Couple who met on bus take double decker to wedding


Uloma Igwe and Gabriel Enyi met aboard the number 88 bus in Northamptonshire

A couple who met on a bus less than a year ago have got married after riding a red double decker to their wedding ceremony.

Gabriel and Uloma Enyi, both 32, met last summer while riding the number 88 service from Northampton Bus Station to Silverstone. The pair tied the knot on Saturday in a ceremony at Northampton Cathedral.

After the ceremony, Uloma said the couple felt like "mini celebrities" since their love story went viral in February. "Finding my husband in the bus is not even something I thought of," she said. "Anyone looking for love, be open. You just never can tell where you can find your love."

Gabriel added: "Having the bus on this occasion is a wonderful experience that I'm so happy about... It shows where the love all started.

BBC Radio Northampton presenter Justin Dealey arranged for a restored 1963 Routemaster to take them to the venue and then onwards to their wedding reception.

It was driven by owner Paul Sainthouse, a Milton Keynes based collector who said he only allowed his buses to be used by charity or good causes.

Somerset coach firm back on the road after vandalism attack


Martin Spiller said he was angry when he first saw the smashed windows

A coach company is back up and running thanks to the help it received from other bus firms after its vehicles were damaged in a vandalism attack.

Avon and Somerset Police were called after "significant damage" - which could cost £100,000 to fix - was caused to minibuses and coaches at a storage yard near Midsomer Norton in Somerset on Tuesday.

Other coach firms stepped in to help, offering to fit new glass to damaged vehicles, and the help has enabled Centurion Travel to be able to fulfil its school contracts "as usual", the company said.

Centurion Travel managing director Martin Spiller said: "All the local coach operators dropped everything... and helped us put glass in."

He said: "Luckily we've got a good bunch down here. There was one member of the public who walked off the street and helped us fit the windows. One lady brought in cakes for the workers. The community has been amazing."

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The company operates 28 coaches - 10 of which were vandalised. Some of them were heritage vehicles.

Police arrested three boys on Tuesday and are asking witnesses to come forward. Two of the boys were later de-arrested and will be interviewed later on, police said. One boy was interviewed and released on conditional bail.

Spiller said: "It makes you feel sad. I'm 65 this year and I can honestly say, I've never been so angry. At the end of the day we work for the public - whether it be private hire or schools."

Rude names, railways and a mass trespass - how the Peak District became a tourist attraction


Some of the former Peak District railway lines are now walking routes, like the Monsal Trail

The Peak District became the UK's first national park 75 years ago, but the area has been attracting visitors for much longer.

One of the oldest tourist attractions is the Devil's Arse - one of four caves in Castleton that are accessible to the public. "It makes a huge farting noise basically," says John Harrison, director of the site, as he explains where its name originates.

"It was always known as the Devil's Arse and then in Victorian times, with their sort of prudish outlook on life, it became offensive. They changed it to the Devil's Hole - which is probably worse - and then Peak's Hole and then Peak Cavern. When we took it on it was Peak Cavern and we changed it back to the Devil's Arse."


Tourists have been visiting the Devil's Arse for centuries

When the cave floods, the rising and falling of the water sucks through air and makes a sound uncannily similar to flatulence. "It can flood two or three times a year - sometimes more, it depends on the weather - but it's happening more often at the minute, so it's being heard more regularly," says John.

The Devil's Arse was named as one of Seven Wonders of the Peak back in 1636, in a book by philosopher Thomas Hobbes, which shows people have been visiting the cave and the wider Peak District for centuries.

"They tended to be very well-heeled gentry who'd come and stay at the likes of places like Chatsworth and be taken on a tour of the Peak District," says John. But then railways came along in the 19th Century - including the line that connects Manchester and Sheffield, which opened in 1894 and is still known for its incredible scenery.

"That opened up the Hope Valley to mass tourism," says John. "People could come out of the cities, out of Sheffield, out of Manchester, and have a day out in the Peak District and get home all in good time."


Railway companies promoted the Peak District as a place to visit before it became a national park

Railway companies promoted the idea of visiting the Peak District for leisure, but people could not access as much of the area as they can today. This was because much of it was privately owned, and many landowners did not want people rambling through. Tensions were highlighted in 1932 by the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, moorland kept exclusively for grouse shooting by its owner, the Duke of Devonshire.

Organised by the British Workers' Sports Federation, the aim of the mass trespass was to fight against "the finest stretches of Moorlands being closed to us", according to a notice encouraging people to join. Hundreds of people took part, and five were imprisoned for between two and six months after being charged with unlawful assembly and breach of the peace.

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Reservoirs in the Peak District were used as the training ground for the Dambusters in World War Two, as remembered in 2013


(BBC article continues)

Yes, I'm sorry I missed out on that adventure, but we did have a mishap at home here.

Reaching into the airing cupboard to get a towel for my shower, I discovered that the towels at the back were all soaking wet.  Investigation revealed that the gas combi-boiler, mounted on the wall above the shelving, was leaking.  Bowls were placed, soggy towels were hung up outside to dry, and we have a plumber arriving this afternoon to investigate the cause of this outage of water.

CfN.

Beware that from late May until November, the 271/272/273 will not be serving the Bus Station in Bath - see https://www.mtug.org.uk/ruh.html

I'll take a look at the bus timetables to see which might provide the best plan B.

Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains – report

‘Stone age’ system of booking cross-border rail tickets holding back climate action by consumers, says thinktank

Europe’s “stone age” system of booking train tickets makes it needlessly difficult for travellers to avoid polluting flights, a report has found.

Booking equivalent train tickets is “difficult or impossible” on almost half of the EU’s busiest international air routes, analysis from the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinktank shows.

Popular flight paths such as Lisbon-Madrid or Barcelona-Milan could not be booked from any rail operator’s website, the report found, while connections such as Paris-Rome and Amsterdam-Milan could only be booked from one of the operators.

Georgia Whitaker, a rail campaigner at T&E and author of the report, said it “almost feels a bit silly” that a clunky and outdated system was holding back climate action.

.....I sympathise, but how would such a ban be enforced?

Taser.

Taser.

18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21

18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 has been cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Now there’s a new ‘railway emergency’ that has brought trains to a standstill at Burnham