Witness me! : a tale of buses

[andrewducker]

With the change in bus services, the trip home from the weekly food shop at Marks and Spencer* has become somewhat more complicated in that I need to take two connecting buses to get home.

I arrived in the shop with 11 minutes until my bus left. And if I missed that then another half an hour of standing in a bus shelter in the rain until the next one. Probably impossible to buy a week's worth of shopping that fast, but worth a try.

I got to the checkout 6 minutes later, feeling rather pleased with myself, with £60 worth of food in a trolley. And then watched with horror as the predicted time of "5 minutes remaining" changed to "due".

I, somehow, managed to get everything swiped through the checkout and packed into my backpack in less than 2 minutes, sprinted up the stairs to the street, and discovered the bus there, with one final person getting onto it.

Dashing through the puddles in the road I got there just as they finished buying their ticket, leapt on board panting in an undignified fashion, used my bus pass, and then collapsed into the front seat - then noticing that the top of my backpack was slightly open and my bread was in danger of not making it home with me.

Still, this felt like a glorious victory, and I felt you needed to know, so I spent the next five minutes standing at the connecting bus stop writing this post.

And then had to deal with the idiocy of someone standing at the front of the bus queue, facing directly towards my bus, being confused as to why people were waiting for her to get on, with the bus driver nearly leaving because he thought none of us wanted his bus. *Sigh*

I really do with they'd get deliveries up and running.




*I feel even more ridiculously middle class than usual about that statement. But they sell one of the few gluten-free breads that you can make an edible sandwich out of, and their gluten-free ready meals are actually pretty nice. If only Ocado delivered in Scotland so I could order it in I'd be extremely happy. Also, their kids clothes are next to their food section and they sell cheap dresses that Sophia loves.

Comments

[dewline]

My memories of Marks and Spencer during their years in Canada are of an impression that they constituted high-end shopping. All their stores in my country are gone now, so far as I can tell.

[rhythmaning]

These aren't any damp groceries. They're Andrew's damp groceries.

I was wondering why you didn't get deliveries, not realising M&S don't deliver. They're missing a trick, clearly!

[andrewducker]

They have a deal with Ocado, who have been building a distribution centre in Scotland for 4 years now.

[movingfinger]

Victory from the jaws of defeat, transit edition!

One of the cardinal rules of public transportation vehicles used to be NEVER BE EARLY. A bus should pull over and wait until they are back on their predicted timetable. Late is bad for riders, sure, but early is worse.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, when I discovered that the local buses are allowed to be up to two minutes early I was very frustrated because it means I have to mentally subtract two minutes from every time on the system if I want to make sure I catch one.

[mtbc]

I hope they at least wait until the published time having reached a timing point? If not, that really is absurd. (Mind you, I don't recall if commonly published timetables these days typically mark the the stops that are timing points, maybe we don't have them any more.)

Sorry you have a tricky route now, two changes plus groceries is no fun.

[andrewducker]

I don't know what the official stance on timing points is. But my local bus stop clearly isn't one.

[fub]

I don't know what distances are involved, and how the route to the store is, but a bicycle with packs might be much more convenient than having to rely on buses.

[andrewducker]

I'm not sharing a road with the giant metal murder boxes.

As soon as I have a segregated cycle path I'll be delighted to cycle everywhere.

[channelpenguin]

I wonder if this negative outlook on cars as a potential cyclist is because you also don't drive? So your trust level is even lower than it might be. But I do understand. I drive and ride bikes and I've only ever been hurt (that was another vehicle's fault) on a motorcycle. But coming off a bicycle is also no fun at all.

What's the chances of more cycle paths round your way?

[andrewducker]

I used to share a desk with three cyclists.

It was an unusual week where one of them didn't have a story about a driver coming out of a side road, someone opening their car door without checking for a cyclist, etc, etc.

And they're building them over large chunks of Edinburgh, but my bit isn't that densely populated, so may be a while.

[channelpenguin]

Well, people do like to complain! (Car drivers about reckless or inconsiderate cyclists too). But yeah it can be fraught.

I hope they build you some cycle paths soon.

[fub]

Yes, probably a good decision.

[anef]

I have stood at an Edinburgh bus stop while the bus timer counted down to a bus that never arrived. I feel your pain.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, the system works very badly with cancelled buses. It's very frustrating.