Truro is alright being in a busy area. Northampton used to be bloody awful, so did Reading's long distance Alder Valley darkness. For local transport I have never favored a full on bus station on street bus stops work much better provided there is a decent central turning area or the routes cross town.
Preston has to be the winner for best.
I lost my car in the vast car park above Preston bus station. A former colleague found his (then new) company Sierra eventually after parking there. He drove out, then opened the glove box to switch the radio on - no point in trying to call base from inside a car park. But there was no radio. He realised he had taken the wrong brand new Sierra. Someone must have been baffled when he got back to his car, probably on a different floor.
I saw the psychedelic rock band Gong in Preston Guildhall about 40 years ago. Walking back through the labyrinthine underpass below the bus station, we found the sax / flute player Count Bloomdido Badde de Grasse, aka Didier Malherbe, wandering, lost. We took him for a pint - he was really good company, although I was slightly disappointed not to have met "space whisper" Shakti Yoni (Gillian Smith, who died aged 83 in 2016), Daevid Allen, otherwise "Divided Alien" or "Bert Camembert", died 2015 aged 77, or Stevie Hillside, alias Steve Hillage, one of the better players of the electric guitar, and still very much with us at a youthful 67. We then found Didier's rather battered Citroen. Shakti Yoni was extremely sultry, and about two years younger than my mother.
The following month, me and the same mates ended up in the same pub with Yes, after seeing them play, purely because all the pubs close to the Guildhall were full, and they chose the same one as us for a post-gig snifter. Jon Anderson - first man I ever saw order a tonic water without gin. Rick Wakeman - first two pints didn't touch the sides.
I digress. I used to change trains at Preston when visiting my now late mother near Blackpool. The electrification was going on at that time, but wasn't finished in time for my last visit. Occasionally, thanks to split tickets, I would venture out of the station for one of them pints. It's not something I would wholeheartedly recommend.
Smack in the centre of town
Best keep your drug buying habits to yourself. Kids - just say no.
An avenue of pleasure long closed to me. These days, it tends to be steroids, but man cannot live by Prednisolone alone.
Go to
for the seminal track "Phohat digs holes in space" and fast forward about 20 minutes.
Click on the map to explore geographics
