 |
| A view of Peveril Castle, Castleton |
There was grumbling outside our house. It was Clint. He was not in the least bit happy that his driver of the day was to be the mistress of the house and not the master.
Shirley was on her way to Rotherham to attend a diabetes day conference for practice nurses. It is an area she specialises in. Her own little car is having a couple of mechanical problems so I suggested that she should take Clint instead.
With no vehicle at his disposal, your devoted correspondent was obliged to travel into Derbyshire by public transport in the form of the number 272 bus. The morning bus was timetabled to arrive at our nearest stop at 10.01am but in the event it arrived at 10.14am with no hint of an apology or explanation from the driver. His various tattoos and neanderthal brow indicated that any complaints might be best left unsaid. Discretion being the better part of valour and all that.
After my three hour walk in the vicinity of Castleton I headed to the little town's main bus stop to catch the 15.00 bus homewards. I was there in plenty of time but it never appeared so I had to wait until 16.00. Needless to say a fiery e-mail of complaint has already been fired off to the offending bus company which in this instance was "First". I will be surprised if any apology or explanation comes back to me but you never know. Stranger things have happened.
 |
| A view of Mam Tor |
The walk was invigorating with passages of September sunshine between the clouds. There was a certain chill in the air but being a rough, tough Yorkshireman I wore a thin London Olympics T-shirt and resisted any temptation to don the "Craghoppers" fleece that was in my "Converse" rucksack. It's all about the brand names you know.
In the bracken near the road that collapsed under Mam Tor - the shivering mountain - I met a pair of American tourists. We talked for five minutes. They were a married couple from Nebraska and they seemed very nice. Neither of them used annoying American words like "sidewalk" or "faucet" during our brief exchange. I said, "Nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!" I have a soft spot for Americans having had some wonderful times in their star spangled country.
Now that it is dark, I hope that they are not still wandering around in the bracken.
 |
| Blue John shop in Castleton |
 |
| Blue john mine and show cave |
 |
| Riding on a double decker bus through Bradwell |
People from Nebraska are very nice. Big Bear said, when we last visited Minnesota, if he met one more wonderfully nice person in that state of many lakes, that he thought we might have to move there!
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures, Neil. Hope Clint got back with his precious cargo all in one piece.
"Nice" is okay but it's good to have a dash of "nasty" too!
DeleteWhat are the acceptable words for "faucet" and "sidewalk" in your neck of the woods?
ReplyDeleteTap and pavement are the correct terms Allison.
DeleteTap and footpath are what we use here in Brisbane.
DeleteThat is so interesting. Tap is not unheard of in the US, but it's less common. Pavement refers to what a road is made out of (I know, poor sentence construction). You really do live in a beautiful part of the world.
DeleteBy the way I am only faking my annoyance with "faucet" and "sidewalk". Language evolves. It is organic. It would be surprising if the USA and indeed Australia didn't have their differences.
DeleteA healthy hike, I'd say, with a neat documentary to go with the photos.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr C. I am glad that you came along - even though you were puffing and panting as we walked up Cave Dale.
DeleteTap! Tap! That's the sound of Mr. Pud impatiently tapping his foot on the footpath as he waits for the bus to arrive.
ReplyDeleteYou are always out and about, rambling here, there and everywhere, Yorkie. I love the photos of your ramblings.
Thump! Thump! That's the sound of Mr Pud aggressively punching the "First" route planners on he nose!
DeleteHa! I love all the pics, but especially that last one. Even the SHADOW of the bus doesn't fit through that narrow gap!
ReplyDeleteVery tight Kate, especially when the bus swung back into the main road. By the way there was a New Zealand family at the front with me. They were from Auckland.
DeleteI bet I don't know them :0)
DeleteBut I still can't help hoping they were nice.
DeleteThe buildings are all very solid over in the 'ole country. Were the blocks quarried from the cliffs in your pictures?
ReplyDeleteAnd I must know... what breed is Clint? It sounds like an American name (aka Clint Eastwood) so is he an American car??
We named our MGB Sybil as we actually had two roadsters for a while (our two youngest who were driving age joined us on club events) and being British sports cars and Sybil being a pretty greeny yellow we called her Sybil (Fawlty) and the other was a black brute of a car with a lumpy cam and we named him Basil & yes he did get me in trouble as I could not keep him on the lower end of the speed limits - after being booked twice in one week he departed. (Sorry for the digression ... but am intrigued by Clints' heritage- names of cars always have a story)
Clint is named after a chocolate bunny that sits in the fridge of Ms Lee George - author of "Kitchen Connection". By naming my car Clint I hoped to raise awareness of the little bunny's cruel imprisonment. And yes - come to think of it - Clint is a de facto American car - manufactured in the 51st state - South Korea!
DeleteWell there is certainly a storey there! A chocolate bunny named Clint that is obviously intact and then gets another life by driving over hill & dale... heavens to Betsy, my name calling story us mundane in the extreme ;)
Delete...story ( for goodness sake)..sorry for the typo
DeleteNot at all young lady. I liked your car naming tale.
DeleteSuch dramatic landscape! It needs asking, who or what is Blue John? I'm also curious to know if you use a fancy camera on your walks?
ReplyDeleteGo here Pip > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_John_(mineral)
DeleteThanks YP, mystery solved. I'd neither seen nor heard of Blue John before now. It does look lovely!
DeleteEvery once in a while I have to take the bus. It's a completely different way of transportation. There did I use any of those annoying American words? We don't use faucet. I say tap!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard anybody say "birding" in England Red. We always say "bird watching". But for some reason your use of the term "birding" does not annoy me.
DeleteYou'd have better luck with your complaints if you sent them registered mail! One never knows if emails even arrive, and it can always be claimed by the company that they didn't, whether it's true or not.
ReplyDeleteI hate travelling on buses. I know hate is a strong word, but it's the truth. It dates to my chldhood when my family didn't have a car, and if we wanted to go to town (to shop or to the library, the second one being far more important to me) we had to take the bus. Invariably as soon as I set foot on it I needed to use the washroom and in those days there were no bathrooms on buses. I would spend the twenty minute trip in agony. It was just an anxiety thing but it bothered me terribly. Okay, that was WAY off topic. Sorry!
No need to apologise Jenny. I guess that travelling on buses brings back some unpleasant and rather wet memories. One of the troubles with buses is that they keep stopping and starting.
DeleteLovely photographs as always Mr. Pudding! I too am curious as to what type of camera you use on these trips.
ReplyDeleteMy camera is a Sony bridge camera. It is easy to use - especially if you keep it on the automatic setting. The zoom range is amazing and this also helps to make great pictures.
DeleteBlue John - always seems to sell well at auction.
ReplyDeleteI understand that it is only found in north Derbyshire and nearly all the blue john in the world has come from that little mine.
DeleteI wonder if the American couple were trying to avoid annoying words....
ReplyDeleteTheir intuition probably guided them. They were wearing thick coats and he had a baseball cap on his bonce but the madman in front of them wore only a T-shirt.
DeleteThis is why we are eternally grateful for the car. I would love to use public transport more often as we both have passes but standing at bus stops etc is a pain.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder people prefer to take the car.
Briony
x
Waiting an extra hour didn't bother me too much but someone else could have missed an important appointment.
DeleteFaucet is actually an English word. The Americans just kept using it whilst we in the UK changed for general usage.
ReplyDeleteOh! Thank you for that Professor Edwards.
DeleteAnother great walk/hike and photos to prove. What is Blue John? A mineral? A drink? A genital disease?
ReplyDeleteWe have come back from our hiking holiday in the Bavarian Forest last night. There will be TONS of photos to look at, mainly of... wait for it... trees!
No! Blue john is not a genital disease you saucy young fraulein! Go here:-
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_John_(mineral)
I will make sure I come over to your blog to see the trees.
I bet the people who live in those village houses love the double decker bus coming through!You can almost shake their hands through the window. Or see all sorts.
ReplyDeleteThere was a nubile young woman in one of the bedrooms. She had just had a bath. I don't think she even saw my goggle eyes and my sagging lower jaw.
DeleteP.S> I made this up.
Nebraskans, like all midwesterners, have a reputation for niceness. I'm sure they would have said sidewalk or faucet if you'd had occasion to bring up the topics of plumbing or road construction. :)
ReplyDeleteGood job I didn't then 'cos they'd have received punches on their Nebraskan noses.
Delete