Fougasse

I'm not sure whether these were bus cuts or simply severances. I live in the Firshill area of Sheffield and we had two services, 83/83a. They were reduced to one service, 83a. Problem was, even that wasn't running on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th. Some of my neighbours waited over an hour and there were no buses, in either direction. I waited for 45 minutes on Tuesday and two didn't turn up. On Wednesday, I went out twice, once in the morning and then again in the afternoon and waited over an hour on both occasions. No buses again. From where I live it's a twenty minute walk to the nearest bus service on Barnsley road, and many of my neighbours are elderly and disabled, not an easy walk for them. Someone needs to get a grip on this imo.

Does anyone know where the testing centres in Sheffield are, and if they're open...? And has anyone had an antibody test by any chance? The test to see if they HAD Covid previously, after symptoms have gone?

Around 18 years ago, for several weeks, I had to catch a late/last bus that would run through Firth Park and on into the city centre. There were about 3 to choose from iirc. One of them would never stop, no matter what I did, even after I put my hand out for it and walked out into the road to make sure the driver could see me, it still wouldn't stop. Eventually I called SYPTE to complain. They told me that drivers were so afraid of violence on the late services, some of them simply refused to stop between certain points on a route - Firth Park being one of them. And there was nothing SYPTE could do about it. This isn't a recent problem. Does sort of indicate that if it's still going on, the authorities have been doing sod all about it though.

Spoke to my neighbour this morning. She tried calling a council helpline at 8.30AM. By 9.20AM she was still listening to the music. Pretty much the norm in my experience. Same for Sheffield councillors and MPs. I've called, left messages and emailed both. Are we certain they actually exist...?

I was pretty sure there was NO social housing as part of the scheme - which was part of the problem...?

I'd be very interested to see what impact higher fares is having on the city centre and a few other locations. I used to travel to the CC a few times a week, shopping, the market, etc, but as the fares got higher I now travel once a week and never travel there speculatively' i.e. for a look around. I go if I need something, and I can often delay that and until I need several somethings and get everything I need on one journey. Interestingly, last year was the first time I DIDN'T go to the CC for about three weeks in a row. Simply decided to make do and keep my money away from First and Stagecoach.

I am aware of that, the original signs being reasonably easy to see, but we've been parking there since it changed from the Aunt Sally and we've never paid a parking fee, and I find it hard to believe we've gotten away with not paying the parking fee for over a decade. In addition, when we asked. the bar staff informed us that the first 90 minutes were free.

I thought I'd mention this as I seem to recall a thread some time back about the Aunt Sally becoming the Francis Newton, and iirc quite a few people may have visited it. We went for a meal and a drink about two weeks back. Nothing unusual about any of it, food was okay, place was packed as usual, the car park rammed but we got a space. We're pretty regular visitors there, about once or twice a month I guess on average. Few days ago we got a £45 parking fine courtesy of Euro Car Parks for using the Francis Newton car park without displaying a ticket, and the fine goes up to £75 if we don't pay within 10 days (iirc). We've been visiting the Newton since my son went to uni several years ago, and before that we used the Aunt Sally. Either we've been very, VERY lucky and not been spotted over the years or the parking management has changed. I'm a member of MoneySavingExpert and I've noticed the car parking shenanigans that go off around the country so we're very cautious about using car parks correctly. We have asked the staff in the Newton what we needed to do in the past, and had it explained clearly to us. Better to ask than pay a hefty fine imo. As far as I can tell, there was little or no change in the signage in the Newton about the change to car parking management. We called the Newton and spoke to a member of staff who told us it changed about 5-6 weeks ago, and that there were prominent signs around warning customers of the changes. We obviously didn't see them - or they weren't that prominent. Seems that you need to buy a £3 parking ticket to park in the Newton, then providing you spend £5.05 pence (don't ask me why the .05p, it wasn't explained to me), on ANYTHING, food or drinks, you get reimbursed by the £3 being knocked off your bill and a ticket to display in your car. Now that seems oddly generous to me by Wetherspoons - two pints of whatever for roughly £2...? But that's what we were told. If it's changed at the Newton, it may well have changed at other Wetherspoons too, and while we're appealing the fine, it's probably a lot better not to incur it in the first place. Just thought I'd let the forum know. Caveat emptor.

Hi. Came across this thread accidentally. My father worked at the Admiralty as a technician from around early 1969 to around 1973/4 (dates are a bit fuzzy in my head atm) eventually retiring from there. A lot of his work was basic cleaning iirc, but he also assisted some of the scientists working there occasionally. Nothing spectacular, just everyday stuff. Took a lot of vetting before he got the job too iirc. He made a couple of friends there too.

I might agree with that if I knew what 'a decent enough job' actually means...?

Yeah, that might work if there was clear and honest information about candidates BEFORE an election and voting. But usually it's afterwards when all their peccadilloes are revealed...

I'm never sure about that tbh. The public keep voting for these people so some, at least, aren't that worried about it - and it's not just the 'good' MPs either. Christopher Chope for instance keeps getting returned (since '97). Always seems a bit like going shopping while wearing a blindfold to me.

It's not actually strange at all imo. Politicians simply aren't subject to the same general rules of employment as the rest of us. They - more or less - make the rules up for themselves, same with pay and expenses.

Indeed, it CAN do something about those things, but the question is will it actually do anything. Everything that comes after that sentence involves restructuring or overturning the council's own previous actions. Why would they do that, when they're still doing them...? Based on the council's previous, I would suggest it will talk a lot, talk some more, and do absolutely nothing material about the issue.