New Year's Day fun

For those of you who don't know the place, I thought I'd introduce you to my home city's New Year's Day tradition, 'Winchester Buses Running Day', in which Friends of King Alfred's Buses organise free trips around the city in a bewildering array of old vehicles. They bunch up in the Broadway and the bus station and the whole of central Winchester is crawling with - um - 'enthusiasts' toting cameras, notebooks, pencils stubs, well-worn backpacks and general geeky gear. Those who run the buses get dressed up in hi-vis jackets and period uniforms (of what degree of accuracy, I have no way of telling) and as you can see here, this affliction apparently strikes the young as well as the oldies.

Seriously, though, it's great fun, even if you do get elbowed out of the way in competition for shots (blimey, it was worse than the Olympic Torch Relay) and choked by clouds of blue exhaust. Unless there's more than one French ride, this is the Paris bus, a 1935 Renault TN4F (help me someone, I'm just reading this out of a leaflet). At the back it looks to me more like a tram, but there you go..

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL