Arrived at Durham marketplace just after 10am on a rather delayed 1598 on the 22.
Laugh of the day: When we were stuck in a queue for Gilesgate roundabout, a couple of women discussing the day and saying "That's why there's a problem. The traffic lights aren't working at all, look."
Drama of the day: unmarked police beemer whizzing past us, after an Audi, on Silent bank.
NSA screen status: working but misaligned until Gilesgate roundabout, a which point it went into power saving mode.
Didn't have time to do all the jobs I wanted to in Durham, as we'd been so badly delayed, so contented ourselves with buying some sarnies, then walking down to the bus station for the 10:22 24, which was, of course, on the current board of 13 vehicles covering the 22/24, 1598! This time, the screen was completely off. Have never had reason to catch the 24 before. I'm amazed how those great big E400s get through Ludworth without incident, as it was tight enough in a streetlite. We got off at Whitehouse Crescent, just before 11am, as we needed to visit somewhere on the industrial estate.
Our business on the estate was shorter than expected, for reasons I won't go into and, typically, we'd missed the GNE 201 by about 4 minutes. The windchill was horrendous on whitehouse way, so we huddled into a bus shelter to scarf our sarnies as quickly as possible. Blown (quite literally) if we were sitting still and waiting another 15 minutes for the 201, we started walking back towards the main road. Saw the 201 come out from by the Caterpillar place, so raced up to the stop opposite to find it not listed there, so cut back to the stop outside MKM, Whitehouse crescent. Our 22 that was due turned out to be 8 minutes late but, thankfully, the stop was sheltered from the wind and my hands slowly returned to their normal shade of blue pink.
And we got to Peterleebus station, on a Pulsar, with 2 annoying kids with scooters at the front, clearly annoying the driver, just behind the X35 that we'd been hoping for - and just missed it! Nevermind, plan B, the X9 hadn't been yet. Caught 6044 on that, our first B9 gemini of the day. Was surprisingly quiet and got into Newcastle bang on time. By the time we got downstairs, at Eldon Square, the driver and a nexus bod were already arguing with a couple of drunks with a bag full of cans who wanted to get on. The queue behind were torn between amusement and irritation.
We spent about an hour in Newcastle. Big'un was annoyed that there were no blueberry muffins in Bainbridge (had already been miffed at the lack of pret Bars in pret and, of course, we're not allowed into M&S for their flapjack bars!) so we found alternative blueberry muffins (and red velvet cake) in Caffe Nero. Horrible sticky cutlery, too, unfortunately. My own personal entertainment was CD nerd in his 50s and his son in his 20s, firmly of the opinion that small children who are less than happy and coing should not be allowed in such places as it's "not fair on the adults" amongst other Opinions. Pity the poor woman who endes up having to divorce that t....
Moving swiftly on, picked up a few bits in Waitrose, including some flapjack bars, the hopped onto 6053 on the X1. Quite a grunty beast, though not sure it was as soothing as a citaro grunt. Rather more of an uncomfortable smoker's grunt, I think. Encountered a very recognisable passenger who we'd seen on a red kite, a few weeks ago! He slept for most of the journey! We carried on through to Houghton Church - at which point we know we've missed a Prince Bishops by a minute and spent a little while taking pics, while we waited for the next one.
This turned out to be 5421 on the 20A at 3:40-ish. Already covered with bird doings!
Nice run, jovial driver. Had to stop a lot to wait at timing points, so obvious improvement over the solars there, already. Passengers near us commented on the spelling of Granary (I wasn't paying attention at the time, so missed it) and the guy said he'd have to report it. Something rolled past us - looked like a massive e-cig - or part of a walking stick! On one of his stops, driver produced a tenner which someone had dropped. Heard an announcement on the radio about 5433 breaking down, then we passed it on the A690. I suspect those passengers were less than impressed, though Citaro mentioned it had moved on shortly afterwards, so must have been something the driver was unfamiliar with.
It was a very smooth ride with none of the gear crunching you hear on the coast and countries. It felt very much like our own local Arriva streetlites apart from the lack of rattle from the emergency exit! Noticed there's also 4 opening windows on these ones though, as Jimmi mentioned, the bells inside are in the standard GNE Streetlite configuration - all down the left hand side apart from around the front. The foremost front facing seats are also doubles, unlike on the Arriva examples.
Missed a 22 at Durham, so had time for some photos while waiting for our carriage home, which turned out to be 1518. Our journey home would have been the last time we'd catch the 22 from stand J - if it hadn't had to park nearby because J was already occupied by a 57 because H was already occupied by the 43....
So the score for the day was 2 streetlites (one twice), 2 B9 geminis and 2 Pulsars!