It was my day off today and we had no firm plans. The weather was dull and damp and the wind was a main disincentive to taking a walk. We decided to drive out and find an indoor venue for a bit of distraction, ending up in Derby. There is a wonderful car park on Bold Lane, near the Museum. It has a secure system where you take a ticket on entry and a door opens to let you in. The car parking bays are numbered and have sensors fitted. As you leave the car park, you key in your bay number and you are let out. The only way you can re-enter the car park is by using the parking ticket as a door key. The exit door will only open on your ticket if you have paid the fee.
Derby taxis are all yellow and they do look fine in their ranks. It is a real contrast with the black cabs in Stoke and other UK cities. We took a look around the new Westfield shopping centre. It is big and glossy with lots of floor levels and a wealth of eating venues and coffee shops The views from the upper levels are quite extensive.
Then off to the Museum to look at the natural history collections and the new exhibits. Whilst waiting to cross the road and old bus passed by. It had a driver and a conductor on board and actually stopped to pick up passengers at a scheduled stop. I have not seen buses like this in service for years. The photograph shows the bus outside the Library and Museum entrance. The bus was a Leyland Routemaster in the old Derby Corporation colours and it was going to Littleover Lane.
Back to Ashbourne for lunch, then home to bake bread before starting work again tomorrow.
Derby taxis are all yellow and they do look fine in their ranks. It is a real contrast with the black cabs in Stoke and other UK cities. We took a look around the new Westfield shopping centre. It is big and glossy with lots of floor levels and a wealth of eating venues and coffee shops The views from the upper levels are quite extensive.
Back to Ashbourne for lunch, then home to bake bread before starting work again tomorrow.
2 comments:
Just to let you know that I'm dropping in from time to time I'm afraid the bus is not a Routemaster. The 'RM' began life as a London Transport bus and the only other place to have them from new was the then regional bus operator in north-east England. Derby never has had any, not even sec ond-hand to the best of my knowledge. It is almost certainly an Alexander body made in Scotland on a Leyland/Daimler chassis.
Having said all that it still looks great. My favourite bus ever was the RM's London predecessor, the 'RT' and when I see one I get a lump in the throat, but I wouldn't go back to the days of rear platform buses, which made carrying pushchairs near impossible and then only one. If you were disabled then tough luck! Modern buses do the business, but thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Love
Robert
I bow to your superior knowledge on this matter. My only excuse is that I read the word routemaster on the side of the engine cover as the bus drove by. Routemasters probably do not have such an inscription and I suspect it was an affectation in the refurbishment of this fine specimen.
Paul
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