Last Saturday dawned bright and warm, to the delight of the bride’s family at today’s wedding no doubt. A very fashionable affair, with the wedding taking place in Bristol Cathedral and the reception at Bristol’s Mansion House. This job required two buses.
I was allocated the Bristol FLF, seen in the background above, which was waiting for me outside the Crosville Motor Services garage when I arrived. The FLF is an ex-Hants & Dorset bus, delivered in 1965. The Bristol L in the foreground is the one I took out last weekend to Shepton Mallet. The FLF was showing ‘Southampton’ on the destination blind but I wanted it to show ‘Private’ or something similar so I started winding. Various destinations in Hampshire and Dorset passed by but, as my arm was getting tired, I left it on ‘Ringwood’.
The FLF has had a new clutch fitted since my last trip with it. That was when I nearly didn’t make it back to the garage as the clutch friction disc had virtually disintegrated. I was looking forward to finding out how it behaved. So, having checked lights, oil and water and that it was equipped with the requisite number of wheels, I climbed into the cab and set off behind the Crosville Bristol L. The FLF was a delight to drive and gearchanges were refreshingly easy after the trauma of my last two driving jobs!
We took the direct, cross-country route to Bristol along the A370 through Congresbury. Arriving with plenty of time to spare, we parked the buses in the turning circle outside the Cathedral and then retreated to the shade of the Central Library.