Bus stops can be lonely places

It is just one of those things that most of us take bus stops for granted.

Chorlton, 2022

Until that is for reasons never explained by the authorities one is taken down and never replaced.

So, it is with one of the shelters in the bus terminus at Chorlton.

Over the years the number 23 bust stop has seen a shelter come and go.

Which is a shame because on a wet miserable day it afforded a bit of shelter and somewhere to sit.

And sometimes a place to exchange a few words with a travelling stranger.

Stretford, 2022

But not so these two.

Location; Chorlton and Streford

Pictures; Lonely Bus Stops, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The bus shelter …… another bit of street furniture

I collect bus shelters, along with old GPO telephone kiosks, cast iron coal hole covers, and the odd disused lamp post.

Outside Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station, 2021

This is not so daft, as the design of each has changed over time, and so are a picture of how we used to live.

And some are now an endangered bit of our street furniture.

So that is why I collect bus shelters, and this one I have to say deserves a special place in the collection.

I like its slightly curved shape, and its jumble of busy signs.

It stands outside the entrance to Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station.

And because I can, here to finish off is another bus shelter, which was located on Parker Street  beside Piccadilly Gardens from 1960.

Parker Street, 1961

Leaving those who want to, to submit a short essay comparing and contrasting the two, which for those who went to school in the 1960s, will be immediate recognisable as the English homework that produced a groan.

Location; Manchester Piccadilly Railway StationPicture; bus shelter, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Piccadilly Bus Station at 5pm, W. Higham, 1961, m56932, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass