Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year

Delivery of the annual Christmas card and calendar is now well under way. And this year's has a historical mystery.

The photograph shows Perry Pool House, Perry Barr, pictured in 1909. But where was Perry Pool House? We have studied the 1890 maps of Perry Barr and cannot find a trace of it on the River Tame or by the pool in Perry Barr Park.

A day out over the holiday?

Would you like a day out over the Christmas holiday? Here are some offers you may not have heard about.

You can get a £5 day return ticket to London from Snow Hill or Moor Street. You have to book in advance using London Midlands' "rapid advance purchase" system.

You can also get a £10 day rover ticket which allows you to travel anywhere on the London Midland service.

These are special ticket offers the company has agreed following its failure to run Sunday services earlier this year. This emerged at the meeting of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority yesterday. There are 400,000 of the London tickets and just 50,000 day rover tickets so expect to have to hunt around to find the offers. This is the London Midland site.

* In a second development at the ITA, Jon Hunt was pleased to put through a ground-breaking deal to ensure the future of the Ring and Ride service. Centro has agreed to fund Ring and Ride for at least three years, enabling Ring and Ride to invest in new services and equipment with a view to carrying more passengers more efficiently.

If you have special transport needs and are eligible to use Ring and Ride, look out for special day-time trips such as shopping expeditions.

* And there's more good news on public transport because for the first time in donkey's years, bus fares on National Express West Midlands - that's the old TWM - will not be going up in the New Year.