INTERESTING TIMES AT WALSALL BUS STATION

It was freedom at last after a great night of natural sleep ( no pills) I woke up in time to get the tea in bed and Mandy went swimming whilst I got myself ready and did my knee exercises. I went down to Walsall after the rush hour had finished and roadworks on the M6 are now minimal thank goodness. This made for an arrival mid morning and as I staggered downhill from the car park towards the market i realised that my knee needs a bit of warming up to reach optimum efficiency plus downhill is harder than uphill. I encountered a pack of the new Nat Express deckers before I'd even reached the bus station, chuffed with myself for coming out equidistant from the two stations. The Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMCs look great in the platinum branding which I think has received the vote from most people as being far better than the red liveried cousins in Birmingham. The routes around Walsall have never been so top notch with free wi fi and extra comfy seating.

The Nat Express drivers were of course as friendly as ever but it wouldn't be a proper grice if there weren't a couple of idiots about with a gripe. It was Rotala Diamond who claimed the leaders jersey with the bling entry into the bus station award for September. More awards announced tomorrow, just make sure the driver has full vision should you be unfortunate to have caught one of their buses, anyway they must already be feeling inadequate faced with such sparkling handsome new beasts from Nat Express. It was as busy as ever and before leaving i wandered back to the other small bus station and it was amazing to see that Thandi has moved into the executive market branding era with Darts equipped with 4 wheels plus a steering wheel and even provides seating, its good to know that the smaller operators have been inspired to achieve a corporate look, with so many liveries they can just pretend that they don't belong to them, enthusiasts are as happy as Larry and can't get enough of these mini running days otherwise know as 'routes'.

I looked up above the shops at the Victorian arcade nearby, some wonderful buildings around Walsall if you squint a bit and look up above the dross at ground level. Its a bit like a voyage around the world in 30 minutes. When I got home to blighty there was the model of the Ikarus artic trolleybus freshly arrived and carefully packed safely received from Hungary at a fairly sensible price. Atlas are now offering a coach range in the UK which will include a few continental buses, lets hope they offer some of the more obscure models which are fetching a huge premium around the world now. The chap arrived to mow the lawns an strim the borders, thus cementing the vague promise I'd made to deliver a talk for the rotary club at Gatley golf club in November. Clonter opera have another two ebvents coming up with Flossie Malvialle, the Geordie French singer, she is wonderful, sings Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel numbers and makes great banter with the audience. Mandy's cousin Eileen has just left hospital making a record breaking recovery from brain surgery but husband  Dennis was probably anxious to get his dinner with the freezer running low so probably bribed the ward sister. Seriously though great news.

So photos from that exotic hot spot of the midlands, Walsall...