(15 Jan 2017, 5:26 pm)Andreos1 That's the thing though. Miss a bus through a late connection and you're potentially screwed - especially if it's the last one. Thats money thrown down the loo.
Miss a train through a late connection and you're looking at a refund (at least partial) and potentially a free taxi for the last leg if it was the last train of the night.

I get fed up of driving at times. Done it long enough and after a long day (or longer) working in another part of the country, the last thing I want to do is drive home.

(15 Jan 2017, 5:17 pm)Jamie M I either bus or I drive where bus don't go. You do have to pay for a night's in and fuel, but you are sure to end up in the right place and not end up throwing money down the loo for missing trains etc. Both ways have their pros and cons.

(15 Jan 2017, 5:26 pm)Andreos1 That's the thing though. Miss a bus through a late connection and you're potentially screwed - especially if it's the last one. Thats money thrown down the loo.
Miss a train through a late connection and you're looking at a refund (at least partial) and potentially a free taxi for the last leg if it was the last train of the night.

(16 Jan 2017, 3:07 pm)Michael This prick appeared on my Facebook news feed:

Child killer Ian Huntley wants a sex change at the taxpayers’ expense so that he can spend the rest of his life in a female prison.

The vile Soham murderer, who killed best friends Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, believes it will be cushier than his current sentence at tough HMP Frankland.

He has told fellow lags he will start wearing women’s clothes, underwear and make-up to convince doctors he harbours desires to change his sex.

If given the go-ahead, the £100,000 operation will be paid for by the taxpayer on the NHS.

The double killer is planning on joining Transgender Pathway, which will begin to prepare him for his new life as a woman.

But offenders must pass rigorous psychological tests to show they genuinely want to change sex and are not just looking for special treatment.

Huntley is yet to make a formal request to the governor of Frankland Prison, one of the toughest jails in England, where he is serving a 40-year sentence.

Huntley has discussed his plans with a few close lags, including his new best friend Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.

One inmate said that the killer is desperate to be removed from the all-male prison after facing years of death threats and assaults.

He has already survived one murder attempt after having his throat slashed by armed robber Damien Fowkes in 2010.

One former inmate said: “Huntley and Sutcliffe are always in and out of each others’ cells. They are both hated by the majority of the inmates because they have showed no remorse for what they have done.

“There are a lot of bad people in Frankland Prison but Huntley is one of the worst. He knows he’s a marked man while he’s in Frankland and he believes his only hope of a cushy life is to become a woman.”

Huntley was given a double life sentence, with a minimum term of 40 years, for the murder of schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002.

The last picture of best friends Holly and Jessica in their red Man Utd football shirts became a haunting symbol of Huntley’s evil.

The snap was taken by Holly’s mum at a barbecue just over an hour before they were brutally murdered.

The matching tops – with United star David’s Beckham’s name and his number 7 on the back – were stripped from the girls’ bodies and found burned and dumped in a bin.

It later emerged the youngsters had stopped to speak to Huntley outside the house he shared with partner Maxine Carr. He invited them in and murdered them.

Huntley claimed in court that Holly suffered a nose bleed and fell into a bath, banging her head and drowning. He said Jessica screamed so he put his hand on her mouth until she stopped.

Their bodies were found six miles from Soham 13 days later. They had been dumped in a ditch near RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.

-------------

I'll give a sex change, cut it off with a Stanley knife and then leave him like that!

(16 Jan 2017, 3:07 pm)Michael This prick appeared on my Facebook news feed:

Child killer Ian Huntley wants a sex change at the taxpayers’ expense so that he can spend the rest of his life in a female prison.

The vile Soham murderer, who killed best friends Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, believes it will be cushier than his current sentence at tough HMP Frankland.

He has told fellow lags he will start wearing women’s clothes, underwear and make-up to convince doctors he harbours desires to change his sex.

If given the go-ahead, the £100,000 operation will be paid for by the taxpayer on the NHS.

The double killer is planning on joining Transgender Pathway, which will begin to prepare him for his new life as a woman.

But offenders must pass rigorous psychological tests to show they genuinely want to change sex and are not just looking for special treatment.

Huntley is yet to make a formal request to the governor of Frankland Prison, one of the toughest jails in England, where he is serving a 40-year sentence.

Huntley has discussed his plans with a few close lags, including his new best friend Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.

One inmate said that the killer is desperate to be removed from the all-male prison after facing years of death threats and assaults.

He has already survived one murder attempt after having his throat slashed by armed robber Damien Fowkes in 2010.

One former inmate said: “Huntley and Sutcliffe are always in and out of each others’ cells. They are both hated by the majority of the inmates because they have showed no remorse for what they have done.

“There are a lot of bad people in Frankland Prison but Huntley is one of the worst. He knows he’s a marked man while he’s in Frankland and he believes his only hope of a cushy life is to become a woman.”

Huntley was given a double life sentence, with a minimum term of 40 years, for the murder of schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002.

The last picture of best friends Holly and Jessica in their red Man Utd football shirts became a haunting symbol of Huntley’s evil.

The snap was taken by Holly’s mum at a barbecue just over an hour before they were brutally murdered.

The matching tops – with United star David’s Beckham’s name and his number 7 on the back – were stripped from the girls’ bodies and found burned and dumped in a bin.

It later emerged the youngsters had stopped to speak to Huntley outside the house he shared with partner Maxine Carr. He invited them in and murdered them.

Huntley claimed in court that Holly suffered a nose bleed and fell into a bath, banging her head and drowning. He said Jessica screamed so he put his hand on her mouth until she stopped.

Their bodies were found six miles from Soham 13 days later. They had been dumped in a ditch near RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.

-------------

I'll give him a sex change, cut it off with a Stanley knife and then leave him like that!

(21 Jan 2017, 3:35 pm)BusLoverMum Bunch of kids on the 7 being so antisocial that they've ended up with the top deck to themselves. Some people decided against even getting on the bus because of the way they barged to the front of the queue and demonstrated their impending failure of both biology and English GCSE in the dirt on the windows.

(21 Jan 2017, 3:55 pm)BusLoverMum Cheeky so and sos have made it to Aycliffe on Darlington tickets. Driver's stopped the bus and made them pay the difference.

If they fanny on too long we're going to miss our connection home. One of them is claiming to be dyslexic so they don't know where Darlington is.

(21 Jan 2017, 9:39 pm)South Tyne Lad    Best Excuse ive heard in a long time!

(21 Jan 2017, 10:17 pm)BusLoverMum They got off at Ferryhill.

Nuff said.

(22 Jan 2017, 1:39 am)Jimmi How did I know that's where it would end

Some right planks and scum get on/off the buses there, got the 56 from Ferryhill to Bishop Auckland one afternoon and had someone light up a cigarette at the back of a Solo, driver told him to get off and after a bit of arguing with her, he did get off in the Coundon area which I ain't fond of either.

(29 Jan 2017, 8:59 pm)Jimmi Spent most of the hour looking for spots along "The 49" to get photos at and came back with pretty much zero ideas. Basically just spent the last hour getting lost on Google Maps because I have little idea of the route and it's not a totally straight forward route to learn on Google Maps with the amount of turns the route makes after the Metrocentre. Doesn't help that I won't know there the sun will be either, although the forecast is dry but cloudy tomorrow.

(29 Jan 2017, 11:13 pm)Rapidsnap In terms of interesting locations the 49 / 49A is pretty lacking. Possibly the most interesting location on the route is Shibdon Bank.

(29 Jan 2017, 11:13 pm)Rapidsnap In terms of interesting locations the 49 / 49A is pretty lacking. Possibly the most interesting location on the route is Shibdon Bank.

(29 Jan 2017, 11:27 pm)Jamie M There's always what I call the 'Dan Graham spot' which is a roundabout kicking around the Metrocentre 😛
To be honest, I'd just take them at Gateshead or Metro. There's standing time to mess on getting the perfecr iso/shutter speed for the light etc, no chance of blurring etc. The buses will be coming quick up and down hills, quick out of junctions and the rest of it.

If you have good enough gear to gear with speed, get yourself over the bridge at the A1 towards Swalwell village, and there's a green bank where the road forks and the 97s to Newcastle go one way, the 49s to Winlaton the other, anywhere along to the fire station, on the same side of the road as the fire station. You'll then have a shot of them approaching the roundabout, or across the roundabout coming down perhaps the only scenic part of the trip. There's a lot of traffic around here at peaks, so choose time wisely.

(30 Jan 2017, 12:04 am)BusLoverMum Agree with Jamie - pick the first slowdown after Gateshead Interchange, because you'll have some semblance of routine, there.

(30 Jan 2017, 7:21 am)Jimmi I will probably take a failsafe shot at Metrocentre Bus Station but I have thought of an idea or two for other spots as well, nothing too drastic but still something different to MetroCentre Bus Station and Gateshead Interchange which of course, everyone has done to death already, so I feel I should do something slightly different.

My thing is, when possible I do like to take photos in different spots, not necessarily scenic locations but just somewhere that isn't photographed as often.