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| We ran many services into
Esso's Fawley refinery. The area south of
Hythe was built up as a result of this huge
plant and our fifteen minute frequency, much
like that of a town service, was always busy.
Later, Esso would buy a fleet of old buses
to run its own local service to Hardley cinema
and social club. |
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| Early
in the seventies, a new power station was
built between Fawley and Calshot. The men
employed on the site worked extremely hard
and when they stopped they wanted to drink.
On the last bus to Calshot one of the passengers
collected the fares from the others in the
pub at Blackfield and handed the collection
over when they got on the bus. Anyone who
did not pay walked, as did one conductor who
insisted on counting the money to see if it
was all there. He was unceremoniously dumped
at the side of the road to wait for the bus
on its return to the depot. |
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| The men lived in the labour
camp at Calshot. Some local people objected
to the name but that was what it said on the
sign. Calshot also had an RAF station with
married quarters. A volcanic eruption on the
island of Tristan da Cunha had forced the
evacuation of the population. Many of these
people were housed for a while at Calshot.
On their island they had no money, if someone
did something for you, you did something for
them. It took a while for them to adjust and
most returned home. Nice people, a road in
Calshot was renamed Tristan Close in their
honour. |
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| The car park at Calshot
was one of the places where conductors sometimes
had a go at driving the bus. Outside summer
weekends the area was almost deserted. There
was a one way system in and out of the car
park which you could drive round in reasonable
safety. Most people who did this got away
with it but there was a ditch alongside the
road and every now and then a driver would
have to come up with a reason why he wanted
his bus towed out .... |
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| The beach
at Calshot was popular in the
summer and at the time it was
possible to walk all the way to
Lepe. |
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| Even in winter
it was good to take a short stroll
and get some sea air before making
the next trip. |
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| One Sunday I was
on a 58 to Lepe Beach with a driver who didn't want
to do the next part of the shift. We had a bus stand
to park on but he spun the wheels so that they dug
in to the sand and we were stuck. This made us very
unpopular with the crew on the next bus who had
to pick up our unhappy passengers. |
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