It did not start well - I went to the bus stop to check the times, and discovered (after waiting for half an hour for a bus that didn't come) that the timetables at the bus stops are wrong.
The true timetable is online, and a friend who lives across the road from the bus stop told me that the bus from Hereford and the bus from Brecon both come in at twenty to eleven and turn round in the car park before picking up new passengers.
So I returned at twenty to eleven, and got on the bus.
Masks are now mandatory on the buses.
They don't seem to do the Powys Rover any more, so I got a Return ticket to Hereford, and they really want you to pay with the exact money. It is also possible to pay with a card now.
About half the seats in the bus have a cardboard sleeve round them to ask passengers not to sit there - the bus I was on each time was limited to 19 passengers in total. People mostly followed the rules, but some didn't seem to notice the signs.
Once in Hereford, I did the business I needed to do. Masks must be worn in all the shops and banks and so on.
I also thought I might check out the charity shops, but didn't have much luck there. Some seem to be still closed. Others, like the Cancer Research, have moved out completely. I did get a good quality sheet at the RSPCA shop, and a couple of bits at the Blue Cross. I didn't have time to check out the charity shops along St Owen Street.
There's a new comic specialist on Hereford Indoor Market.
Laura Ashley is having their Closing Down Sale, and the shoe shop tReds and Hawkins Bazaar have also closed down - I used to go in Hawkins Bazaar occasionally for frivolous things like Star Wars merchandise. Speaking of frivolous purchases, I went into Waterstones to buy the Good Omens Script Book, and also bought an original series Star Trek communicator. I have wanted one since I was six years old! It makes noises - but I can't quite flip the top up like Captain Kirk did on TV.
I was very pleased to see the wool stall in the square - I used up every scrap of wool in my house over lockdown and I've been itching to do more with my lucet and round loom (I'm not sure what I'm making yet - but it's going to be a very long tube!)
I had enough time for a quick half before the bus back home (quarter past two from the Railway Station), so I stopped outside the Imperial to read the instructions there. They want customers to use an app to order from the bar, and the drink will be brought to the table. I don't have a mobile phone, so I stuck my head round the door to ask if it was possible to order from the bar if I didn't have the app. The staff looked deeply uncomfortable about this - and one of them asked me for my home phone number, if I didn't have a mobile. I didn't see how this would help, since my home phone was an hour's bus ride away - so I came away.
Instead, I went to the Litchfield Vaults, where it is possible to order and pay at the bar. I sat outside in their little beer garden at the back and enjoyed my half of Wainwright's Golden Ale.
4 comments:
Asking fo your phone number is to enable NHS Test and Trace to reach anyone who may at a later date be found to have potentially been in contact with a positive coronavirus case whilst at a particular venue, helping to quickly contact people at risk of the virus and prevent localised outbreaks before they occur.
That's not what I understood that they were asking. If they'd explained that was what it was, I'd have been happy to give my home number, but it seemed to me that they were asking me to go home, phone to order a drink and then come back, which seemed a bit daft. They didn't seem to know what to do with one of these strange people who doesn't own a mobile phone.
It's Test & Trace & it's been very well publicised.
Yes, I am aware of the Test and Trace scheme, but the staff at the Imperial didn't explain it well at all.
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