82A Barley Mow Estate - Birtley (570) 10:56
I departed the house only a few moments before the 82A was due, due to the fact that I live just around the corner from the bus stop and partly because I had a slight suspicion it would probably be late. My prediction was correct, the bus was late but only by a couple of minutes so it didn't make the slightest difference what so ever really. As the bus turned the corner, I seen that is was an MPD, 570 to be precise. I was pretty happy by this point because I have always been a fan of this bus and it is in fact my favourite MPD. As I boarded the bus and asked for my £1.10 NEXUS CAT I looked up the bus and it was packed, with roughly 5 standees also. The driver clearly wanted to make up for lost time and was away as soon as mmy ticket was printed, he did make up his lost time by the way as we arrived in Birtley two minutes early. The highlight of the short journey though was when a woman towards the back of the bus rang the bell well in advance so she had time to get her shopping snd make her way to the front of the bus but the driver went straight past her stop, and nearly the one after that. He blamed it on the people talking claiming he couldn't hear the bell even though an icon pops up on the dashboard telling the driver someone has pressed the bell. When we got into Birtley, I was the only one that knew about the temporary bus stop and therefore had to tell everyone on the bus that this was the stop for Birtley. No one listened to me but they soon found out when he went straight past the other stop. That's old people for you. They don't listen to a word you say!
Mayhem in Birtley
When I got off the 82A, there was mayhem in Birtley. With 5 sets of traffic lights no more than 500 yards apart there was massive tailbacks. Then, the 21 came along the road and 4 of us stuck out hands out for the bus but he went straight past us shaking his head as if to say he didn't stop there although every other bus (including 2 previous 21's) had. After this, I said to the lady next to me that the X12 was due. This is where the day got worse.
X12 Birtley - Gateshead Interchange (7620) 11:20
Running slightly late, the X12 came along Durham Road into Birtley and again he was going to go straight past the temporary stop, so I resulted to picking it up so he could see it clearly. When I boarded the bus, I have never had a worse driver in all of my life. When I boarded the bus, I asked politely if my NEXUS CAT was valid and he said something along the lines of "A dunno, just get on" in a rude manor. He done all of this by the way without even looking at me or the ticket. The fact that the seats were really comfortable (compared to the Sapphire seats) and the Free WIFI was working made up for this journey a bit. Then the driver was up to his old tricks again, absolutely rocketing through Birtley, it's a good job the speed camera has been removed from near the fire station because there is no doubt that he would have been caught. In Low Fell, someone had pressed the bell for the bus to stop, but they were with a small child and on the top deck so waited for it to stop before getting downstairs. The driver though, stopped and then just decided to pull away as they were coming down the stairs. If however, this bloke wasn't driving, the journey I feel would have been much better. I have now filed an official complaint towards this driver, because as a customer, I expect to be treat the same way I treat the driver and I didn't even any form of genuine contact from him never mind a thank you.
X66 Gateshead Interchange - MetroCentre Bus Interchange (5394)
This X66 journey was much better than the X12 journey even if my hatred for them horrible e-leather seats continues. I find Go North East's e-leather seats much harder and much less comfortable than Arriva's for some strange reason. Anyway, the driver on this one was lovely, I have had him a few time and he is a rally nice bloke. Siver hair and tinted glasses if you know who I am on about. His driving is very confident, quick but safe. I got to the MetroCentre slightly earlier than expected which is always good.
10 MetroCentre Bus Interchange - Newcastle, Central Station (6078)
I seen the 10 arriving intu MetroCentre (See what I've done, little play on words there) so I made a snap decision to go to Central Station via Burger King to finally get a few photographs of Virgin Trains East Coast's newly repainted HST. When I went to board the bus, a seemingly endless flow of people disembarked from the bus meaning that I had the entire top deck to myself for the short hop. It was a very quite and relaxing journey which finally gave me time to de-stress and calm down. I arrived at Central Station bang on time which left me with just enough time to enjoy a Burger King with one of my £1.99 vouchers!
Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here
I walked around the corner to Central Station, said hello to the staff that I knew and then proceeded to walk into Burger King. As I went to ask for my Chicken Royale with Small Fries, the woman turned around and said "Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here as we are part of the train station". Brilliant! I now had to walk all the way to Northumberland Street to get my food and risk missing the branded HST. Anyway, when I finally got my food, BK was packed so I had to go upstairs and what a horrible, dull and lifeless place it is upstairs in Burger King! I was just about to eat my few remaining chips when I looked at my watch and discovered that the train was due too arrive within 10 minutes. So, I took my chips and proceeded to run all the way to central....
Central Station 12:53 - 14:16
When I got into Central, I went along to the Station Management Office to sign in, fully aware that the HST was due in within 3/4 minuets. As I went in, I seen that Malcolm was talking to two blokes from Network Rail. He said to me "Are you just taking photos Lee" too which I said yes and he quickly signed off my Visitors Pass. I got though the barriers and had to walk quickly over to Platform 4 too watch the HST arrive, luckily 2 minutes late. I got the photos I needed and then went over to talk to Dave Buchanan on the information desk. I was talking to him for a good hour and a half when I then finally decided to get the Metro to Gateshead.
Tyne and Wear Metro - Central Station to Gateshead -
Nothing really to say about this apart from that it was packed and standing room only. Good job it was only a short hop because it was boiling on that thing!
X25 Gateshead Interchange - Barley Mow (Lolyne)
Finally! A Lolyne on the X25, unfortunately I didn't record the fleet number but it was one of the un-refurbished examples which are the ones that I prefer for some strange reason. When I boarded the bus downstairs was packed but upstairs was completely empty. The engine sounded great and I love bouncing along the Eighton Banks to Foxponds stretch of road on a Lolyne. They seem to take all of the pot holes better where as the Solars just break your back with the crunching impact. The bus then almost completely emptied at Wrekenton which left just me and one other passenger on until I got off. This magnificent machine but a good shine on what had been an average day.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it
