Taking a break...

Spent a few hours replacing a ceiling fan, simple job except the screw holes for the new back plate aren't in the same place as the old one - despite it being the same size and make.  Roughly 3.5 of the 4 hours were spent drilling, and redrilling ceiling holes to take the fitting.  All this done whilst practically working upside down at the top of some kitchen steps.  As the electric was turned off I was using a torch - when I could find it.  MrsDB does try to help me at times of great stress but unfortunately putting all my tools away as soon as I put them down doesn't quite help.  "Now where's the bloody torch, dearest"?  She was banned to her kitchen. ;-)

This afternoon I took some R&R out and did a bit of work on a poster I hope to have framed for the hall.  I haven't had permission yet but as my name isn't Bill I should get approval.

My history of the bus routes in Argyll is driving me nuts but although it is brain numbingly complicated it is brain tinglingly fascinating.

Did you know that the Clyde and Campbeltown Shipping Company Ltd (CCSC) ship SS Dalriada hit a destroyer on the Clyde in 1939?  She was requisitioned by the WD in 1941 as a salvage ship and sunk on the Thames in 1942.  After the war her hulk was blown up.  You may wonder what this has to do with bus routes, well I'll tell you.  The CCSC lost the mail contract to Campbeltown (Machrihanish) Airport and their steamship passenger  route from Campbeltown to Glasgow was abandoned.  MacBraynes applied for a road licence to operate a bus service along the route (CCSC was a David MacBrayne subsidiary) and it was granted.  

Over the next 35 years via a series of mergers and takeovers, both commercially and politically driven, the licence for the route ended up with Scottish Citylink - now owned 65% by Comfort Delgro of Singapore and 35% Stagecoach.  The contract to operate the route was awarded to West Coast Motors in 1986.