Milton to Cambridge to Huntingdon and back by bus.

My car has developed an interesting knocking noise. Mr Godden, our very competent repair and garage owner, suggested I drop by so that he could listen. He instantly identified a defective venting flap motor and suggested, that due to the fact that this was deeply hidden in the depths of the car behind the dashboard, one could decide to live with it to save a larger bill. Fortunately, one solution to quieten the noise was to turn on the recirculation function. However, this is not ideal.

How difficult would it be to go to the Huntingdonshire Business Network meeting by public transport? I set out at just before 10:30 and purchased a Dayrider Plus ticket on the Number 9 bus into Cambridge. I arrived in time to catch the No 55 bus and gain a seat at the top of the doubledecker bus, right at the front. The journey was quite enjoyable, with excellent views due to the elevation. I was even able to keep up the occasional commentary on Facebook on Mr Harpers Radio Show friends page.

With scattered clouds and sunshine, the countryside had greened. St Ives glowed in the sun as the bus crossed the bridge across the flood plain, with cattle chewing the cud next to the picturesque lock on the river.

I was led into a false sense of success, when the bus passed Mr Wishart in Hartford, on foot to the Huntingdon Indoor Bowls Club to the same meeting. Till the bus route took a sudden diversion through a range of twisting roads in a residential development, returned to the ring road around Huntingdon and proceeded to the other side of town to the bus station. Arriving shortly after midday, I walked for quarter of an hour to reach my destination, to find Mr Wishart already in conversation with Mr Williamson.

The meeting progressed well. Mr Foster kindly gave Mr Wishart and myself a lift to the edge of the town centre and we made our way along the High Street. Parting halfway along, I entered a branch of my bank to resolve the early repayment of yesterdays credit card expenditure. Fortunately, this was achieved relatively painlessly.

On the way back to the bus station, I purchased some cream cake and a drink carton, with a view to enjoying the scenery on the way back. Most notable in Huntingdon, on the convoluted route out of the town, was Buttsgrove Way. Here, there were scattered what looked like wooden huts or bungalows. Many obviously boarded up with forlorn TV ariels still here and there, yet a selection were obviously still inhabited. See the Google map reference link here. Was this the last remnants of post world war II prefab accommodation? Surely a heritage feature worth preserving.

From door to door, the return journey took about two hours, similar to the outward trip. The cost was approximately a third of that of using a car and had the advantages of no driving stress and event the possibility of WiFi and working on board the longer bus drive. It would have taken a similar two hours to hire a car and drive, then return it, though as double the cost of driving oneself.

Back home, a delightful message from Mrs Green greeted me on the answerphone – that an introduction to Ms Fryer, met last week at Mrs Hawkins' TiG event, had rsulted in a very favourable and mutually beneficial outcome for the two ladies.