Using buses

This post is partly in response to a posting by Steve on the Garden Hens blog, but also something worth posting about in any case.

There is an art to using buses, although, having been brought up as a child using buses regularly, it hasn't been so difficult to go back to using them. Also if one makes do with buses for a long time before learning to drive, then returning to them later isn't such a big deal.

I do think that some people learn to drive because they think it means they are more competitive or that they are more likely to get a job. But really i think that is more to do with the sad state of affairs in society today, rather than any absolute reasoning.

I use the buses all the time, to get to work, shopping etc. Last year I took the bus out to the Roman Villa at Fishbourne (the 700 Coastliner service from Havant). Quite a day out! On the way there, the other passengers were very helpful and pointed out the stop I needed to get off at for the museum. On the journey back I had to wait for the bus and decided to have a beer in the nearby pub whilst waiting. Then on the bus back, I went on the top deck and watched the fantastic scenery go by. It was a great day out and because I used a weekly ticket I was using at the time, it didn't cost any extra.

You certainly have to change your concept of time and life when using buses. A newspaper, magazine or book are handy whilst waiting for a bus. I don't tend to plan much using a timetable unless of course I have a meeting at a specific time, so I can find myself waiting at the bus stop for up to half an hour. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I would have 'wasted' an hour in a day.

But is it really wasted time?
I have met numerous people at bus stops and got into some interesting conversations, although you never usually learn other bus users names, you do tend to 'know' them and their quirks after a few years, annoying as they may well be. In the past, discussions on buses and at bus stops have included TV soaps, climate change, rubbish on the streets, supermarkets, the loudness of the chimes of St Georges church etc.
Given that most people waste a lot of time using computers, watching TV etc. Actually talking to locals at bus stops must be a positive thing.

An alternative to waiting at the bus stop reading a magazine, is to pop into a nearby cafe for a coffee or tea. After a while you can end up being a 'regular' at a bus stop or cafe. Life is certainly different when using the buses, but it doesn't have to be unproductive or frustrating.

If you haven't used the buses much, it can be quite daunting to change and start using something that seems alien, especially if you have heard so many bad things about them. It can take weeks or months to get your head around what is or isn't possible using buses. After a few years, you just take them for granted and curse all the car drivers that pull alongside the bus in busy traffic!

Havant FOE meeting - Towards a More Sustainable Havant

Friends of the Earth have invited Pennie Smith, Havant Borough Councils Climate Change and Sustainability Adviser to do a presentation on Weds 16th Sept, 7.30pm at Niveneh, The Pallant, Havant.

An opportunity to ask questions about HBC policy.

Havant Friends of the Earth

Hambledon Parade 2007/2009

Another before and after pair of photos, this time Hambledon Parade:


Hedgerow and fields in 2007


Fence and building site in 2009

East Meon anti-wind turbine mis-information campaign

I seem to have missed completely the attempt by Volkswind to propose the installation of two wind turbines over at East Meon, north of the Sustainability Centre near Clanfield.

A local campaign group of Nimby's, Ramblers and other so called conservation groups opposed the two turbines and as a result Volkswind withdrew the application. The local Nimbys calling themselves 'Say No to East Meon Wind Farm' claim they actually support wind energy, which is hard to believe given that they describe the project as 'industrial'.

Exactly what turbines do they recommend then? Wooden turbines hand crafted by local carpenters maybe?

Their web site contains the usual misinformation about wind turbines. Allegedly they claim new 'pylons' carrying 'hundreds' of transmission lines would be installed to carry the electricity away from the turbines. Now I actually have a degree in engineering and in any transmission system I know of, never have I seen one that requires hundreds of cables!

It sounds to me like a load of emotional scaremongering.

And the web site shows the height of the turbine to the blade tip rather than the nacelle assembly, so then they can quote a bigger figure for the turbine height, to scare people.

Quote from the SEMWF site:

What we will be left with is an uncomfortable juxtaposition of ancient rural landscape little changed since medieval times, with a vista of brash 21st century towers, turbines and revolving blades.

So what we have here is a bunch of luddites that apparently would have campaigned against windmills hundreds of years ago, designed to provide flour, because they would have been a 'brash of towers with revolving blades'.

I would like to know how these Nimby's get about? I'm guessing that out in East Meon, one is dependent on cars. So I guess they don't mind the building of motorways in someone else's back yard so that they can drive their cars to the nearest Tesco's.

Mercury Wind Farm web site

UPDATE: Volkswind have replied to an email i sent them and they stated that the main reason for not going ahead with the project was due to the National Park status of the area and associated government policy weakening their chances of approval.

Portsmouth Green Fair

Portsmouth Climate Action Network and Portsmouth City Council are organising a Green Fair on 5th September 2009 in the Guildhall Square. Looks like there will be eco businesses and lots of fun stuff to do. There should be more details later.

Vesta Isle of Wight sit in

Give your support to Vesta workers on the Isle of Wight. Join a demonstration at St Thomas Square, Newport this Friday at 5.30pm.

For more info visit SaveVestas

Plastic carrier bags down

It is great to see that supermarkets have cut the number of free plastic carrier bags given out at the checkouts. 48% is an impressive cut and the environmental groups are correct in saying that it shows what businesses and people are capable of doing when they put their minds to it.

I have been using the stronger plastic multiple use bags for some 7 years now. In fact one lasted about 6 years before needing to be recycled and replaced. The trick of remembering to take one when shopping, is to keep one or two folded up in your jackets/coats. In any case, after a while it becomes habitual to look for a bag before you go to the shops.

I actually started this blog because of plastic bags spotted in hedgerows and trees. Hopefully the original subject that got me blogging will be one I won't have to return to in the future?
However there is still a lot of plastic packaging to deal with, we'll have to see how quickly things change.