chance that public transport could survive or attract passengers is it any wonder people have given up? Yet they will say don't use the car and use public transport more. How anyone working shifts and need to use the bus manages who knows.
If you live further North there are more buses running later and able to connect to many more destinations but the Southern end of the county is being poorly served...and it appears to be all down to the subsidies being cut back that support the services. I can accept the services being reduced but to leave a service incomplete so you are unable to connect with another service so you can reach another nearby town or get home seems so wrong.
I do hope that enough pressure can be put on the bus company or the county council to make them look again at the services we are no being given or rather are not being given...21st century UK is quite rubbish on basic services...No wonder many even if they could afford gave a night out decide to stay at home which in turn could make all the difference to whether a business fails or succeeds.
I can get a bus from Bishop Auckland to Darlington or Durham to Darlington(and vice versa)and the stops inbetween and that's it...but if I want to travel to the other two large towns nearby Spennymoor/Stockton On Tees, that is out. It cannot be done without your own transport or a taxi...only of use if you can share the cost...
I appreciate that the bus service is not being run just for my benefit but in recent weeks there have been many letters in the local press about the abolition of services which is making it difficult to reach hospital appointments or do shopping even during the day...
I came out of the theatre around 9.40pm and found it to be quite mild(perhaps the fact the theatre was lovely and warm had something to do with it)Perhaps having my thermals, thermal socks on helped too.
Before the concert I was wearing thermal gloves, a scarf and a woollen hat. I was able to discard those afterwards. I have found a fish and chip shop that is open seemingly every day(all day until late)near the bus station and a sheltered seat near that. So I sat there with my portion of chips and two home made buns of ham, tomato, watercress and pease pudding. In my backpack some sweets/chocolate and some drinks to keep me going.
On the way home, I know this exists and I am not naive but I have only seen it on TV. Not far from the theatre I was coming past the shops and most had cardboard boxes awaiting collection by the refuse service.
There was a small breeze. I noticed that a piece of cardboard move, well I heard it first...then I realised that someone had arranged and moved it into the doorway of Marks and Spencer and someone was hidden underneath it and planning on spending the night there, obviously homeless. Sadly, there are too many such people and it could be anyone of us in that situation. The way things are going, I suspect more could be joining them and we are fortunate if it is not one of us...
So I made it to the bus station where I had to wait approx 30 minutes for my bus home(the last one)brought forward by approx 40 minutes under the new timetable. So if/when I now go to a theatre show I will always have an eye on the clock to allow myself the time to catch the last bus home and get from the theatre to the bus station which is a struggle for me.
The bus service around here is now very poor...not only are they infrequent running no better than one each hour. After teatime roughly(6pm-7pm)you can virtually not reach any local areas unless they are on the two routes that seem to come through my town.
You can if you are lucky take a detour(add more time and mileage by travelling further North but that fails as coming home if you try to do the same journey in reverse unless you come home really early(which if you have gone for a night out)means you cannot get a bus home.
The best I can do is catch one on either route that will leave me stranded either 5 or 7 miles from home and one of those buses completes 75% of it's normal journey and terminates virtually in the middle of nowhere, you'd think it would complete the route.
If there was a chance that public transport could survive or attract passengers is it any wonder people have given up? Yet they will say don't use the car and use public transport more. How anyone working shifts and need to use the bus manages who knows.
If you live further North there are more buses running later and able to connect to many more destinations but the Southern end of the county is being poorly served...and it appears to be all down to the subsidies being cut back that support the services. I can accept the services being reduced but to leave a service incomplete so you are unable to connect with another service so you can reach another nearby town or get home seems so wrong.
I do hope that enough pressure can be put on the bus company or the county council to make them look again at the services we are no being given or rather are not being given...21st century UK is quite rubbish on basic services...No wonder many even if they could afford gave a night out decide to stay at home which in turn could make all the difference to whether a business fails or succeeds.
I can get a bus from Bishop Auckland to Darlington or Durham to Darlington(and vice versa)and the stops inbetween and that's it...but if I want to travel to the other two large towns nearby Spennymoor/Stockton On Tees, that is out. It cannot be done without your own transport or a taxi...only of use if you can share the cost...
I appreciate that the bus service is not being run just for my benefit but in recent weeks there have been many letters in the local press about the abolition of services which is making it difficult to reach hospital appointments or do shopping even during the day...
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 1:20 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home