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        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2004 >> The Big Red Bus   Not Ch
        
(Message started by: Charlie on Mar 1^st, 2004, 5:28pm)

Title: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Charlie on Mar 1^st, 2004, 5:28pm

Cathy:

Is it really true that you're getting rid of the big red double decker walk on busses? WTF are you people thinking of? What will you use for tourist brouchures? It's almost as bad as sending your bridges to Arizona.
I can see it now: Ruppert Murdock buys them and sells them on Ebay.

The end is nigh. :-/

Charlie

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by pubgirl on Mar 1^st, 2004, 7:10pm

How come you hear these things and we don't?

Actually as far as I know, most of the Double Deckers are only really used for London tours now. I'm sure they will still be running.

The normal bus routes are now single deckers and are one-man operated, so no conductors any more, which is very sad.

Wendy

P.S. The bridge that went to Arizona, wasn't that where an American bought London Bridge (boring and ugly) thinking he was getting Tower Bridge (which is stone, very beautiful, and very much still spanning the Thames)
Or is that a myth propagated here to make Americans look stupid?

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Tiannia on Mar 1^st, 2004, 7:36pm

http://cc.ee.ntu.edu.tw/~cylin/USA/AZ-LondonBridge-2.JPG
It really is not THAT ugly. Here is the story, you Brits tell us if it is true...

http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/london.html
London Bridge is tourist bait in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

By Chuck Woodbury
editor, Out West
LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. -- Folks laughed when chainsaw magnate Robert McCulloch announced he was bringing the 140-year old London Bridge to the Arizona desert.

Nobody laughs anymore.

In the late '60s, the London Bridge was sinking into the clay of London, England's Thames River. Built in 1831, it was the victim of its own immense weight.

London officials said they'd have to replace the bridge. But what to do with the old one -- the one of children's nursery rhymes?

Enter McCulloch. He and a buddy purchased the falling down bridge for $2.4 million. At the time it was the highest price ever paid for an antique.

For the next three years, workers disassembled the bridge in London, then flew its bricks to America where they were hauled to then-tiny Lake Havasu City where they were reassembled over a newly dug out lagoon alongside Lake Havasu. The bridge was ready for busi
The top of the bridge looks a lot different than it did in jolly ol' England of yesteryear.
ness in 1971.

It wasn't long before tourists started showing up, and pretty soon, thanks to McCulloch and his bridge, the town was fat with cash, partly from all the money local real estate companies (including McCulloch's) were making from folks who came to see the bridge then bought homes to stay.

Nowadays, the London Bridge is one of Arizona's biggest attractions. Lake Havasu City has golf courses, affordable homes and a winter population of retired folks in Winnebagos. It's even got a Wal-Mart just a few blocks north of the bridge.

Town visitors can explore a one-acre London village at the foot of the old bridge. For entertainment, they can tune into local radio station KBBC, identified on the air as "BBC radio."

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by BobG on Mar 1^st, 2004, 8:26pm

Lake Havasu is a pretty KQQL place. Beautiful lake. Great weather. One of the biggest Spring Break parties in the country (Dang! I wish I was 20 again ;;D). And best of all they have a great Hot Rod show on the golf course every year. Our very own athos and sherryberry live there.

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Linda_Howell on Mar 1^st, 2004, 8:42pm

Oh please.... say it isn't so Charlie.

Hot rod show on the golf course sounds good though.

Linda

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by BobG on Mar 1^st, 2004, 8:46pm

hey Charlie, we were up in Victoria Canada a few months ago. It's a beautiful place and it has double decker buses. They take you all around the island. Wonderfull city.
You gotta try it yourself.

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Charlie on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 8:06am

I saw a news special about the busses on Sunday. They were interviewing Londoners about it. Not many people were happy. Still, it was CBS news or some such. You never can tell. If it was PBS, it's probably true. Bigger Anglophiles there never was.

Saw the inner workings of Tower Bridge on the history channel. Amazing thing. An engineering marvel.

God I hope they keep some busses for tourists from Indiana. It wouldn't be London without them.

Charlie

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by pubgirl on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 3:09pm

Tiannia

All I can say is it looks better in Arizona than it did in London. What a lovely photograph!
Can't argue with what you posted, we just got the story here that the guy thought he was buying Tower Bridge (the engineering bit is that although VERY old and built of beautiful old stone, Tower Bridge opens up to let ships through)

Sounds like he was no fool and knew what he was doing!

Still none the wiser about the buses though Charlie!

Wendy

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Cerberus on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 5:11pm

good grief,

Get rid of blood pudding but not the double decker busses!!!! then they'll have to get rid of the matching phone booths too ;;D

P.S. Linda....finally! a good use for golf courses :D

Ramon

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by Charlie on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 5:14pm

Haven't heard of anyone buying the Brooklyn Bridge lately. No doubt some of those stories are based in fact.

Everybody send a letter to the Times.........no wait, that's Murdock........waste of time ::)

Charlie 8)

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by BobG on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 7:53pm

As you probably know Charlie, the Brooklyn Bridge was invented in Las Vegas and was a gift to New York. It was sold a number of years ago and moved back to Vegas. It is now in front of the New York New York Casino in Vegas.
The Statue of Liberty is also now standing on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip.
;)

Title: Re: The Big Red Bus Not Ch
Post by pubgirl on Mar 2^nd, 2004, 7:57pm

Ramon

Black pudding is MARVELLOUS stuff.
With a good fry-up with all the works, delicious!

Wendy