Graham Ellis - my blog
Interrail - start from Melksham. Explore Europe by train
Interrail passes - covering travel in 32 countries for periods from 4 days to 3 months - are on sale for use in 2026 with a 25% discount until 17th December 2025. At https://www.interrail.eu/en .
Speaking with so many people over the at Leekes in Melksham over this weekend, I have a lot to follow up on ... but this one is time dependent. Many people have used Interrail in the past ... and many others are considering it now as they are (with the Leekes metric) now-retired but still able to travel.
These days, the pass includes 2 days for travel in your home country to get you to the first of those 32 other counties, and back at the end. This year I had a pass, and on Friday I purchased one for next year. There's no need to choose a start date or destination ... will be headed out sometime in the spring or summer. To give you an idea - some pictures but really Europe is your oyster.
To give you an idea - day 1, Melksham to Leuven in Belgium and day 2 onward to Goerlitz. A few days there and on to Wolstyn in Poland, and a few days later on to Zilina in Slovakia. From there to Melk in Austria (had to go there - such a similar name to Melksham) and from there to Lille. Final day, Lille to Melksham. 7 days within a month - 286 euro (2nd class) or 363 euros (first class) at the moment for an adult, of 257 or 327 euros if you've passed your 60th birthday. You need to add Eurostar reservation costs - 32 euros per journey - but otherwise I did not use any trains that needed reservations.
There's a lot to think about and plan here. Make no mistake - your biggest cost is likely to be your accommodation but that can be anywhere from hostels to luxury hotels, and food can be from the local Lidl up to cordon bleu. If you're minded, accommodation booked online a couple of days ahead, travelling where the whim takes you, can work well. If you're a planner, go ahead and plan more in advance.
Several people spoke with me about their plans for next year - some included thoughts of Interrail. Please do get in touch if you'd like to chat about how it might work for you. Happy to help - perhaps even join you for a day or two of travel. It's far more daunting in thinking about it than actually doing it.
Published Sunday, 30th November 2025Speaking with so many people over the at Leekes in Melksham over this weekend, I have a lot to follow up on ... but this one is time dependent. Many people have used Interrail in the past ... and many others are considering it now as they are (with the Leekes metric) now-retired but still able to travel.
These days, the pass includes 2 days for travel in your home country to get you to the first of those 32 other counties, and back at the end. This year I had a pass, and on Friday I purchased one for next year. There's no need to choose a start date or destination ... will be headed out sometime in the spring or summer. To give you an idea - some pictures but really Europe is your oyster.
To give you an idea - day 1, Melksham to Leuven in Belgium and day 2 onward to Goerlitz. A few days there and on to Wolstyn in Poland, and a few days later on to Zilina in Slovakia. From there to Melk in Austria (had to go there - such a similar name to Melksham) and from there to Lille. Final day, Lille to Melksham. 7 days within a month - 286 euro (2nd class) or 363 euros (first class) at the moment for an adult, of 257 or 327 euros if you've passed your 60th birthday. You need to add Eurostar reservation costs - 32 euros per journey - but otherwise I did not use any trains that needed reservations.
There's a lot to think about and plan here. Make no mistake - your biggest cost is likely to be your accommodation but that can be anywhere from hostels to luxury hotels, and food can be from the local Lidl up to cordon bleu. If you're minded, accommodation booked online a couple of days ahead, travelling where the whim takes you, can work well. If you're a planner, go ahead and plan more in advance.
Several people spoke with me about their plans for next year - some included thoughts of Interrail. Please do get in touch if you'd like to chat about how it might work for you. Happy to help - perhaps even join you for a day or two of travel. It's far more daunting in thinking about it than actually doing it.
Buses from The Foresters/Coop direct to Bath
"Where around The Foresters in Melksham can you catch a bus direct to Bath"? An often asked question. Complex answer because all three routes from Melksham to Bath go through the double mini-roundabout there in different directions!The 271 calls on Blackmore Road - stop known as "Tower Road", opposite side from the Co-op at 06:36 - 07:24 - 09:04 - 10:04 - 11:04 - 12:04 - 13:04 - 14:04 - 15:04 - 16:04 on Monday to Friday and at 07:07 - 08:49 - 09:49 - 10:49 - 12:04 - 13:04 - 14:04 - 15:04 - 16:04 on Saturdays. You get a tour of Bowerhill, then via Melksham town centre and on to Bath. Journey time 58 minutes. Shown in brick orange on the map
The 273 calls in Blackmore road on the same side at the Co-op just before 17:55 18:59 20:19 22:29 on Mondays to Fridays and just before 18:17 18:44 20:09 21:19 22:28 on Saturdays and just before 08:30 09:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:30 17:43 on Sundays. You get a tour of Melksham Forest, then via Melksham Town Centre and on to Bath. Journey time 49 minutes. Note that the times given are St Andrews Church - the official timing point - so be a few minutes early at the Co-op. Shown in blue on the map
The x76 calls outside the back of the Co-op on the main Sandridge Road at 10:02 on Mondays to Fridays only and runs direct through the centre of Melksham and in to Bath, taking 35 minutes to Bath Abbey and 45 minutes to the Royal United Hospital. Shown in green on the map.
In to Bath, the 271 and 273 call on Grand Parade for the city centre, at Manvers Street for the railway station, and then on to the bus station. They return from bay 5 at the bus station, and from the Guildhall. They pass the railway station WITHOUT STOPPING (very irritating! (*))
Services 271 and 273 are run by Faresaver, x76 by Buses of Swindon. All timetables are included in the new Melksham Transport User Group brochure to be launched this weekend - already online ((here)) if you want to refer / print a copy at home.
Words of caution - do NOT join the service 271 at 17:14 or 18:13 because they run to Devizes rather than Bath. And do NOT join service 273 at the Tower Road stop, as that would also take you to Devizes - you have to join it across the road (same side as the Co-op) if you want to go to Bath.
The Co-op corner is also served by town bus routes 14 and 15, by the Devizes services mentionesed above, and by the x76 to Bromham, Calne and Marlborough (yet another stop on Sandridge Road, opposite Sandridge Garage) at 14:00 on Monday to Friday.
Melksham Town Centre is served by additional buses to Bath and Devizes on route 272, by services on route x34 to Chippenham, Trowbridge and Frome, by services on route 69 to Corsham and via Bradford-on-Avon. There is also a daily express coach service to London on National Express route 401.
| (*) | We have been given various reasons why the 271/272/273 outbound from Bath do not call opposite the Railway Station even though the inbound buses do. We understand that the decision as to who can stop there is made by Bath Council, but this is very much a collaborative thing between the council and the bus operators. So - why does it not call? 1. There is limited capacity on that bus stop. Inbound as a drop off, it's quick to unload people and people are not waiting around on the roadside to join the bus, so the stop capacity unloading is far greater than loading. 2. An extra stop with significant numbers getting on would slow down the overall journey from the Bus Station to(wards) Melksham and make the bus less attractive for those jouneys and might mean a drop in reliability / something else on the route having to "give". 3. For newcomers to Bath arriving by train, the bus station is a more pleasant place to wait and to be having to stand on Manvers street would be a less encouraging experience. |
| I suspect we are "stuck" with rushing off a train along Dorchester Street to the bus station. Having taken the ":00" and ":30 express from Bristol, the connection into the ":15" and ":45" bus to Melksham and beyond is tight, and from time to time as we head west along Dorchester Street we'll continue to see the 271 or 272 driving past heading east towards the station. | |
Published Thursday, 27th November 2025
Melksham Town Council supports call for more reliable trains
Last night (25.11.2026), I attended Melksham Town Council's Economic Development and Planning meeting to speak to the agenda item 13 - asking the Town Council to add their support to the MTUG request / campaign to get GWR to run the current timetabled service more reliably. Delighted that they added their support, unanimously, and with some very kind words for the work we do at MTUG.Background
Around 90% of trains in the timetable at Melksham do run. But that's been 1 in 10 cancelled and a figure that means the service in unreliable. A 5 day commuter will find that once a week (s)he has no train either to or from work. The Melksham timetable is so thin that there won't be another one along in a twenty minutes - the gap is typically 2 hours - and Melksham is an unstaffed station where people feel alone. Just yesterday, I was chatting with a lady who used to use the train, but hasn't done so recently after being let down too many times.
GWR will provide alternative transport when a train is cancelled leaving people marooned for what would be hours, but that provision has been far from seamless or consistent, has been slow to be provided and often only on strong demand, and there have been information vacuums where passengers don't know what's going on. Some trains are announced as cancelled, but end up running. On average, around 85% of the trains you'll see in the timetable today for tomorrow will remain in the timetable and run - but unless you have a "Plan B" backup, that's not good enough. It needs to be 97% or better - like it is at Bath, or Yatton, or just about any other station in the area operated out of Bristol AND there needs to be a consistent, friendly and automatically provided alternative in the case of all but the most exceptional cancellation cases.
The requests to the Town Council was for their support for immediate reliabilty improvements, to the level that almost every other line in the area enjoys. The request does not ask for us to be a special case - just for the standards achieved at Melksham to match the standards achieved elsewher.
Update for yesterday evening - my notes prior to the meeting
Agenda item 13 To note correspondence to Brian Mathew (MP) from the Melksham Transport User Group and to consider supporting the campaign.
As chair - my signature / copy on October 7th papers, written on behalf of MTUG.Those papers are available ((here))
There are some good people at GWR - a First company - but their contract comes to an end next year, and they are currently funded by the Department of Transport. Their contract has been described as micromanaged so they do little that changes while they wait for the changes. They have pared back so far in resources that they have no slack if a driver calls in sick or a train breaks down. Interworking on all six lines from Westbury means that they can switch trains and crews around, and evidence suggests that they have being doing this at the expense of our service Operationally, it's an easy one to cancel without knock on effect leaving trains stranded away from base without a driver.
The train services are important to Melksham, but its importance is not necessarily obvious to rail managers who see a small station with limited services and passenger numbers, and without staff, facilities, onward bus or taxi.
We are asking GWR for no more than reliability to match that elsewhere. We can't afford to be forgotten. And we have asked out MP (Brian Mathew) for help at the more political level. The secretary of State for Transport talks of reliability being a priority, and we are asking for their support is helping GWR tune to provide it equally here. Not asking to be a special case - just a normal case.
Since our 7th October letter, we have met with Brian and his team, and Monday of last week we had a big meeting including Brian and WWRUG in Swindon. We heard explanations - nothing new - so many broken past promises, and people cannot travel on promises. But we are encouraged that almost miraculously, cancellations have plummeted over the last week.
Ongoing - I met up with Sam on Brian's team after, and we're going to more deeply involve other MPs, and continue working with West Wilts Rail User Group - even more people use those trains through Melksham than get on and off. Tomorrow - WWRUG meeting with Nick Reid, GWR's bus integration Guru, Friday timetable distribution (proof read and 28 pages by all 5 bus operators as well as GWR) - now is the time to pick this up for Melksham. MWPC supporting too, and working with GWR to look at customer friendly improvements.
All in line with medium and long term plans - see below beyond this campaign
Delighted with MTC and MWPC reps at MTUG - please provide formal support (and they did)
Things that are NOT in this "campaign" but are parallel / ongoing / background aspirations include:
1. The current timetable is desperately thin. Rather than one train every 2 hours, we (as a town) need a train every hour each way - that's a normal minimum standard in the 21st century for a local or regional service. Beyond that, a turn-up-and-go type service - perhaps a train each way every half hour - would suit Melksham as well as passengers between Swindon and Chippenham to the north east, and Trowbridge, Westbury, Frome and Warminster to the south. That is the medium and long term strategy - it is not part of the support sought and gained from Melksham Town Council last night (and from Melksham Without Parish Council too, recently) but provides an assurance to all parties that sorting out the current issues is in the medium and longer term interests as out town grows and more people need to get around without undue extra load on our already-choked roads.
2. Most Melksham Station passengers walk to and from the station, with lifts and cycling being 2nd and 3rd most popular ways of getting to the station. Fourth come taxis, and fifth - a few people - use the car park. This is almost perverse; there are no bus services to the station though some go past (without stopping) the top of Station Approach. And yet so many of the residents of Melksham, and the industrial area, our major educational site, sports site and medical facilities are right across the town. We already have a very thin town bus service - a single vehicle struggling to meet all requirements in our growing town - and the addition of a second vehicle on an easy-to-understand hourly cycle starting and ending at the station, connecting with trains ... but also connecting the Town Centre and between all those other areas I mentioned ... is a natural development to help people get around.
3. The station is at the back end of an industrial area and can be a lonely and unwelcoming. Works OK for current regulars but if people have questions, want the loo, or need help, or a taxi, or a bus it can be daunting. Silly things like the separation by about 50 feet of the help point where you can talk to someone and the ticket machine where you may need advice as to which ticket to buy do not help, neither does the lack of basics such as a simple "departures" poster, nor a line timetable on which you can look at the times of trains coming back. There is joined up scope for a community presence, and certain resources available to help.
4. It's a long walk round - through a subway and then back across that same main road to get to Foundry Close, Leekes and the residences in nearby streets. And yet the Station Approach peters out at a fence which backs on to the roundabout that's in Foundry Close, and with an exit for future expansion running up to that fence. Opening up that route - for just pedestrians and cycles - would do wonders for accessability. Again - in the plans but not part of this campaign.
Published Wednesday, 26th November 2025
Connections between buses and trains - West Wiltshire
People make total journeys door to door, and by public transport that can involve trains, buses, or both. Nick Reid, Great Western Railway's Transport Integration Manager will be talking to the West Wiltshire Rail User Group on the evening of Wednesday 26th November 2025 - guests very welcome.
Here in Melksham, we have a train service, bus services, but at present no local connections between them. There are some connections between some buses and trains at Chippenham, Trowbridge and Bath but in each case they are partial, and none of our town buses connect to the trains at all. As well as listening to Nick and asking questions, I'll have the opportunity next Wednesday to touch base with him ahead of time. The Melksham public transport strategy fits within the Neighbourhood Plan, and local plan, and as the town grows development funding will be earmarked to seed fund town bus improvements - for those of us who already live here as well as new arrivals - to ensure we can easily move around the town and onwards to and from other places by both bus and train.
To get to the meeting, take the x34 bus from Melksham Market Place at 18:08 bus to Trinity Church, Trowbridge, or the train at 18:00 or 19:09. Trowbridge Station is just across from Trinity Church, and the Bethesda Church Hall is just behind in Gloucester Road. Return train from the meeting at 21:22. There is some free parking at the Church Hall too.
Published Sunday, 16th November 2025
Environmental - Smog and dirty air, London and Melksham
• How does wider environmental care relate to our home town of Melksham?
• Are we starting from scratch, or are we doing things already?
• Could the smog / dirty air happen again?
• How can I join in with the environmental group concern in Melksham?
Picture from Heritage Calling - please take a look there for image copyright permissions and photographer details.
Here is the original text of the article that I submitted to the Melksham News and has appeared this week, which addresses the first two questions. The published article was somewhat edited (vetted) but the message remains the same in print. Ironic it was placed amongst motoring adverts!
| My father took a job in London; in 1960 the family moved from Liverpool. At the time, the classic Portland stone buildings, where they had not been destroyed in the Blitz, were black. In my childhood, I took this as their natural colour but it wasn't. It was a layer of soot from coal burning which had culminated in the great smog of 1952. That, it is estimated, killed 12,000. As late as 1962, there was further smog which killed another 700. Environmental issues are not new. Care for the environment such as the end of coal burning and the adoption of other modern technologies has made such a difference and can make so much more. It needs to as we seek ever more prosperous futures within sustainably planetary resources. Grand words; how can that translate locally in Melksham? An example: Planning is underway for new housing on the old library site. There are elements that will help make it sustainable. It is town centre so reducing travel needs and near existing public transport. Thermal efficiency is a consideration in the design. There will be solar panels on the roof. But as someone looking out for the environment, and also for the life quality and financial status of the new residents, I ask "is that enough?” Will a multi-storey unit across the A3102 from another multi-storey block, with heavy traffic speeding up and slowing down from the main roundabout lead to a "dirty air" problem? Is the best being done to make the building itself sustainable? Two personal answers. I am NOT too concerned about dirty air. Motor vehicles are going electric and any diesel and petrol fumes are becoming historic. I AM concerned at reports that much heating will be direct electric and not heat pumps. Whilst rooftop generation is a good step to be applauded, I can't help wondering if that is a case of "greenwash" and the development should be going further. It should be making the buildings really self sufficient, or even being a net generator. |
From London Museum
| Could it happen again? London’s modern day pollution is mainly caused by road vehicles, whose fumes aren’t as visible as coal smoke. But London’s air is still dangerous. It has regularly been above legal limits, and a 2019 study found that pollution contributed to roughly 6,000 excess deaths in the capital that year. Recent efforts to improve the problem include London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), first introduced in 2019, which charged drivers of the most polluting vehicles. |
As I walk through Melksham in the middle of a typical weekday, traffic is queueing at the main lights and round the Market Place and the air does not smell clean.
The Melksham Environment group meets on the first Thursday of the month (YES tonight as I write this) and you would be welcomed there - 18:30 at the library. Our chair is shirley @ mkmeg.org.uk ... first 2026 meeting, 8th January rather than 1st.
Published Thursday, 6th November 2025
Home area in Melksham on scale of deprivation scale
How does our home area stack up against others for quality of life? Although I have stepped down as a town councillor, I still take a resident's interest and read data such as the Government Stats on levels of deprivation across the country. Our government, cheerlessly, has a way of presenting this data from a negative ("deprivation") perspective rather that a positive ("prosperity"?) one.
"Wiltshire 022D is ranked around the middle for deprivation in England. Just under half (49%) of neighbourhoods in England are more deprived (ranked 16,504 out of 33,755 neighbourhoods)." The data digs deeper - finding that our area is worse than average for crime, and better than average for barriers to housing and services. Income is a bit above average, and the living environment a bit below.
It does make some sense for the government to concentrate on deprivation rather than the reverse. Isn't that the end of the scale they should be more active it helping, rather than a lighter touch of keeping those areas already better off running smoothly?
Looking at the data is just one step - understanding it and making forward changes informed better by what it reveals - is another and more important. Here in Melksham, we have a Neighbourhood Plan and a Town Centre Master Plan. Whatever happened to "Priority for People" - excellent work five years ago that helped inform decisions, and the "Business Development Manager" role which, to our shame, we declared redundant in 2021?
The stats suggest we are pretty mediocre - looking at Wiltshire as a whole, "Wiltshire 022D is more deprived than most neighbourhoods within Wiltshire. The Wiltshire local authority district contains 307 neighbourhoods. About three quarters of neighbourhoods in this area are less deprived than the neighbourhood you selected."
Deprived of what? Several questioners have asked
Good Housing - Crimefree streets - Educational Opportunities - Income - a nice environment - employment opportunities. A lot of very technical measures - some explained in other comments and links within my article. There are 'pockets' within our little area of these things being less than ideal, and in other parts of the town, that often go under the radar. And modern society demands a far higher quality of life, so what would have been a luxury 50 years ago is today a necessity without which one is considered deprived.
An official description at https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/blog/tag/deprivation/ says ... "Deprivation is a complex concept. The term is often used interchangeably with poverty (which relates to a lack of income to meet basic needs) when in fact deprivation refers to a serious lack of something which is considered to be a basic necessity in society. From healthcare to housing, there are multiple factors which determine how deprived an area is." and I could find much more. Summarising gets difficult ...
I have read a lot in the past and each measure is different, and all the various deprovations add together to make areas of multiple deprivation. We can learn from comment on Jaywick - the nation's most deprived area: "Jaywick is a poor area due to a combination of factors including a history of low-cost, poor-quality housing intended for holidays, a lack of permanent local jobs, and severe flooding risk. The area's cheap, original housing was not built for permanent habitation and many homes are now in a state of significant disrepair, a problem worsened by residents' opposition to demolition. The coastal location, while once a draw, also makes it extremely vulnerable to flooding, which deters investment."
Published Friday, 31st October 2025
Movement Strategy for Bath
Melksham Residents probably make more visits Bath than to any other nearby town or city. It's about 10 miles, and you can drive or catch direct buses all day, every day (not Sunday evening). But Bath has congestion, clear air and parking issues. Bath residents are encouraged to cycle and to walk (and take their local buses); the city was neither built nor is it located to be an easy place to move around.
A Movement Strategy for Bath - "delivering our journey to net zero" promise is out for consultation - see https://banestransport.co.uk/ - until 28th November. "The Movement Strategy for Bath sets out a series of 15 strategic levers—actions we plan to take over the next decade to transform how people move around Bath. These levers are grouped under three key goals":
Goal 1 - create great quality places
Goal 2 - improve travel choices
Goal 3 - reduce vehicular traffic
Although Bath is in a different local government area, what's done and provided there is pretty important to north and west Wiltshire as for us it's a key part of our economic and business life - in modern terms we are a connected city, and ongoing medium and long term planning such as the Bath and Wiltshire Metro illustrate that.
from the BaNES website (ref above)
Why it matters
In 2019, B&NES Council declared a Climate Emergency. Transport accounts for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in our area. The Movement Strategy is a key part of our response, supporting our ambition to be net zero and nature positive.
What it is
The Movement Strategy for Bath proposes a new way of thinking about how we move around Bath. It sets out how we can rebalance the use of our streets, prioritise sustainable transport, and create an equitable network that works for residents, businesses, and visitors. It builds on the 2021 Journey to Net Zero Strategy, which identified pathways to reduce emissions, including:
7% decrease in the number of car journeys across the local authority area
25% reduction in kilometres travelled per person by car each year
Electric cars: 76% pure battery, 14% petrol hybrid
Buses: 76% electric, 24% hybrid
Rail: 37% of freight rail is electric, 100% passenger rail is electric
What it will achieve
By 2035, the Movement Strategy aims to deliver:
Improved air quality and public health
Better public spaces and green infrastructure
Reduced transport-related impacts on Bath's World Heritage Site
More reliable journeys and better connectivity
Support for local businesses and the visitor economy
Deprived of what?
Graham Ellis
Good Housing - Crimefree streets - Educational Opportunities - Income - a nice environment - employment opportunities. A lot of very technical measures - some explained in other comments and links within my article. There are 'pockets' within our little area of these things being less than ideal, and in other parts of the town, that often go under the radar. And modern society demands a far higher quality of life, so what would have been a luxury 50 years ago is today a necessity without which one is considered deprived.
An official description at https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/blog/tag/deprivation/ says ... "Deprivation is a complex concept. The term is often used interchangeably with poverty (which relates to a lack of income to meet basic needs) when in fact deprivation refers to a serious lack of something which is considered to be a basic necessity in society. From healthcare to housing, there are multiple factors which determine how deprived an area is." and I could find much more. Summarising gets difficult ...
I have read a lot in the past and each measure is different, and all the various deprovations add together to make areas of multiple deprivation. We can learn from comment on Jaywick - the nation's most deprived area: "Jaywick is a poor area due to a combination of factors including a history of low-cost, poor-quality housing intended for holidays, a lack of permanent local jobs, and severe flooding risk. The area's cheap, original housing was not built for permanent habitation and many homes are now in a state of significant disrepair, a problem worsened by residents' opposition to demolition. The coastal location, while once a draw, also makes it extremely vulnerable to flooding, which deters investment."
Published Thursday, 30th October 2025
How did I end up here? An abecedarium and the Milk Round.
You learn something every day. "An abecedarium is an inscription consisting of the letters of an alphabet, almost always listed in order. Typically, abecedarian are practice exercises." It came up in the connection quiz this morning, with computer keyboard and scrabble. Yesterday, I wrote about joining Tektronix in the summer of 1976, on the completion of my degree course. That was BSc Hons, 2.1, Computers Science, City University, 4 year sandwich course with six months each at Seiscom in Sevenoaks, and at the Civil Service Department (CSD) in the Old Admiralty Building in Whitehall, overlooking Horseguards Parade. But how did I chose Tektronix - a company I had not heard of until January 1975?
The Milk Round was - perhaps still is - the name of the 'game' in which graduating students and major employers pair up and partner for first employment opportunities for their mutual benefit and progression. The hunt for the right(est) people for the right jobs. And at the start of 1976, I had only some clues. So looking through all the booklets and printed literature, I write down "A" though the Alphabet - up to perhaps "T", selecting 20 potential employers worth making myself known to, and investigating potential. The half dozen letter left spare allowed for additions - for example U was for Seiscom to see if there was a career opportunity there; I did not add the Civil Service (Department) as I had seen enough of the Civil Service to know I was not looking for a career there, lovely though my colleagues (or at least those protocol allowed me to talk to) were. And interesting few months ... with travelling to interviews, seeing companies (or at least the face they wanted to show) and hearing what they had to offer. It was all a process but as a graduating student, I felt like a commodity being processed for potential use in a machine. Bit inhuman - I received six offers of milk round employment but none of them were "wow - I want to do that"; they all felt run of the mill.
Seiscom was that little bit different. I had taken a gap year before University - not to travel, but rather to gain first work experience, a financial savings cushion, and some maturity. I had sat my "A" levels at the age of 16 and applied through the UCCA system for a University place a year ahead, so knew where I was going. I joined Seismograph Services Ltd from school for a year as a temporary "coder" for computer experience, but 9 months in SSL were cutting back and I was declared redundant; natural for them to get rid of temps first but I still resent how it was done, but I digress. I went into a temping agency the next day, and signed up. Promise of a phone call and job didn't materialise, so I phoned Seiscom - in the same business as SSL. "I'm very sorry - for just a couple of months it doesn't give us time to train you usefully on our systems. But we could do with someone to help in out tape library". And so a relationship was born - from April 1972 that lasted right through to summer 1976. Initial 3 months. Weekend work onwards through Uni. Six Sandwich months. Many tales to tell another day. But I digress. Seiscom did make me a job offer in 1976. But it was disappointing and I felt almost a betrayal by [CW] who made the offer. What I didn't know is that he was aware that the company was planning a move from the UK to Ireland, but he couldn't tell me that, and to this day, I conjecture that the offer was designed to provide just a safety net and some work should I not find anything better. Hindsight suggests that I owe Chris at Seiscom a big "thank you" for handing this as he did.
So where did Tektronix come from? Not the Milk Round, but U in my abecedarium. A late addition. In my final year at Uni, just after I finished my sandwich at CSD, I found I only had lectures 4 days a week so I phoned them ... "got any 1 day a week jobs?". Turned out that because I already had security clearance, and was looking for work less than 10 hours a week, they could take me on. An apology though - "we can't put you on live code maintenance - it will have to be on code development" and I found myself writing a computer graphing application, helping display output data from manpower planning models (there's another subject there!) in both printed character form and on their Tektronix 4012 terminal, hooked up through a modem to the Compushare time sharing service. Anyway - the CSD's IT technical guru for their "Man plan" had been recruited by Tektronix and left even before I rejoined to provide British Isles wide technical support, and she was being promoted there to provide support on their 4081 product line - an Interdata minicomputer close coupled to a storage tube, and seen as the future hardware vehicle for CAD. Story is that Paula phoned Gordon asking if he would recommend any of last year's students - those graduating - to join Tek to provide "dumb terminal" support, and that's - Thank you Gordon and Paula - how "Opportunity U" came along. And it was a no-brainer to take it. I haven't looked back - except in relief that the opportunity was there with Tektronix and I took it.
Published Wednesday, 29th October 2025
Thoughts and tangents
See content - musings and somewhat looking back.
The link will take you to a post on the "Coffee Shop" transport forum which is hosted on a couple of servers I run, and where so many friends meet and share common interests and some uncommon ones. Short blog - I have a bus to catch ... explanations of the teapot will need to wait.
Published Friday, 24th October 2025
Melksham / Transport interest diary for 2026
Click on the image to download a travel and transport / from a Melksham interest diary for the 14 months through the end of 2025 and right through 2026.
I have had something of an input to the Melksham Environment Group, Melksham Transport User Group, West Wiltshire Rail User Group and TravelWatch SouthWest, and have been helping those groups check with others such as the Melksham Historical Association, and working with the knowldege of typical Melksham Town Council, Melksham Without Parish Council meeting days and events.
Some groups are not set / know yet - educated guesses made, or I / we just have to fit in as they make announcements. That includes Railfuture, BRTA, Community Rail, date of GWR nationalisation, European Passenger Federation, and so forth. Personal / other interst and private meetings not shown. Other organisations on the peripheral - I may go if I can such as the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust local branch - not show either, neither are Assembly Hall events which (in any case) seem to be hard for me to track this far ahead.
Published Tuesday, 21st October 2025