Bus conductors ticket machine...
Now there's the prompt of a reminisce. All the popular seaside resorts needed temporary help during the summer season. Jetting off to the Costa Paquette wasn't far away, but for now it was, two weeks in a rain sodden deck chair on Brighton pier.
In those days before mass car ownership the mode of travel for most people was, public transport. You would see large families gathering on a platform at one of London's stations, suitcases packed, kids all excited and even the weather would be agreeable, sometimes.
Once ensconced in their boarding house, it was always a boarding house, working families couldn't afford even the cheapest hotels, so it was a boarding house with a draconian landlady. So, once ensconced it was everyone down to the beach and to get there, it was all on the bus.
Back in those days the buses were always packed and during the summer months the bus companies hired casual labour to help make up the shortfall. That's how I became a bus conductor in Bournemouth for ten weeks. There was a vacancy advertised on the notice board at my college, not just one vacancy, you could go to many destinations. Have to admit I didn't enjoy the experience, the following two summer breaks I spent at Ramsgate, working in my grandmother's fish & chip shop. Far more preferable and I got o spend some of the money she gave me at the Dreamland Funfair in Margate.
But going back to Bournemouth, I must show you the kind of bus that I worked on. We called them Trolley Busses, I know that trolley has different definitions throughout the English speaking world but an electric bus with overhead pick up was always a trolley bus in Britspeak.
The last image of the open top bus, it was always a popular attraction in good weather.
