TEMPORARY PETERBOROUGH BUS STATION AND FENS

 A 5am start this morning, I wonder how much longer we can manage the punishing trips that we do to get to the further reaches of our bus schedule. Anyway we managed to get a drink and cake at the shopping centre and I was still out with the video by 8.30am. It was apparent that half of the bus station was a building site and the lay by and visiting coach park was now a temporary bus station. Along with the absence of any information other than a poster telling you that the buses were all at the new temporary facility despite the fact that obviously many were still at the new bus station aka the old bus station only it isn't that old. Where does all the money come for messing about with what wasn't really the worst facility in Britain. It was a typical British botch job and of course nonody really expects anybody to use the buses as they just run them around in circles and wait for the subsidies to come again.

At least the weather was on par with the outlook and very mild at 17 degrees. After finishing off at Peterborough we moved on to Spalding, it has been decades since I last visited. The vestiges of the bus stops are still there, any facilities have long passed aka toilets locked up and derelict. Nice Delaines drive pointed out if I was there next Monday they would have a decker on the route. 4 operators although not that many buses but in my life time there haven't been many other than at school kicking out time and I suppose it is half term. Spalding was dire in need of a makeover, nice architecture etc but full of rejects from far to the east of Clacton. If Spalding is bad try Boston for size albeit it is 100% better for buses and Brylaines put on a good show, super to see a small town with its own operator a bit like Midland classic but dirty buses and scruffy drivers. Zero facilities and information but a really good blast from the past, it could have been 1986 at deregulation.

We have just managed beans on toast for dinner and settling down for telly, I think we will both doze off, horrible getting back in the dark. Boston again had the makings of an elegant town but here the local population must have long evacuated and there are ten of thousands of really poor looking types from Mars perhaps and even the back end of those places well to the east of Clacton. If this is Britain today I think Corona could wipe towns out and nobody would notice or perhaps make a fresh start after having reached rock bottom. Lets save the new bus station etc at Peterborough for tomorrow and look at the Fenlands instead.