Thinking of one of these humbugs. (Photo format not quite friendly for Bsky...)

Screenshotted Open University post to... another short-form social media web site on their results day IT woes over the last several hours. It'd be very worthwhile for them to follow the example of their own library @oulibrary.bsky.social and at least open an account on Bluesky.

Yay! The programme from the legendary British Rail 'Snowdonian' charter - 12th November 1988. £55 inclusive of breakfast, evening meal, & the Ffestiniog Railway. Two trains. Hairy itinerery. Walk across Porthmadog. Sunset journey in the second train along the Cambrian Coast.

Indeed, & thankfully other engineering solutions are available though the road engineers could perhaps have made this slightly easier...

Ah. Manvers Street, Bath - the pavement by the former police station. The vehicle approach is ramped across the pavement and for good measure this is concrete polished by use: feels insecure on foot let alone in a wheelchair. It's on a heavily used access route from the railway station.

Was hoping the work was going to remove the laurel on the site, which has completely swamped it. Not really wanting to have the laurel removed through the agency of a 250Kg weapon, mind.

The land below Camden Cresent's been having inspections this week. (The notice on the road is dated June, means July, but hey, it's hot.) The inspections being carried out by contractors carrying a certain amount of paperwork concerned with WW2 unexploded ordnance. Perhaps a training exercise.

Meanwhile, Stornoway.

Stepping away from boats and moving to the architecture of buildings, more awareness of these would improve a lot of newer buildings, at least in the UK. Often known as sun pipes, the number of otherwise internal rooms that they'd transform...

By the castle - and allowing a glimpse of the lake, Tony Dewberry's seat. Gone too soon, and fondly remembered for his individuality and humanity, which often showed in the decisions he made.

Several generations of students and staff will have worked and studied in Bath College of Higher Education's Corston building, originally built to house the organisation's Newton Park library. Now part of @bathspauni.bsky.social, the building is being removed over the summer of 2026.

Good to hear the issue of the missing through trains between Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge and London Waterloo on BBC Radio Wiltshire this morning. Hope @itsgrahamrogers.bsky.social's afternoon show is able to cover this too.

Scenes: the Cotswold Canals Trust ran a public outing in their trip boat 'Perseverance' up to the tail of Ham Mills lock for a visit to the Stroud Brewery - and loaded a amall case of beer. Was this the first 'Commercial' use of this part of the navigation, formally abandoned in 1933?

I think it's that heading west the coalfield becomes ever older and more affected by higher pressures through the geological ages, a recipe for anthracite. The cliff at the west end of Saundersfoot beach gives that impression, also, good photos on this blog: natureinfocus.blog/2016/02/29/m...

For a few more hours, the opportunity to tune to 198 kHz long wave and listen to BBC radio 4, 2026 edition. Radio 4 in a distilled, end-times 'Heat-death-of-the-universe' state - no programmes, just a looped exhortation that you can still listen on BBC digital radio, BBC sounds, your smart speaker.

Bath's buses. The majority of the buses on the Larkhall / Fairfield Park run today: electric, more space, air-con, a big hike to the experience of both passenger and driver. A big opportunity - when Manvers Street reopens - to sort the route out and run them to the bus and railway stations again.

Surviving (but incomplete and not working) water fountain, Sydney Gardens, Bath. A patented design from J & R Howie Ltd of Hurlford marketed to schools, it ensured the delivery of clean water and for good measure resisted muppetry.

Not a sinkhole, an electrical short that produced enough steam/vapour to lift paving stones. High Street's open - you can just see Larkhall's lovely 6a electric bus in the background at its stop by the abbey. The workforce is awaiting the arrival of technical staff as there are 8 cables down there.

Search provided by retail companies is now a mystery. Just searched for a specific term: not one of the products it returned was in any way related to the search. This happens time and time again, with many different company sites. Ummmm... A duck could do better.

Pls could you put a quick technical piece of long-form writing on that super supercell that supercharged itself over Somerset yesterday around 5:30?

The partial solar eclipse of March 20th 2015 - about 85% of the sun's disk obscured before 10am - casting a decidedly odd light across the campus of Bath Spa University, with its amphitheatre at far left providing a vantage point for students to watch the skies.

"Can you see me?"

Thinking of tourist buses, they may be NCAP 6 but they're noisy and fuel inefficient - and with much of the rest of Bath's buses about to go electric, they'll soon look like an anachronism. Wouldn't it be good to know the tour bus operators' plans for electrification too?

Another positive would be if the bus companies made proper use of the double bay bus stops by Bath Spa Station. These were provided to ease intermodal changes - they would be invaluable for people travelling back to Wiltshire - but are little used and recently, even the daytime & hourly 11 bus...

While the council has little say on the buses, it would be really positive if the conclusion to these works saw Bath's 6 and 7 buses back on the route they served pre-Covid - that is, a service that includes the bus and railway stations.

It's @nessbattery.bsky.social who can tell the tale of the day that the officer in charge there, as a last resort to get the attention of her insouciant crew, had to make the decision to drop a shell in front of the bows of the St Ola (the Thurso -Stromness ferry). tl:dr - it worked.

Railcard renewal process questionable practice, 2026 edition. This has been running for years and the owners of the railcard web site are quite happy to support this behaviour. £20.50 cashback but in the small print you'd be charged £216 per annum for a subscription service.

Tomorrow, June 13th, the city's running a challenging experiment in traffic congestion. Extensive road works, racecourse day, rugby on, and a University open day. Photo below from 2012, when the weather added a twist too. Let's see.

Full disclosure: 1st floor, left hand window, top row of panes, fourth from the left, keeping an eye on the street outside, magnified loupe provided...

Struck by the number of organisations that have both a Bluesky and an X account, but on their web site, still only feature the latter. More blue butterflies please.