"Pleased to meet you Mr Ironside"

I have a friend who is obsessed by bus routes, numbers and  timetables and also the Catholic Church. Spending time with them can sometimes feel like being trapped in a 'Rain man / Song of Bernadette' mash-up. Any conversation and I mean any, can quickly be turned around to an in-depth discussion of the local public transport providers and services It's endearing and exhausting in equal measure. Earlier this week, my friend had travelled to the city centre (McGills 950x. Port Glasgow to Buchannan Street. 10 past and 20 to the hour) and was walking along the river. He noticed a large crowd gathered around the entrance to St Andrew's cathedral. He first assumed that this was probably a wedding but, on closer inspection, discovered that it was in fact an event to celebrate Saint Therese of Liseux. My friend makes a quick mental  calculation (ditch the 950x, jump on the subway to Buchannan St and pick up the Dunoon Flyer at 14 minutes past the hour) and decides he can spare...

Do you think that train spotters are born with their compulsion or do they learn it? I'm with Lady Ga Ga on this subject as I have personal experience. Scientist have proved...(can't say that without picturing Dougie Squire's Second Generation wearing lab coats and glasses, dancing on a stage lift at the Talk of The Town in that TV advert for some washing powder or other)..they have proved that young brains, male brains in particular, go through a kind of growth spurt around the ages of 3-5 where, any and all information is sucked up into the cerebral cortex and regurgitated at will. When I was 5, I could name every make and model of car on the road. To be fair, there were probably not that many makes of car on the road to Fleetwood in 1968 but it proves mine and Dougie Squire's theory that young brains are eager to absorb. There was a young lad in my home town of Blackburn who had memorised the entire street map. His father would trundle the boy out to impress his pa...