Travel by Bluestar Bus - List of routes and connections - Southampton area and beyond

 Now is the time with Enviro 400 series engines and beyond and with Solent First Bus having electric buses to start travelling by bus. It's quick and easy and most services have a reliable service interval. Let's start with the buses of Southampton and in future times I will extend the map area of the services I describe.

Service 1 Bluestar - Southampton Hanover Buildings (near the Bargate) to Winchester, following a straight line of route from Bargate to the Courts, Stag Gates, Bassett Avenue, Chandlers Ford, Fryern Shopping Centre, Otterbourne, St Cross, Winchester College (public school), Jewry Street, right turn into the centre of town.

Service 2 Bluestar - Southampton Hanover Buildings to Stag Gates, turning right down Lodge Road, Portswood, Swaythling, Market Buildings, Stoneham Lane, Concorde Club, Nightgale Bridge, Derby Road, Eastleigh Bus Station, then turns right and past old bus station through to Fairoak (although for Fairoak you may want to get service 3 - it's quicker, although only an hourly service!!)

Service 3 - Bluestar - Southanpton Bargate from outside Burger King to Asda then right turn to Covic Centre, New Road, St Marys, Bitterne, Bitterne Shops, Thornhill Park Road, crossing m27, Turnpike Way, Hedge End shopping Centre, Hedge End Freegrounds Road, Bursledon Road, Foord Road, towards Botley via Tripps End Caravan Park, Botley Centre, Winchester Road, Boorley Green housing estate, Horton Heath crossroads, Fairoak, Allington Lane, straight through to Eastleigh bus station.

Service 4 Bluestar Southampton to Romsey via Central Station Shirley Road, Rownhams, through to Romsey, connects with service 5 at Romsey.

Service 5 Bluestar Boyatt Wood to Romsey via Eastleigh, Chestnut Avenue, North Baddesley

Service 6 Southampton to Lymington from Castle way bus station via Totton, Foxhills, Ashurst, Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst and Setley.

Service 7 Bluestar Lordshill to Sholing via General Hospital, Millbrook, Shirley, Southampton and Woolston.

Service 8 Bluestar Southampton to Hythe Pier calling at Millbrook, Houndsdown, Pooksgreen Applemore, The faster service of these two will be the number 9 to Hythe which goes straight along the A326.

Service 9 Bluestar to Langley, Farwley, Calshot via Millbrook Applemore, Dibden Pulieu, Hythe, Netley View, Holbury, Blackfield.

Service 10 Bluestar starting at Sholing, Orpen Road down to Bitterne via Butts Road and Bursledon Road, then Bitterne and Peartree Avenue to Woolston and then Southampton town centre. Variable service, you could end up waiting an hour if you miss one.

Service 11,12 Bluestar Southampton to West Calmore and West Totton

via Millbrook Redbridge and Totton.

Service 13 

Southampton Vincents Walk outside Primark to Above Bar, Castle Way, Holyrood Church, Bernard Street, Woolston Bridge, Bridgelink, Peartree Avenue, Bishops Road (Spring Road in school afternoons), Merryoak, Peatree Avenue, Bitterne Shops, Dean Road, Harefield, Thornhill Park Road, Bitterne Library, Bitterne Shops, Merryoak and thence to City.

Service 14

Southampton Bargate outside Burger King to Asda, Park Walk, Solent University, St Marys FC, Bitterne. Bitterne Precinct, West End, Hedge End Stores. Hedge End Industrial Estate, Drummond Community Centre, Hedge End Station, Bradbeers Roundabout, Hedge End Stores then forward to Southampton.

Service 15 Bluestar

Southampton to Hamble via Woolston and Netley (you can also take the train which duplicates this route virtually exactly).

Service 16 Bluestar

Southampton to Townhill Park via Bargate, Park Walk, Solent University, Bitterne, Bitterne Precinct, Dean Road, Meggeson Avenue, Witts Hill, Forest Hills Drive, Meggeson Avenue, Dean Road and return to town. Usually a good service on this route.

Service 17 Bluestar. Weston to Adnac Park via Woolston toll bridge, Southampton, Shirley, General Hospital, Lordshill.

Service 18. Bluestar. Millbrook, Shirley, Central Station, Bitterne, Hinkler Road, Warburton Road, Burgoyne Road and return to town and Millbrook.

Service 19. Thornhill to Lordshill (also runs as 19a), via Woolston, Ocean Village, Southampton, Shirley or Hill Lane and General Hospital, through to Lordshill.

Service 20 Southampton to Townhill Park and return via Jurys Inn Hotel, Newtown, Portswood, St Denys, Cobden Bridge, Bitterne Park Triangle, the Hop Inn, Forest Hills Drive, Meggeson Avenue, Dean Road and Townhill Way, Witts Hill, the Hop Inn and return to town.

Service 24 From Hedge End Freegrounds Avenue via circular around Hedge End, then Turnpike Way, Hedge End Stores, Botley Road, A27 to Swaythling, Wide Way, Eastleigh Bus Station Airport Parkway Station.

Services x4 and x5 First Solent from Central Station via Asda. Bernard Streetm Woolston Bridge (Bridgelink), Portsmouth Road, Lowford, Bursledon Road Bridge, Locks Heath (although the x5 turns right at Sarisbury Green and takes a longer route), Warsash for x5, Titchfield for x4, Fareham, Cams Hill, Racecourse Lane, Port Solent, down via m275 to Portsmouth Cathedral, the Hard where these service terminate.

Sevice x7 and x7r Salisbury Reds to Salisbury from Castle Way Bus station via Centra Station, Millbrook  Totton through to Salisbury via main A road.  Also serves Nomansland and Whiteparish, Service duplicated via South Western Trains and other main line services, hourly from Southampton Central. 

 

 

 

The Author’s Art – How it’s done – Donald Hedges. (Copyright)

Putting together an autobiography.

 

There are many ways of putting together an autobiography; one can either zone in on particular stories, or highlights of one’s life or one can culture selected or edited highlights. Which one would you choose?

 

Depending on memories, I would tend to go the route of remembering from the earliest times. It sounds more authentic. The alternative is to get edited highlights or particular stories which may seem authentic, or they may not.

 

It’s like saying, I sprang fully formed from my mother’s womb and now I am 26 and I remember this, or that. Yes but the question is what were the particular circumstances which led you to the position that you remember this or that. This is where background comes into it.

 

One must in fact show that one did not spring fully formed into any one situation. For example in my first book “In the role of boy” I did not spring as a mature adult into the situation of going to New York. There would have been qualifications to get first and an employer to find before I could have found that money to get the air ticket to New York.

 

The reader must therefore be allowed to ask “How?” How did he become a tax senior, in my case? If you just tell the tale of how you were a tax senior, you are essentially missing the point.

 

This means that one has to create a background, which I hope I have done in the book that I am describing; my background was that I was a tax officer in London and was with the Revenue for four years in my 30’s. Before going to university to do a BA(Hons) Accounting degree which I passed.

 

Having done that degree, I then did one or two tax assignments before I went to RP in Winchester, one was for a firm called SMS in Southampton, the other for a firm called MC in London, E3. I was therefore confident in processing self- assessment cases in bulk and with accuracy. In April 1999 I therefore took this job on with RP and earned £10.00 an hour with it which was extremely good money. It took only one’s week’s work in June 1999 to be able to buy an air ticket.

 

That’s part of the formation of how I got my holiday. But it is not the whole formation. The back story that one might enquire into is how I got to be a tax senior in the first place and how I got into the Inland Revenue. Also, how it was that I came to have a certain amount of accounting knowledge.

 

I got into Accounting because I was in charge of a railway booking office in Oxshott; that place is in Surrey. I was originally in Hampton Court for three months but the awkwardness of the chief clerk there and the fact that he kept upsetting me was pressing on the Area Manager and he moved me.

 

I therefore got to do all the accounting records at this station; they were not especially complex but they had to be right because they involved large amounts of cash. I taught myself most of it and learned how to do it properly and carefully.

 

Somehow I was good at it and my balances were 99% spot on right. I resolved to go to college after I left British Rail so that I could get educational qualifications to add to the mix. I attended Brooklands Technical College and got an RSA Book-keeping qualification and RSA Communications certificate in the final examinations.

 

I got into the Inland Revenue because I had at least two Ordinary Levels and later I admitted to having five O Levels so they promoted me to Tax Officer. Later on I did specialist work with Repayments and I did some Institute of Taxation study.

 

At that stage I was 36; I spent the next 5 years trying to get into college/university and in 1992 was accepted. This point I really regard as the part of a life-changing situation. I had moved away from London and had embarked upon a BA(Hons) Accounting degree at Southampton Institute.

 

Those five years before going on to the degree course involved getting most of an AAT qualification (1986-1987). I had a significant amount of challenge trying to convince the Prof in charge of Accounting at Southampton Institute that I would be a suitable candidate but he did give in at the end of the interview and allow me to do the course.

 

The point is that I could have only included in the book about my degree but then people would want to know how I got there; in every autobiography there has to be a causal link between one event and the other. Otherwise it becomes a bit of nonsense.

 

A lot of the stuff that I did in London and the jobs that I did led to my change of life circumstances. The case I make is I had embarked upon a distinct change of course in my life leading to my place at Southampton Institute. That process started when I embarked upon learning accounts at British Rail. I could see that this would be very useful in the future.

 

As I said before, you have to show the causal link between your occupations in an autobiography otherwise it just becomes a series of disjointed stories.

 

If we go back even further than that, I had a lot of administrative experience gained at school. You will have read that I was secretary of the sixth form committee and editor of the House newsletter. My mother had got me a typewriter at the age of 14 and I had learned to type on it. My Dad got me another machine later. I used to type all my assignments for school whereby most other pupils were still writing theirs.

 

After school I got a job with Inner London Education Authority but before that I had copy typing jobs with many other people, Knight Frank and Rutley, Paymaster General, etc. When I left ILEA I got a copy typing and secretarial job with the Ministry of Works working for the top brass in the building inspectorate.

 

I continued to do administrative work for committees when I was at teacher training college and in the interval (summer vacations) I got temp jobs at famous employers such as Granada Group Ltd where I met Lord SB and other notables. I had a head for administrative work.

 

It was not such a question of getting lucky breaks (full formation) but of building up skills when and where I could so that I could get work. Eventually after years of work I got into something much bigger, the attempt to get a degree.

 

There’s always someone who can’t stand the fact that people are successful; I had plenty of that from my friends in Surbiton, one or two I especially remember said that I would never get anywhere and they carried on saying that despite the fact that I got nearer and nearer my goal. They could not stand the fact that I was changing.

 

My university years, both with Southampton Institute (1992-1995) and the Open University (2003-2012) gave me the ammunition with which to write properly; you have to write properly if you are doing academic writing, you really do not have any other choice.

 

When I was with the Institute I must have done at least 22 assignments and at the Open University another 20. Academic writing has to be right and it has to be properly sourced. I am glad to say that I got really good marks in almost all my assignments with both universities.

 

That brings me up to the present day, how come I wrote my autobiography? The answer that readily comes to mind is because all down the years since I was 14 that is exactly the kind of thing that I was training for all down the years. That and many memories of what I had been doing since I was at secondary school and the making of connections between events.

 

Tell your reader what the connections are; don’t let them guess. It isn’t a surprise how you got to where you are today. Save the surprises for the novels which you are going to write. The autobiography should be a series of connected events. Mine is not always but there is a pretty straight-forward line between then and now.

 

I hope your autobiography is successful and please don’t forget to make the connections between things. Don’t spring fully formed on to the page, otherwise the poor reader will be in a state of having to suspend belief.

 

 

My Book collection by Donald Hedges

 I have now got 15 titles in my collection. These are as follows:-

The Author's Art - How its done - Kindle Amazon Publishing (Paperback and Kindle EB)

I Was that Boy - Autobiography - Kindle Amazon Publishing (Paperback and Kindle EB)

Travelogue - London and the South East - Kindle Amazon Publishing (PB and EB)

Dans le Role du Garcon - Kindle Amazon Publishing (EB)

In the role of Boy - Kindle Amazon Publishing (PB and EB)

Harley Street Murder  - Kindle Amazon Publishing (EB)

Depression my personal journey - Kindle Amazon Publishing (PB and EB)

Essays - Kindle Amazon Publishing (PB)

Murder at the Vestry - Amazon Kindle Publishing (PB)

Murder at the Manor - Amazon Kindle Publishing (PB)

I hope you will research these titles on Amazon and buy them. They are all very interesting and the autobiography does actually talk to you; it's takes the reader along with the author. In terms of the fact books you may also enjoy "The Author's Art". It shows how I wrote my autobiography and how you can write one as well. It details how other things are written, as well. .

Buy my books

 I have published two books on Amazon, In the role of Boy and the Boy Returns, the first one is £12.00 and the second one is £12.00 paperback and £14.00 in hardback. I shall write more about these two epic autobiographies as time goes by. But all I want to say at the moment is, please come and buy. Thank you.

The 3 month anniversary of the Select Committee

It has now been three months, almost exactly to the day, since the ELQ Sub Committee posted their verdict on the DIUS website. Interestingly enough, out of more than 500 entries of pieces of evidence, 496 were not in favour of the proposal to move monies away from those continuing to further their education in a useful way by doing more qualifications. There has been a considerable argument that not only do people need to reskill again and again in the modern economy but need to keep minds and brains alive by continuing their education at whatever age. As well as the widening participation and lifelong learning arguments.

Now it is the three month anniversary of this publication which was not in favour of the ELQ argument as promulgated by Messrs Denham and Rammell, et al, is it not time for this government to formally state what their position now is. I am of the understanding that they should have given a response to the Select Committee by now, or at the very latest by 27th June 2008, which is at the end of next week.

It would be interesting to see what they have finally concluded about the Select Committee, which obviously was not on the side of this government.

Yes Minister - the Hefce figures (Open University) 2007-2011

Donald Hedges – Following the attendance of Bill Rammell at Conference 2008

Pro-tem report for South Regional Forum on HEFCE estimates 2007-8 to 2011/11 (OU)

Item One – 2007 to 2008


Summary of funding changes 2007-08 to 2010-11

Institution Mainstream funding for non-ELQ students 100,777,907
2007-08 Mainstream funding for exempted ELQ students 2,061,610
2007-08 Mainstream funding for ELQ students aiming for a SIVS qualification 4,896,640
2007-08 Mainstream funding for ELQ students to be phased out 31,628,519
2007-08 Total Funding 139,364,677
2007-08
Open University


This table shows the figures as currently projected by Hefce November 2007. The total funding is £139,364,677 of which £100,777,907 is for current mainstream non ELQ students for the year just passed.

The mainstream funding for exempted ELQ students is £2,061,610 and the funding stream for Study in Vulnerable and Specialist subjects is £4,896,640. The money that is earmarked to be phased out from ELQ students is £31,628,519.

The money obviously has not obviously been phased out from the year just gone but it shows the government and Hefce thinking along these lines and what they do intend to phase out eventually., I think that is quite a clear statement of the rationale behind these moves.



Item 2 – 2008 to 2009

Mainstream funding for non-ELQ students 103,498,911
2008-09 Mainstream funding for exempted ELQ students 2,117,274
2008-09 Targeted allocation for non-exempt ELQ students aiming for a SIVS qualification 5,028,850
2008-09 Supplement to part-time targeted allocation 0
2008-09 Transitional funding for ELQ students currently in the system 22,955,962
2008-09 Safety net funding 5,763,681
2008-09 Total Funding 139,364,677
2008-09


This table shows the position from 2008-2009

The total funding is of the same value for 2007-2008.

The mainstream funding is £3m more, which I believe the Minister did mention in his speech. The exempted value is about £2m and the targeted allocated for strategic and vulnerable subjects is £5m.

In order to shield the University from the nastiest effects of taking £31m, the government and Hefce is giving £28m in transitional and safety net funding.

The difference thus indicated is £0 but the £31m is now cleverly hidden in three groups of numbers which themselves total £31m. This clever figure juggling shows that we have lost nothing. We have in fact still lost £31m but the reliefs and increases hide what we have really lost.

For the other years in question, the figures are broadly the same, for example in 2009-2010, the mainstream funding for non ELQs has again been increased by £3m.

I have attached a spreadsheet in another file so that delegates to the Regional Forum South can see what the figures are doing.

Now the real question is, what does the University do when the transitional funding and safety net provision comes to a stop in 2010-2011? That is the real question that needs to be answered.

Copyright Donald Hedges 2008 with specific permission for OUSA Regional Forum South Only to use this report.

The spreadsheet is not copyright because it is in the public domain.

New Facebook Group - 10p Rate of Tax

I now append details of a new Facebook group I have set up to protest against the 10p rate of Income Tax being abolished. The initial results will be published in this blog but if the movement grows it will be transferred to a blog all of its own.

Cheers.

Facebook 10p tax rate group