Friday 13th February 2009 ~ More A47 Chaos

Bruce from Walpole Highway says " Today I was pleased to see 20109 ambling by me to Lynn at 10.07 - 20 late on K4 08.48 ex P'bo. 578 was near enough on time with Y8 but 575 was 5 late at 10.53 with L12. I think 564 was also a bit late with L13 but was talking to next door neighbour.
566 passed Tesco in Lynn at 13.30 going east but surely could not have been L12, could it? (No - I think it was J11 because......)
Going home again due to a faux pas at Tesco (Don't ask!), I retraced the X1 route expecting to meet Y14 or K15 but met neither! But did see 20352 - 11 late on K3 13.59 ex Lynn to P'bo- although I didn't know it was 352 at the time.
Then life got interesting. Having returned to Tesco successfully this time and buying even more shopping, I couldn't resist visiting Vancouver Avenue to find the servicing bays empty, 65527 having its engine washed ,and good old 20505 still there - freshly washed and all its transfers in place!!
A visit to Rowan was called for and all that was present was a poorly 20351. However I couldn't be moved to read the Out of service sticker on the windscreen. But 65528 had gone for the first time since before Christmas.

Coming home down the X1 route, I was looking for K18, the immortal Gorleston, as my marker for timetable madness among all the Lowestofts. Met a B7 on the outskirts of the village at 15.50 and promply freaked out - as I always do with B7s. Registration numbers not in alphabetical order and no off side fleet numbers - rubbish! It was 353 and it was tanking it - but was it the Gorleston on time? I hadn't looked at the destination!
Not caring for the rapidly defrosting food, I performed a U turn, got on to the dual carriageway and ran parallel to 353 hoping to get to the roundabout at the end first. Not a chance even though I probably exceeded the speed limit! He was tanking it round the old road - no sweat.
However I wasn't going too fast not to notice 37568 - Out of Service - on the dual carriageway at 15.55 heading west empty towards Wisbech/Peterborough.
Getting home at last, I left the thawing food to Tina, not daring to take my eyes off the road. At 16.10 37577 went by westbound on what I assume was K1 - 22 late. Then at 16.20, 37579 hove into view heading east with the magic Gorleston and Jph Hospital on the destination , 32 minutes late. Hence 353 was K17 - 31 minutes late - no wonder he wasn't hanging about! So where the east bound Y14 or K15 were , Lord only knows. But it would explain that 566 was in fact J11, 30 odd late. I'm now going to lie down in a darkened room".
Rob Brooks sheds more light : Roadworks at Thorney Toll today with temp traffic lights, that would account for some delays. I've seen an un/id B7 (20353 see Bruce's report above) go east from P'bo at 1440 , followed by 37579 at 1510, then 20352 east at 1549. I'm not going to attempt to predict what was on which diagram though ! I was sat in the roadworks for about 25mins, with queues going back to the Thorney bypass and up to Guyhirn bridge the otherway".
Well judging by the current state of the A47 surface between Wisbech and Guyhirn, I suspect we are in for many more days of delays due to emergency resurfacing, following the recent snow.