East Kent buses

I live in a town called Deal, on the Kent coast. It is served by 4 Stagecoach East Kent bus services, which go to Canterbury. Most meander slowly through the countryside, which is quite enjoyable, but incredibly slow.
None of these services connect with other bus services, whether provided by East Kent of another operator. I classify connections as services that are scheduled to arrive at a common point at about the same time and wait for each other.
This makes travelling very difficult, for example a trip to Ashford and back, 30 miles away, took 8 hours!
I've commented on this to Stagecoach and they replied that the routes I mentioned weren't their 'most popular routes'. I'm not surprised.
The most irritating thing about their timetables is that buses from Dover to Folkestone usually leave 1 minute before the bus from Deal is timetabled to arrive. It's a moot point, because the service between Deal and Dover is notoriously unpunctual. When I had to use it regularly I would leave an hour earlier than I needed to and even then sometimes I had to call and apologise for being late.
Another example is the trip to Westwood Cross shopping centre in Thanet. It's 13 miles away and takes less than 30 minutes by car, but 90 minutes by bus, if the Dover to Ramsgate bus reaches Sandwich on time.
Is it any wonder that most people use their car in preference to Public Transport?

Channel Swimming 1

I've volunteered to be an observer for the Channel Swimming Association (CSA), which is the official body overseeing channel swimmers. The English Channel is one of, if not the most, challenging place for swimmers in the world.

The shortest distance from the UK to Frances is about 21 miles as the crow flies. Nearer 28 miles for a swimmer, because of the strong tidal currents.

This image shows a GPS plot of one of the swims that I observed.
The water is never warm and sometimes very cold. 17°C (62.5°F) is about the warmest it gets. To add to swimmers' problems this is also one of the busiest stretches of water in the world. Up to 500 ships pass through the Straits of Dover every 24 hours. The Ship AIS web site is a brilliant way to see just how busy it is.
The rules of the CSA prohibit anything but the most basic swimming costume and cap, no bouyancy aids and no protection from the cold.

Buses

The world is running out of oil and global warming is a reality. We must do something urgently to persuade people to use their cars less. Buses are certainly not the solution in this area.
It's a common cry that it isn't easy being green. You really do have to put yourself out if you want to help save the planet, for example...
I may have mentioned that I live in East Kent, this used to be the name of the local bus company. Several years ago they were taken over by Stagecoach, which is one of the biggest transport operators in the UK.
On the whole this has not been a good thing. When I was a teenager I used to go to and from school in Sandwich, by bus. The buses were frequent, punctual and ran from early morning until late at night. We used to occasionally go to Canterbury for the evening and the last bus home ran at 10:30 pm. Not very late, but good enough for a film and a pint.
Stagecoach have a range of special tickets allowing people to travel extremely cheaply. One of these is called the Nightrider and offers unlimited travel on East Kent buses after 7pm.
I could use this to catch the last bus to Canterbury, which leaves at 19:19, but I wouldn't be able to return until the following morning, because the later buses from Canterbury stop at Eastry.
This is Kent's largest village and it's 5.5 mile (9 kilometre) away from my house. Would you walk that distance down unlit country lanes late at night?
I don't think so! It would be fairly safe, as there's little traffic, but still beyond what I'm prepared to do to be green.
What about other nearby towns, like Dover 8 miles south of here?
Not a chance!
The last bus to Dover was the last bus from Dover. Let me clarify that. The last bus leaves from Dover at 18:16 and returns to Dover at 19:29.
I like to be green and use public transport whenever possible. I never drink and drive, so it's very fortunate that there are lots of public houses in Deal.