When I first started taking photos again, I used to run round like an idiot getting 'rare workings' photographed or even buses on their first days in service. Nowadays I'm much more relaxed about it, and just travel where I want to travel. I'll spend a bit of time there photographing and simply seeing what comes along.

(11 Sep 2015, 11:40 am)MurdnunoC wrote But what, do you feel, goes wrong?

Just as you have you right to take photographs of buses in public places, the public also have the same right to walk in front of any shot you're attempting to take. I get the impression you seem to take it personally but, more often than not, people are indifferent to what you are doing and probably don't notice you with your camera out. 

You also seemingly get upset when things go to 'plan' - nothing peculiar about that as most of us do. But, in the context of your hobby, is there any need to plan? Why don't you just go with the flow instead? Get whichever bus happens to be in there instead of planning to get this specific bus at this specific time to get that specific shot. When plans go wrong, you get upset. But if you don't have a plan there's nothing to really get upset about and, you never know, something unexpected may show to photograph instead.

Don't take your hobby too seriously is what, I think, I'm trying to say.

I understand the first point about people walking in front of the camera, there is nothing to stop them walking in front but it is a little frustrating when it's something you'd like a photo of, yesterday was especially annoying as I was in Ripon yesterday so the photo that got screwed up is not something I could easily get again another day and was part of the reason why I ventured to Ripon again yesterday was because I had previously done a trip to Ripon a few months back and had very little time in Ripon and I ended up missing getting a photo because the bus arrived in Ripon late and my next bus left just before it came back. Fortunately the bus I wanted a photo of came back shortly afterwards and was parked in the bus station for the next hour.

I tend to not do many concrete plans anymore, I usually only do so when I am travelling on routes with limited frequency's such as many of the routes I was using yesterday. The last time I went totally mad about not sticking to a plan was because a bus turned up late and left out of service leaving us to wait longer and I was at serious risk at being stuck in Northallerton for nearly two hours and I came very close to this happening, this is usually when I get a bit annoyed when there is a risk of being "stuck" somewhere for a considerable amount of time although I did get annoyed that day I ventured up to Carlisle where I had planned to head up to Hexham on the way but had to drop it from the plan due to delays due to roadworks on the 7 and X21 routes putting me behind time. I don't make many solid plans, I usually plan roughly where I plan to go, so for example I could say I'm heading to Newcastle then see where the day takes me sort of thing or if I do plan to go places I will plan to go places but if it's somewhere with a reasonable frequency it won't bother me so much if I end up on a different bus to what I was originally aiming for.

Fortunately I am very busy next week doing other things so I may quickly head up to Bishop Auckland for the Sapphire launch on Tuesday then maybe take a few photos of them in service the following day. This will give me a bit of a break from the hobby for a bit.

(11 Sep 2015, 11:42 am)aureolin wrote When I first started taking photos again, I used to run round like an idiot getting 'rare workings' photographed or even buses on their first days in service. Nowadays I'm much more relaxed about it, and just travel where I want to travel. I'll spend a bit of time there photographing and simply seeing what comes along.

With rare workings I don't usually tend go right out of way to get photos of them usually, if I spot a post in say, the Arriva Odd Workings thread of a unusual allocation I will only usually chase after it if I know exactly when it will appear somewhere and if I'm in the area, so if something will pass through Newton Aycliffe at a certain time and I'm not doing anything I will quickly run out for a photo as I'm only out for not very long in this case or if I'm in say, Newcastle and someone says they have just seen a odd working at Regent Centre heading towards Haymarket I will hang around a few minutes for it to appear. I don't always get odd workings though, could have had 1406 on the 7 last night but I didn't bother, especially as I had been out for nearly 12 hours by this point due to the issues with the X66. I do tend to make some effort with new stuff, on Tuesday I made a quick trip to Stockton to photograph one of the new E300's but I knew it was on a fairly local route so I wouldn't have more than about an hour to wait and fortunately on my way there someone gave the journey it was currently operating so I knew what time it would reappear in Stockton so I had 30 minutes to wait so I did some other things in this time including having a look in Sound It Out to kill the time rather than having a long boring snapping session so then turned up just before it came back and got the photo and then got a few more as I had a few minutes to wait for the X66 back to Darlington. Don't always go out of my way to get new buses and stuff like repaints/new brands etc. I haven't made much attempt to photograph the Diamond Citaro's which have been repainted blue, the two photos I've got of them so far have both been when I've spent a few minutes around MetroCentre and Newcastle, the one I took on Saturday I was only out getting photos for 5 minutes, I was going to get a shot of the X24 leaving the MetroCentre and thankfully it arrived on-time so I had a few minutes to wait for it to leave and in this time 5286 appeared so I got myself a photo whilst I was waiting. I'm not usually bothered about having every bus in a batch, I'm usually happy if I have just one photo, I've only uploaded one photo of the new Crusader branding and I've not been bothered about snapping any more although I did snap one the other day but didn't upload it as I had other stuff to upload and it wasn't a great photo because of where the sun was at the time which was the main reason for not uploading it.

On my bus to tuition earlier, I asked for a "Child Return to the bus station", he said £1.10... correct price...
The ticket printed... "Adult Single"!? I asked if that was a Child Return, he sharply replied "Are you seriously a child? Kids fares are for under 14s only. You're having that fare or you can get off".

If I wasn't in a rush, I would have got off.

(11 Sep 2015, 2:37 pm)GX03 SVC wrote On my bus to tuition earlier, I asked for a "Child Return to the bus station", he said £1.10... correct price...
The ticket printed... "Adult Single"!? I asked if that was a Child Return, he sharply replied "Are you seriously a child? Kids fares are for under 14s only. You're having that fare or you can get off".

If I wasn't in a rush, I would have got off.

Report it to Customer Services.

As useless as they are, it's the only chance you have of preventing a reoccurrence.

(11 Sep 2015, 2:37 pm)GX03 SVC wrote On my bus to tuition earlier, I asked for a "Child Return to the bus station", he said £1.10... correct price...
The ticket printed... "Adult Single"!? I asked if that was a Child Return, he sharply replied "Are you seriously a child? Kids fares are for under 14s only. You're having that fare or you can get off".

If I wasn't in a rush, I would have got off.

Aren't you in CLS?

If so, you probably need one of these. I'm going to apply for one for Big'un in the next year as it won't be long before he's taller than me
http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/1983/Ap...s-bus-card

(11 Sep 2015, 10:20 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Aren't you in CLS?

If so, you probably need one of these. I'm going to apply for one for Big'un in the next year as it won't be long before he's taller than me
http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/1983/Ap...s-bus-card

It annoys me so much that Durham only support 'Under 14s', and even at that it's only half fare. You'd think that people suddenly became independent at the age of 14! 

One of the reasons it annoys me so much, is that at the same time, they insist in going over and above with the ENCTS scheme outside of the window. Hopefuilly with NECA and when the levy comes in, it'll result in the 90p single / CAT scheme being extended across the county, and stop this extortion that goes on at the moment.

(11 Sep 2015, 10:36 pm)aureolin wrote It annoys me so much that Durham only support 'Under 14s', and even at that it's only half fare. You'd think that people suddenly became independent at the age of 14! 

One of the reasons it annoys me so much, is that at the same time, they insist in going over and above with the ENCTS scheme outside of the window. Hopefuilly with NECA and when the levy comes in, it'll result in the 90p single / CAT scheme being extended across the county, and stop this extortion that goes on at the moment.

It annoys me, too. There are much fanfared student passes, but only if you're in one of the "zones". We live outside all the zones. We plan to move into one of the zones when littl'un finishes primary school, but we're tied, at the moment.

And I realise that I've proably ot my numberplate user IDs mixed up, so my link is probably no good, anyhow.

(11 Sep 2015, 10:51 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It annoys me, too. There are much fanfared student passes, but only if you're in one of the "zones". We live outside all the zones. We plan to move into one of the zones when littl'un finishes primary school, but we're tied, at the moment.

Arriva's Durham zones are strange like that. For my Durham District ticket, I can get in and out of Durham, to Bishop Auckland, and also to Newcastle/Metrocentre on X12/X24. Someone who lives 5/6 mile from Durham in a slightly different direction, and they need a county wide pass. I realise that the boundaries need to be drawn somewhere, but I do feel there could be a little more logic shown.

I was looking forward to having a day out on buses with Dan P, but my dad's chest is bad

(12 Sep 2015, 10:53 am)Davie wrote I was looking forward to having a day out on buses with Dan P, but my dad's chest is bad

Ah so that's why its ok mate hope he gets better soon.

(11 Sep 2015, 10:20 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Aren't you in CLS?

If so, you probably need one of these. I'm going to apply for one for Big'un in the next year as it won't be long before he's taller than me
http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/1983/Ap...s-bus-card

No, I'm in Ashington.

I don't know if Northumberland County Council do those. A couple of bus drivers who I know said I should have my Arriva Teen Card on me, so the driver can work out my age from the expiry date.

(11 Sep 2015, 10:55 pm)aureolin wrote Arriva's Durham zones are strange like that. For my Durham District ticket, I can get in and out of Durham, to Bishop Auckland, and also to Newcastle/Metrocentre on X12/X24. Someone who lives 5/6 mile from Durham in a slightly different direction, and they need a county wide pass. I realise that the boundaries need to be drawn somewhere, but I do feel there could be a little more logic shown.

Yep, we're that 5-6 miles in that different direction!

So it begins...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/604...now-freeze

(12 Sep 2015, 12:32 pm)Dan wrote So it begins...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/604...now-freeze

Oh no, months of doom and gloom once again!

Also -

Everything is annoying me at the min!

(12 Sep 2015, 12:32 pm)Dan wrote So it begins...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/604...now-freeze

(12 Sep 2015, 12:34 pm)Michael wrote Oh no, months of doom and gloom once again!

Also -

Everything is annoying me at the min!

But it is The Express that's reporting this...

Don't really follow weather stories but are any other papers reporting this 'Shock Weather'?

The Express has about as much credibility as The Daily Sport.

(12 Sep 2015, 12:41 pm)MurdnunoC wrote But it is The Express that's reporting this...

Don't really follow weather stories but are any other papers reporting this 'Shock Weather'?

The Express has about as much credibility as The Daily Sport.

I was being sarcastic lol

Stuck in a gridlock in Gateshead.

(12 Sep 2015, 12:42 pm)Michael wrote I was being sarcastic lol

Really?

(12 Sep 2015, 12:48 pm)DanPicken wrote Stuck in a gridlock in Gateshead.

Should've used the Metro! 

(12 Sep 2015, 12:50 pm)MurdnunoC wrote Should've used the Metro! 

I only got the Q1 because it was 5332 and we caused the gridlock.

(12 Sep 2015, 12:51 pm)DanPicken wrote I only got the Q1 because it was 5332 and we caused the gridlock.

In what way has 5332 caused a gridlock? Has it broken down?

(12 Sep 2015, 12:41 pm)MurdnunoC wrote But it is The Express that's reporting this...

Don't really follow weather stories but are any other papers reporting this 'Shock Weather'?

The Express has about as much credibility as The Daily Sport.

Exactly. The Express are the only paper I've seen reporting this freak weather forecast, but one is enough for at least ten of my friends on Facebook to share it..!

(12 Sep 2015, 12:32 pm)Dan wrote So it begins...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/604...now-freeze

No doubt they'll say this and all we'll get is a few winter showers.

(12 Sep 2015, 12:48 pm)DanPicken wrote Stuck in a gridlock in Gateshead.

It's horrendous everywhere around the Metrocentre this afternoon

(12 Sep 2015, 12:55 pm)MurdnunoC wrote In what way has 5332 caused a gridlock? Has it broken down?

We turned into a yellow box but couldn't get all the way around and nothing could move as no cars would let us out to get in the lane.

(12 Sep 2015, 1:30 pm)Dan wrote Exactly. The Express are the only paper I've seen reporting this freak weather forecast, but one is enough for at least ten of my friends on Facebook to share it..!

I'd be questioning why your friends are reading The Daily Express. It's a middle-aged, middle-class paper for middle-aged, middle-class loons. The youth of today should not be reading such tripe...I despair!!

(12 Sep 2015, 1:32 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It's horrendous everywhere around the Metrocentre this afternoon

5332 left central at around 14:18 and has just left the Sage on its way to Heworth saw it from the train it's gonna be worse tomorrow as the Q1/2 have been using the Tyne Bridge which will be shut.

(12 Sep 2015, 1:34 pm)MurdnunoC wrote I'd be questioning why your friends are reading The Daily Express. It's a middle-aged, middle-class paper for middle-aged, middle-class loons. The youth of today should not be reading such tripe...I despair!!

Tripe or not - you ought to be impressed by the fact that the youth of today are actually reading newspapers (albeit in an online format..!)

There's even traffic jams in Sunniside!

It's nice to know that my brother "loves me". It's a shame that I can't say that back to him.

First of all, he had lost one of his cheap toy cars in my room. If I didn't find it by X, he'll hide my model buses. After hours of searching for the heap of plastic crap, he burst into my room and took them and hid them before I caught a glimpse of what he had took.

I found his car, behind the printer. I have it to him, just to be returned with an Arriva E400 with a mirror snapped off. Also, scratches in the paint of my Northumbria Minibus. "Sorry." IS THAT ALL I GET? YOU LOST YOUR STUPID CAR IN MY ROOM AND YOU BREAK THINGS WORTH £50?

Nice to know that you've been buying permanent markers to colour in the cars that i bought for you. And then wanting me to clean the things once you write "POLISES" on the side. 

Nice to know how the money that my mother doesn't have gets spent.

Oh, did I mention him swapping various items of my collection at his school? East Coast trains pen for a crappy "good condition" toy car and a Quaylink stress ball for a car that looks like it has been left outside for about 5 years. "oh sorry, I'll give you them for you to keep once of coloured in all the scratches."