Coastliner700

Looks like the Coastliner700 bus service is being improved. This is the service that runs from Portsmouth to Brighton and is very popular. Apparently the number of passengers has doubled in the last 5 years, as a result,  from the 6th June the frequency of the service is changing from a bus every 30 minutes to a bus every 15 minutes.
That is quite impressive! The last time I remember such an upgrade in services must have been in the days of nationalised buses. The bus service has its own web site and 21 new low emission doubledecker buses are now being used along the route.

There is also a Coastliner700 booklet that can be picked up from bus stations and other places which include discounts to various attractions if you have a Stagecoach bus ticket that takes you to the attraction. The discounted attractions include Fishbourne Roman Palace, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and Weald & Downland Museum. The discounts are also available by downloading vouchers from the bus service web site.

Coastliner700.co.uk

Blog Housekeeping

I got a bit fed up with the old blog template, mainly because of it's restricted width. So decided to change to a wider template and make a few adjustments. Over the coming weeks i'll modify the CSS and adjust a few things so it looks a bit better.

With the new template I should be able to post some larger photos and videos.

Added: grrrrr, just noticed the new template has stopped my 'walk to waterlooville' map API from working!  Another thing to fix. Ahh, of course all the bits of javascript I had, need replacing in the new template!

Love Your Bike video

Video of the Love Your Bike event last Sunday. I think it was filmed after I had left, it's a lot busier in the video than when I was there. At the beginning the bike harp is being played. I missed the bike hockey!

The Clocks of Waterlooville

This post has been inspired by a comment left by Steve in an earlier post. Here I have taken a series of photos of Waterlooville town centre from a location just outside Lloyds TSB bank. I have added arrows to indicate where a total of 3 clocks can be seen. Waterlooville now has 3 fully function clocks all of which have 4 clock faces. Click on the image if you want to view a bigger version of the mash up:

So why the fuss?
Well lets have a look at the clocks. On the left we have the Clock House Building with a working clock visible from quite a distance up and down the streets. It dates back to at least the 1970s, probably earlier (50s or 60s?).

Then in the centre of the image we have St Georges church tower with a clock at the top. This is viewable from the centre and down in the direction of Denmead and Hambledon Road. The current St Georges church was rebuilt in 1970.

So that leaves the clock on the right of the image. We have established that we already had two clocks that have been available for decades, so what about the little tower on the right?
Well in the noughties (about 2005) Havant Borough Council decided we needed another clock in close proximity of two existing clocks (all are within 50 to 200 yards of each other) and as you can see, from Lloyds TSB they can all be seen at the same time.

Yes, in this day and age when political parties encourage us to be independent and fuel consumerism to create economic growth, the days when everyone on the street has a watch, mobile phone or can even ask someone for the time. Yes in these days, our local government approved a new public clock, with all the accompanying expenses.

BTW spot the man with the shopping trolley who appears 3 times in the image. I think he is capable of doing quantum jumps and can appear in many places at the same time!

Work on St Judes Southsea

I think I have broken my record for the number of posts in one month.
Some interesting changes are being made to St Judes in Southsea, A mixture of old and New...

I like this feature. In the new wall just outside the new entrance is a stone seat, for weary worshippers or shoppers to rest their feet:

A modern buttress, that merges the new on the right, with the old on the left:

One of the old buttresses:

I don't think this is actually a new feature, modern yes, but not a part of the new build. Here we have an original gargoyle from the old drainage system replaced with modern guttering. It looks like some water is still getting to the gargoyle, I think it is supposed to be blocked off.

Southsea then and now

Whilst visiting Southsea, I realised I had a photo of the sea wall near the war memorial and aquarium in my collection, so decided to take a similar photo today. This one was taken in the early 1980s or maybe the 1970s, the tide was out and there is no sign of the Spinnaker tower:

Today the tide was high at Noon. The Spinnaker tower is hiding behind the war memorial:

I'll try and get a better photo in future, try and match the exact spot I was standing in the 80s/70s.
The focal length probably also needs to be different.

Love Your Bike Day, Portsmouth 2010

Just got back from the Love Your Bike Day at the Southsea skate park. Here are a lot of photos of the event.

Someone relaxing on their recliner:

The Gocycle electric bike, but unfortunately the company didn't show up with some batteries and other units, I would have liked to have a go:

A custom chopper:

A customised paint job on this childs wooden bike, I think local schools had a go at painting these:

A bamboo bike. This is imported, the frame is made out of bamboo:

Close ups of the bamboo frame:

Actually this trike wasn't being exhibited, it was someone's everyday bike, I liked it because of the child's seat facing backwards at the rear:

Some action shots in the park:

And finally a bike harp. Yep it has strings on the frame with pick-ups that feed into an amp: