Sunday 16 September 2012

Snap on Sunday - The Farewell

Purely a self indulgent photo for the final Snap on Sunday for now, this being of a batch of vehicles that have been so close to me since I first started taking an interest in the hobby. I'll never forget looking out the railings at Fourlanesend, my old primary school, and seeing not a Bristol VR struggling to reach the summit of the hill, but a gleaming bright pink bus, storming up the hill from Cawsand, how exciting! This was during the time they were being used for type training, before they had even entered service, and so this made it particularly special. This also spelled the beginning of the service going via Maker, rather than via Anderton, because it was felt that the Tridents were too large to negotiate this road, so to see them for the first time thrashing past the school up to Maker was also quite special. Of the 5, WA54 OLT 'Egret', has always been my favorite, and however much I have hated travelling aboard Tridents over the years, I think I may well end up missing Swan, Heron, Egret, Cormorant and Spoonbill; they're certainly the best Tridents I've ever been on!  

So, after 5 1/2 years, and some 800 posts, today is the day PTOTPA finishes in its current form. As you may have gathered, I commence my university life tomorrow, at the University of Huddersfield, ready to embark on a 4 year course studying Transport and Logistics Management. As I've said to many people, there aren't many hobbies in which you can gain a potential career from, and hence I class myself as someone very lucky. So of course, no longer living in the South West means I personally can't keep you up to date on the day to day goings on within the Plymouth area. 

This isn't the end of PTOTPA though, with the help of anyone who would like to contribute stories and photos within the area, I am very willing to process them, and write them into a full post. I will also be returning to the South West during key holidays i.e. Christmas and Easter, so there may be some opportunity for blogging at these times, and my summer lasts from the end of May to the middle of September, so again, during this 4 month period PTOTPA will be able to function hopefully near enough as it does at the moment. So its worth checking back here periodically for updates! Of course, Graham Richardson at Plymothian Transit will without a doubt continue to capably inform you of the goings on in Plymouth, with some very interesting times ahead; a shame I'm going to miss out on it all! 

I will also more than likely begin a blog within my new area somewhere along the line, although as I have mentioned before, this may not be to everyone's interests. I will however post on PTOTPA any stories or photos taken up here, with a link back to the South West, for instance, in Huddersfield the local First subsidiary operates native Dennis Dart R460 CCV, and no doubt over the course of the next few years more vehicles will surface with some local connection. 

One last thing, during my third year I will be on what is described as the 'Placement Year', effectively going into industry and working as I would be doing after I have graduated, with any company willing to take me on for the year. This could therefore mean that from 2014 til 2015 I will be back in the South West, and ideally right now, this would be desirable, but this is a long way into the future, so who knows what may actually happen! 

So all I have left to say is, thank you all so much for your kind readership and support over the last 5 years. Its been a pleasure bringing you the local news, and I will dearly miss many aspects of the South West. So for now, farewell and thanks to all of you have have built up my 102'916 views to this little corner of the internet. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

All the very best for the future Laurence,I have enjoyed your many informative and personal blogs about the transport in the South West.It will be interesting to see the different aspects of travel in the Huddersfield area and look forward to future blogs from you.Once again,all the best in your studies maybe in future a possible MD of a local bus company will have been made!!.

michael pctpg said...

all the best mate we all miss you xx

Peter Murnaghan said...

Farewell, Laurence from the local group of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. There is an active group in Yorkshire, so do let me know if you'd like to be put in touch with them.

I'm sure that you will find CILT to be of help during your studies, with guest lectures and visits to transport sites.

And do keep in touch when you return home.

All the best,

Peter

Ally said...

All the best laurence, thanks for your great posts and the effort you have put in to ptotpa, you deserve every one of your site views. A corner of the internet that will, for the moment be greatly missed.

Andrew Wickham said...

Good luck with your studies. Peter is right and you should get involved with CILT, and also try to get some appropriate work experience in the vacations, as it will stand you in good stead for your sandwich year and the future. And enjoy your time at university.

best wishes,

Andrew

Laurence Mayhew said...

@Anon 16:15; Many thanks indeed for your best wishes, I'm really glad they've been of interest to so many people! I don't think I ever realised how popular the blog had really become until now, its fantastic to know that there are real people out there who have enjoyed my ramblings. Really appreciate the message. Indeed I'm sure there will be plenty of look forward to when I get PTOTHA off the ground in the near future, I shall post on PTOTPA once this is set up and working. Indeed, who knows! I certainly hope so, 4 years of hard labour before we get to that point though.

@Mike; Thank you my darling! Miss you too! Its been so much fun doing trips with you at the rest of PCTPG, I shall sorely miss it for now! X

@Peter; If you wouldn't mind that would be fantastic. Would be brilliant to get involved with the CILT, especially seeing as the course is accredited by them. Indeed as you say, information within it could be invaluable during my studies, so yes if you wouldn't mind e-mailing me a few details that would be brilliant. Thanks!

@Ally; Thanks very much for your kind words! As I've said, its so rewarding to see how many people have enjoyed reading PTOTPA, really great to hear you've enjoyed it.

@Andrew; Many thanks for your words of wisdom. That's certainly something I will have to carefully consider. As is so frequently in the news now, the more experience the better, and hence through CILT and extra work experience, I'm sure there will be a much better chance of getting a job soon after graduation. That said looking at figures from the university, 95% of people who take Transport and Logistics Management have got a job within their chosen industry within 6 months, so there certainly appears to be plenty of demand out there at the moment! Thanks again.