Waves Of Emotion

The weather was at last (partially) bright as promised and my hopes were high. I had arranged my shift to allow me to go beforehand to a bus display and running day organised by Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB). First I wanted to see my Mum and, on the way there, collect the paper. As I was paying for the Times and Telegraph, two papers in the hope of finding some inspirational travel ads, I saw that an owl had arrived outside accompanied by a human. I love birds and was absolutely thrilled. I was also excited because this was a perfect example of an unexpected photographic opportunity and some vindication for carrying a camera almost everywhere. The pictures are now on Flickr. I was allowed to pet the beautiful bird and he sat on my arm. This made me deeply emotional; I have not been so moved in a long time.

My Mum unfortunately has not been very well and was less well this morning. She was evidently very anxious too and I spent some time arranging medical attention. I myself have used the out of hours service recently and, although it comes under great stress at holiday times, found it very satisfactory. Mum's triage call came quickly and while we were still there. A doctor's house call would take longer and we went about our business, remaining in touch by phone.

Winchester is a fascinating city and was today the location of the FoKAB running day. Fortunately, I had decided to go first to the St. Catherine's Park & Ride where there was an excellent display of buses and by far the best photographic opportunities. With patience, a quality which abounds in me, I was able to work around the hard of moving and semi-catatonic who chose to spend several minutes in front of each vehicle reading the informative placards. The position of the sun was not ideal for all the parked vehicles but I stoically accepted that my powers do not yet extend to manipulating the solar system. The vehicles present were magnificent in condition and variety. Those which meant most to me were the Portsmouth and Southdown examples; there were vehicles I had never imagined I would see again and I found myself again emotional. We went on to the city centre and it was clear that the area around Broadway and the bus station was much less satisfactory for photography although watching would have been good had I had time. I did not, as I now had to plan my journey to work. Pizza Hut, probably not more than a third full, seemed overwhelmed. We walked out when our order was not taken after about ten minutes. It was not a bad decision; our M&S lunch was excellent. The Brooks shopping centre is pointless and inadequate and its car park is both of those things as well as poorly designed and lit and claustrophobic. If you travel around the country as much as we do you will know how many car parks are completely inappropriately designed for the vehicles they are supposed to accommodate. Surely, it can not be beyond the wit of architects and structural engineers to produce a car park which does not have hopelessly tight turns and pillars projecting into every space. These inadequacies notwithstanding, Winchester is a city which deserves at least two more visits in the near future.

In the meantime, I would like to thank and congratulate FoKAB on an excellent display and running day. Weary though I was when I headed for work, it was also with raised spirits.