Entertainment For Lively Minds
Buses
I enjoy a good bus run and a favourite currently is the 19 from Angel to Battersea Bridge. Admittedly there’s the lure of some pretty fine charity shops at the Kings Road end to make it worthwhile (is there anything better than a good find in a charity shop?)
Sandy Toksvig on R4 just did a journey on the No 12 coastal route from Brighton to Eastbourne which I look forward to doing myself soon, and I’m sure there’s a book in this subject. But then maybe it's a subjective thing
I remember a series about Wainwright (Alfred not Rufus) and how he took a bus each morning to his next walk using those rides to collect his thoughts for the books and sketch out ideas. I can almost smell the damp tweed now …
Any favourite routes?
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Lovely Idea.
A route I remember with fondness would be the #22. Starts off near Putney Common, then Lower Richmond Rd parallel to Thames, over Putney Bridge down both the New Kings Road/Kings Road, then into the West End. I still use buses quite frequently, and have now learnt, esp. on a longer journey when I'm reading, not to sit under one of the speakers with the automated announcements, terrible things. Indeed, yesterday I was discussing at work, when I was in my early teens we would take the #85, avec fishing gear & packed lunch, up past Wimbledon Common to go fishing near Kingston Bridge, an impossible task nowadays I should imagine.
our
favoured routes 22 & 19 pass along the way. I like the 22 the bit I've taken, maybe I'll explore.
One of the things I like about the 19 is that even though it goes through the west end it nearly always misses the traffic. There is nothing worse than being on a crowded bus, raining, fogged up windows as the night draws in,nudging forward 6 feet at a time. That's hell for me.
Glasgow route
along Great Western Road, from Anniesland Cross to St George's Cross - a beautiful straight Georgian avenue most of the way - from the front of the upper deck of a bus, Glasgow has never looked so good.
what's the number
And best time of day and year to take it?
Used to be a 118
not sure if that's still the one (I don;t live in that part of the city any more).
Weekday afternoon, preferably autumn to get the benefit of the trees colouring.
The 139
from Cricklewood (where the crack was always good) to Oxford Circus or the 'blue bus' from Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles.
The number 53 bus
in Stockholm from south (where I used to live) to north (where I live now) through some lovely parts of the city.
And because it meanders through where the big buslines don't go and doesn't run as often as they do it's usually more than half empty as an added bonus.
Then again, it's Stockholm. Any bus route will be lovely! Look to the left, you'll see Stockholm. Look to the right, you'll se Stockholm. ;)
I have been to stockholm
And you are definitely surrounded by it as you rightly point out. I'll look out for the 53 if I return. That old boat museum that had sunk in the harbour is excellent.
Buckie to Keith
Every second Friday to my Granny's (1972-81-ish). Via Portgordon. Last bus, which was around 6pm. Drivers used to swap half way up the Enzie Braes. Used to sit behind the driver and copy his every move.
Ob-Com starts here.
Good grief!
I lived in Buckie in the early 70s too! East Church Street, next to the chemist shop. Went to Cluny Primary, then Lady Margaret's then Millbank.
It is a lovely part of the world in autumn anyway.
Jesus!
I went to Cluny (76-83), Lady Margaret's was mothballed by then. Millbank was not close to Buckpool, so cluny it was. You left by the time Buckie High beckoned? Rough, and then some, especially if you looked like a fat William Reid. Luckily my cabaret act got me through by default.
Left when i was eighteen, mum and dad still there. Still find it hard to sentimentalise. It's always autumn.
There's a good book about this...
...http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Bus-Journeys-Unfamous/dp/1843543419/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315070047&sr=1-1
15
From Commercial Road, through Aldgate, Fleet Street and The Strand.
At the time I travelled that it was a Routemaster.
That was my bus to work for a couple of years. My abiding impression all this time later is that it took bloody ages. The traffic always locked up somewhere along the line for one reason or another.
And yet I was never late for work.
Reading Buses Number 17
Goes from Tilehurst (near where I live) through Reading Town Centre and on to the Three Tuns at Wokingham Road (near where I used to live).
Runs every 7 minutes throughout the day, and every 20 minutes from midnight.
A pub at either end of the route, several pubs along the route (bus stops are generally within spitting distance of the pubs front doors), and a Kebab van at both termini.
Due to its constant running, you're sure of a ride home at much less cost than a taxi
Night bus to London
I got the overnight express bus from Glasgow to London, in 1980, when I was 14. The bus was based at Paisley bus depot, and you could get on it there, which I did, living in Kilbarchan. My dad drove me there in the Cortina. I was going to stay for a weekend in London with my very cool aunt Mary.
I sat near the back - I'll always remember that the red velour seats were a bit damp - hopefully from not having had enough time to dry after cleaning. The moisture transferred to the seat of my jeans, which dried out in an hour or so. Some guys had a "ghetto blaster" (aka their dads radio cassette player) and were playing the first Doors album fairly loud. I thought this was cool, but I guess not everyone agreed because the driver stopped the bus just outside Lesmahagow and told the that "it was going off or it was going in the boot".
I must have fallen asleep shortly after, as the next thing that I can remember was waking up somewhere on the M1, at dawn, with mist on top of the fields. The arrival in London was pretty exciting. My aunt picked me up at Victoria and gave me breakfast and I had a sleep. When I got up about lunchtime, I got up and played the copy of Dark Sife of the Moon which was lying about in the living room.
Route numbers
Lovely blog post here on how bus numbers get decided: http://markhadfield.typepad.com/that_gormandizer_man/2009/03/how-london-...
Another vote for the 19
I used to live in Finsbury Park and had friends in Battersea. I have very fond memories of hopping on the 19 at Finsbury Park Station, sitting up top at the front, and taking in the sights. Probably the longest journey I ever made in London, at least on a single bus.
My favourite now would be the route between York and Whitby.
this chap disagrees
Don't much enjoy
travelling on London buses these days what with these articulated prams with child somewhere hidden under the shopping bags, drivers needing to regulate journeys and the absence of conductors (I miss them, the glorious ticket machines and tickets). However there are two routes which I enjoy, 24 from Pond Street through to Pimlico and beyond and the 46 from Farringdon to Paddington via Hampstead. They are backstreet routes and I can easily lose myself in the variety of streetscapes. I can also recommend Great British Bus Journeys by David McKie, a slightly unhinged but very English book - witty and interesting.