Thoughts on Last Week

Last week was for me pretty amazing. At the beginning of the week, during one of our group sessions, a member of the group asked if I could spare ten minutes and drove me off to a remote part of Spalding. I had absolutely no idea where I was being taken or for what purpose other than the fact that I was going to be shown something incredible. We pulled into a yard which consisted of a couple of barns, a stable and some stacks of farm pallets. I was led between the pallets and there looking rather sorry for itself and a little weather beaten was a double decker bus - a Leyland Olympian to be exact - as I know my buses. I was shown around the bus and I was told that the bus belonged to our group member and friend and that he wanted to donate it to the group and he wanted me to look after it and get it back on the road. Well, it has been some time since I was really shocked and lost for words but on this occasion, I was absolutely dumbfounded. When I think of how long I have wanted a bus to work on, to restore and to get back on the road, and a person we have helped through our support group has in effect given us a bus - just like that - to be honest I must have experienced some of the feelings and emotions that occur when the lottery jackpot is won. Just looking round the bus, I could see its potential straight away. OK it needs some TLC and the paintwork (adhesive vinyl) needs to be removed. I was told the inside has been completed to a very high standard and was used as an exhibition and training vehicle. I was keen to see the inside, but our friend hadn't brought the keys with him but promised he would do so on Thursday when we would next meet.
I couldn't wait, and the bus was on my mind constantly until Thursday afternoon, when after our group meeting, he took myself and our group treasurer to see the bus again - and this time he had brought the keys.

Stepping inside was like entering the Tardis. In fact, once inside you wouldn't know you were in a bus for the quality of the fittings and workmanship is nothing short of excellent. Everything has been thought of and provided right down to a kitchen area complete with fridge, sink, storage, toilet and numerous power points all round. Upstairs is fitted to a class room standard complete with work benches all round and power points for multiple laptops. There is air conditioning upstairs and down and an emergency hatch built in to the floor, ideal for getting equipment to the upper deck. In the front of the bus on the top deck, there is a small office big enough to seat two people with desk space and room for filing and storage.

Every section of the bus is separated by a fire door with a round window and roller blind - for they've thought of everything.
The bus is equipped with its own fresh water supply courtesy of an on-board water tank expertly hidden under the staircase and it has its own diesel generator hidden in the front of the bus where the entrance would normally be - capable of running two average sized homes. There is even a disabled lift to bring wheelchair users on to the bus and an awning for those hot summer days.
Again, I was dumbstruck but this time I became quite emotional as I found it impossible to express my feelings in words. Our treasurer who had accompanied me was also quite emotional and knowing how much I have longed for my own bus, she too had a sense of how I was feeling. I really was thinking that I would wake at any moment from one of my Utopian dreams and that it would all have been a fantasy.
As reality began to sink in, it was obvious that the bus could be used for a variety of different projects and could even earn us some money if we were able to get it to a state whereby it could be hired out.
We left the bus feeling a little numb, the sort of feeling you get when you step off a fast fairground ride. Before we left, I was given the key to the bus. I was told that I should make a copy and that from this day forward, I would be responsible for the bus, all works undertaken and its primary driver.
We bid a more than grateful farewell to our friend and drove home, still in shock and unable to fully comprehend what we had just seen and heard.
Since Thursday, the bus has been on my mind and the enormity of the project has me wondering just how on earth we will do everything that's needed to get her on the road again. I did yesterday take my wife and son to see the bus. My son now has a real bus to play with in the Summer Holiday and my wife has just been very quiet. Today we attended the Peterborough Bus Rally and seeing all the buses there, each of them an individual restoration project, has made me all the more determined to see our bus on the road, repainted and looking like new. I have set myself a goal of getting the bus ready for next year's rally when I will be entering it. I have longed for the day when I would be able to drive my own bus to a rally and exhibit it and events have always got in the way or made it simply impossible. Perhaps now, it can be a reality.
I have set up a new blog for everything bus-related. Here you can follow my progress in getting the bus fully restored and back on the road. You can find it at http://ourbusproject.blogspot.com

Last week was also significant due to a visit to our group by Charles Cooke of Lincolnshire CDA, and fellow Shine Ambassador. Charles was interested in finding out all he could about the group and we discussed a variety of different topics including funding, a possible gardening project and potential sponsors for our bus project. We were grateful to Charles for his time.

A committee meeting for the Ivo Centre, where we hold our group meetings, was held Wednesday evening and this was an excellent opportunity to network and to discuss a broad range of issues with other committee members. There are some exciting plans for the building, which if they materialise, could turn the place from a 'day centre' to a training and resource centre.
It was also very nice to be thanked by the Chairman and other committee members for the AV system we have installed for the use of everyone. I felt really proud for having set out to achieve something, achieving it and for being able to give something back.

It was certainly a week I won't forget...