A Pedestrian-Unfriendly City
I mentioned to a friend, who lives near Milton Keynes, that I might come up to see the new electric buses in the city. They suggested I come up and take one of the new buses to Bletchley Bus Station, where they would pick me up.
I got a return ticket on London Midland to Milton Keynes Central for just £9.55 for a journey that takes thirty-five minutes each way. Which I didn’t think was bad value.
There was information at the station about the buses, but compared to London, it wasn’t of the highest quality.
Clear But Fairly Useless Bus Information
Although, the bus stand looked to be all new.
A New Bus Station
But it was all very draughty and after waiting for twenty minutes, I didn’t see any of the new wireless electric buses going to Bletchley.
A New Electric Bus
Although a couple did pass without stopping.
Then my friend sent me a text to say, that they’d had a breakdown and when the AA came, they’d meet me in the central shopping in the city. There didn’t seem to be clear instructions about the best bus to get to the centrre and as it was a sunny, but cold day, I decided to walk, especially, as I could see a solitary lith with a map by the station.
A Solitary Lith In Milton Keynes
The lith said that it would be about a fifteen minute walk, so I set off for the centre. I didn’t pass any other direction signs or liths and eventually, I had to resort to the age-old device of asking a passer-by. I then got another message from my friend, who was still waiting for the AA. A phone call later and we decided, we’ll meet another day.
I carried on walking and found the shopping centre, where I knew there was a Carluccio’s, so at least I could have lunch before returning. Carluccio’s cafes are usually fairly obvious with their blue canopies, but could I find it? Of course not! I couldn’t even find a directory in the shopping centre, giving any useful information. It was a new experience for me, to find a shopping centre without instructions to find your favourite shop. So I decided to go back to London and took a sign pointing to a bus station. But the dreadful place had one more surprise in store for me. To get to the buses, I had to walk into the sun and didn’t see this beautifully camouflaged stone seat, as my eyesight isn’t a hundred percent, in certain circumstances.
A Camouflaged Stone Seat
I didn’t see it at all and it rapped me hard across both knees.
The Damage To My Left Leg
The picture shows the damage on my left leg.
When will those that design our pavements realise that not everyone is fit with perfect eyesight?
I wonder if a personal injury lawyer, would like to take on my case.
And then of course, there was no simple way to find which bus you should take to get back to the station.
When I got back to the station, I was wrongly informed, which was the next London Midland train back to London, so I had to wait for twenty minutes on a cold windy station with no shelter.
I shall never return to the most pedestrian-unfriendly city, I’ve found on my travels. And as my friend will testify, they can’t even get the breakdown service for the cars that they expect everybody to use, correct!
The Anonymous Widower 
I have been to MK once, the year before I graduated from OU, we went down to the Open Day because I hadn’t visited the actual campus. We camped in a borrowed tent. Which leaked – as soon as we got to the MK turn off on Motorway the heavens opened, and it rained all night long. We did have a great time at the open day though, and the sun shone beautifully. We did go into the centre, I wanted to see the city centre church, our impression of the city was that it felt sort odd.
I am sorry you had a disappointing day, and hope your leg heals soon
Comment by Liz P | February 5, 2014 |
[…] Milton Keynes has never been my favourite place, since I used to take my late son; George, to his boarding school, which inevitably meant a trip round the endless roundabouts. I was then mugged in the city by the street furniture, that I wrote about in A Pedestrian-Unfriendly City. […]
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