Garden centre delights

Last Saturday, when I was over at my daughter's, I took my youngest granddaughter out for a few hours, to allow her mum a few hours of peace with the poorly older one. As it was raining quite heavily, we went to a local garden centre, a huge place full of many things to entertain and delight a three year old. It had trolleys designed as cars that the child could 'drive', so we had an entertaining time walking up and down the aisles with one of those. Once that palled, we explored the tropical fish section and were both hugely amused by the fancy goldfish. They had such funny faces.  There was aisle after aisle of statues, ornaments and toys for kids, dogs and cats, as well as all the actual plants. M was deeply interested in the stone chips used for mulch on some of the big pots. They came in different colours and varied shapes and she very carefully selected one and then proceeded to carry it round in her fist for the rest of the visit.

Outside in the car park there were a couple of vintage steam vehicles with lots of moving wheels, shiny pistons and a very loud steam whistle! The colourful one in my photo appeared to have been brought from Australia, according to its paintwork.

(Thank you all for the lovely comments yesterday.)

Enthusiasts

There seemed to be quite a few 'classic bus' enthusiasts enjoying the sunshine and the 3rd Saltaire Historic Bus Running Day in Roberts Park. I'm not sure what Sir Titus was making of it. It was all horse-drawn carriages in his day, of course.

I hadn't realised that spotting buses is an alternative to train spotting and comes with all its own memorabilia - photos for sale, old timetables, models of buses...

Numberplates and signs:

Vintage ticket machines (oh! another wave of nostalgia! Remember the sounds they used to make?) and rolls of tickets to put in them, should you wish to role-play being a bus conductor. (As children, we used to be thrilled when we got tickets with red lines on them that indicated the roll was running out!) 

And books with such fascinating titles ... (When Buses Were Worth Spotting!)

More bus nostalgia

More memories... This type of bus transported me to primary school and back, and to my grandparents' house, before we owned a car. You weren't supposed to ride on the open platform, though people did. It also meant people could hop on and off when the bus was moving! Unthinkable in these days of health and safety and much busier roads.

I can still remember swaying up those stairs as the bus moved off, and trying to see my distorted reflection in the convex mirror (which was there, I think, so the bus conductor could keep an eye on the top deck). My favourite seat, then as now, was always the one upstairs at the front, with a grandstand view of everything.

At the time, I didn't appreciate the craftsmanship in these vehicles... Look at that gorgeous wood-inlayed floor.

Bus nostalgia

I'm not sure whether yesterday's bus was linked in to this event: the 3rd Saltaire Historic Bus Running Day. Roberts Park played host to a dozen or so 'classic' buses, most brought over from the Keighley Transport Museum. I wandered down to the park just for a quick look, not expecting to find it particularly interesting. I wasn't anticipating feeling waves of nostalgia!

Bradford had trams (buses running on tracks in the road) until 1950 and from 1911 to 1972 it also had trolleybuses, which were powered by overhead cables. My own earliest experience of Bradford was as a student at the university from 1970 to 1973, so I actually used the trolleybuses. I was there when this trolleybus made its final journey, full of local dignitaries, on 26 March 1972, the last trolleybus system to close in Britain. I remember it well!  I am, I'm afraid, getting to that age when my early memories are now on display in museums!

Bus stop

There's often something new to see in Saltaire. I wasn't sure what to make of this bus parked on Victoria Road outside Salts Mill.  It said 'Blackpool Transport' on it and was, as you can see, a rather noticeable bright yellow and black, like a wasp.

There is only a little 'Hopper' service bus runs through Saltaire village and that doesn't venture down to the Mill. Tourist coaches have to drop their passengers off up by the college's Exhibition Building. Victoria Road is effectively a cul de sac at the bottom, past the Mill, where there is barely room for large vehicles to turn, so you rarely see buses or big lorries down here. There was a vintage bus rally in the park and I've occasionally seen a vintage bus doing wedding duty at the church (see here) but this one didn't look very vintage to me, though I am not a bus expert! Day trip to Saltaire from Blackpool? A minor mystery...