BBC Bus

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L-R: Bacon butties at Barden Mill, John - the nicest man in the world according to Sue, and the gals get all girlie (or are they getting drunk early in honour of the Christmas staff night out!).

Sally and Sue just can’t seem to keep hold of their men this week! With bus driver Chris off poorly sick the first replacement on Wednesday, Liam, disappeared after just one day. In fact, he took the rather drastic measure of going all the way to France to make sure Sue and Sal couldn’t catch up with him in a hurry!

Then came Neil and his nephew, Kevin, on Thursday and the reason they gave for not being able to join Sal and Sue today had something to do with them having to see a man about a dog. Or, were they washing their hair?

Either way, it meant that the girls had another man with them for their final day at Barden Mill in Burnley. His name was John and he was joined by his invisible rabbit friend, Harvey, and the reincarnation of himself, Edward. Now who’s scared!?

The Gnome was back on the BBC Bus today too to make the tea, although he actually spent more time stuffing his face with bacon butties, with Garry.  Bless ‘em they’re just Neanderthals at heart!

Mind you they needed something to warm their cockles, because the heating on the BBC Bus conked out, which in turn meant that Sue and Sal had to snuggle up and this soon took Garry and The Gnomes minds off being chilly!

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L-R - Don't mess with Kim in her bomber boots, two for one with Neil - the bus driver on day 4 at Barden Mill - and Kevin, and Sue rolling around on the floor!

With Chris still nursing his man flu and Liam off in France (supposedly working, but more likely quaffing champagne) we had another bus driver today, Neil, and it was two for one, because he brought his nephew, Kevin, with him.

You wait for one bus driver and three come along in one week. Sally and Sue are going through bus drivers like they’re going out of fashion. In fact, anyone who can shout, “Fares please”, will be more than welcome to hop onboard and join the team tomorrow!

Kim from the Wildlife Trust in Lancashire, a lady not to be messed with in her steel toe capped boots, got onto the BBC Bus at Barden Mill in Burnley today, with a plea to discover your herbal remedy secrets. And as usual Sally wasted no time in telling us how ill her cold is making her feel and how she suffers from hot flushes daily. This only confirmed what Sue had always said about her – “she’s nothing but an embarrassing adoptive hippy mum!” And no we didn’t mean those kind of ‘herbs’!

And if you think it’s all glitz and glamour on the BBC Bus, have a look at the lengths Sue will go to, to get a shot of Sally’s left nostril - on the floor and that’s before the Christmas party!

WEDNESDAY 13 DECEMBER

L-R - Liam tidies up the bus, Peter keeps the ladies sweeter than Liam's hot choc and Sue in her woolies!

Chris’ man flu has really got the better of him. Forced to retire for the day, Liam stepped in to fill Chris’ size 12s (at least that’s what size Chris tells us he is!?) Liam soon got stuck in with all of the professional jobs, like emptying the bin.

Meanwhile, Sally rocked the bus with her tinsel lined boots, as she danced to The Weather Girls - ‘It’s Raining Men’ and beaten by the cold weather 6ft Sue refused to take off her hat and gloves even to type this blog. She must be the tallest elf in Lancashire.

Janette from the Volunteer Centre in Burnley joined us to explain the benefits of the Voluntary Car Scheme she coordinates. Amongst other things, she’s also the sister of a famous BBC Radio Lancashire presenter, but can you spot who her sibling is? Unfortunately for her, she’s the spitting image of him!

Tired of being mistaken for a gnome on the canal bank, Peter stuck to meeting and greeting the visitors to the bus, or should that be accosting? These two ladies certainly didn’t look too sure about him. Very wise!

It’s time to put our feet up now and enjoy the hot chocolate Liam kindly fetched us. It certainly won’t do Sally’s diet any good. He obviously likes his women curvy. Scrap that - he just likes women!

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(l-r) Chris has man flu and Sal tries to cheer him up - the pole dance doesn't work (left), neither does some TLC, although he perks up when he sees sergeant Vicky (right)

Ohh it was the poorly bus today, Chris got himself a throat infection and didn’t he let the others know it! We had our collars felt not once but twice, with a visit from Chris Collete, Vicky and Dave. Chris runs the local police cadets; he attended the last cadet course in the early 80’s and obviously still loves his job!

Sal is still suffering from a cold – unfortunately so is Dave her husband! It would appear that Sal snores like a pig that has serious nasal issues.

Police sergeant Vicky is a seasoned pro with years of experience in the force. When Sal met Vicky she asked if she was a police cadet!! WHOOPS! That went down well..

The bus parks alongside the canal here at Barden Mill and Peter likes to get his fishing rod out – thing is Peter isn’t the tallest person in the world and some shoppers here have been trying to buy him to take home as a garden gnome.

It look like Chris is going to spend a few days in bed so the bus will be graced by Liam – you’ll like Liam, he’s Irish, but don’t hold that again him.

The BBC bus team

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(l-r) Chris reunited with his bus wife, Sally (centre) is still suffering the effects of a night out with Alison Butterworth and the girls on Friday, and Rae Johnson. 

The bus moved over the weekend to Barden Mill in Burnley and the peace and quiet of last week was demolished by the return of herself.

Phil left us with feelings of calm – we had had a mellow if somewhat windy last week in Cleveleys but all that was about to change. Sally Naden has returned to the bus and this time she means business. She arrived this morning, adorned with furry boots topped with Tinsel smiling the smile of the gormless singing the songs of the daft - Sally is back.

What do you reckon the first thing Sally did when she reached the bus? She swept, mopped and polished it! It really needed a woman’s touch after a week with 3 lads!

For the last couple of months we have been experimenting with Windows Vista (the next Microsoft operating system) today we decided to format Vista and return to WinXP, Vista is now live and will be the norm very soon.

Mondays are always a little more frantic than other days, we turn up with a blank canvas not knowing what will be in the program between 2 and 3pm. We hope people will come and see us but if not we go and get them. There were a couple of groups having Christmas lunch today so we collared the leaders, dragged them kicking and screaming to the bus, shoved a mike in their face and demanded conversation!

A couple of telephone conversations lead us to the local police who in turn lead to other stories you couldn’t get without the bus.

Did you realise that there is still such a thing as police cadets? No, we didn’t either; tune in tomorrow when we will talk to Chris Collett all about it.

Check out the photo of Sal chatting to the doll – how drunk can one person look and be as sober as a judge. Maybe the Friday night with Ali Butterworth is finally catching up!

The BBC bus team

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