Peshwari Naan

Kerr in two hands writes on 16th June 2007...

I started my journey at the bus station at Exeter. Not having a car and not really wishing to pay in kidneys for a train ticket, I opted for a National Express sweatbox.

Sitting in the bus station, I was amazed at how heavily some people feel the need to pack for a 3 day camping trip. I had a backpack (a manly one I'll have you know, not like a rucksack) and a bag with my tent in it. Simple.

There were people staggering along the station with bags that you could lose a small boy in, with all manner of other bags, rammed full of fuck knows what, hanging off any available limb. One kid had a trolley. An actual fucking trolley. Thats not camping, thats moving house.

I managed to find a window seat on the bus, which really means little to me anyways, I just tend to bring my knees up to my chest and go to sleep on the bus, but it gives me something to look at if I cant get to sleep.

Unfortunately, it also means that I usually end up getting trapped into my seat by whatever genetic throwback decides to sit next to me.

Its never anyone nice is it? I mean, dont get me wrong, I'm not exactly a pleasure to sit next to, I tend to go to sleep and snore like a chainsaw, but at least I dont sit there conducting some sort of mining operation in my nose with one grubby finger like this bastard did. I'm suprised he could find anything up there after the first hour, its a wonder he didnt pull his own eyes out.

I somehow managed to doze off as the excavations moved into their second hour, and managed to wake up just as we rolled into Birmingham.

There are worse places to wake up I suppose.

Theres always France.

Now now, stop that. I'm not racist, I believe in wondorous variety in all things. Trouble is, I also believe in putting up a bit of a fight when Germany decides to invade you during a world fucking war.

Now, where was I?

Ah yes, Birmingham.

Joy unconfined.

I staggered into the waiting area of Digbeth, which was packed with hairy metallers. The local chavs, apparently finding themselves in the minority, were huddled together in a corner of the waiting room so that it looked like an ID parade gone badly wrong. I'm going to make a lousy copper, I would just arrest all of them on the spot, they're bound to have done something.

And whats this thing with tucking your trousers into your socks anyways? Are you an Edwardian nobleman? No? Then dont fucking do it, you look like a twat.

After a 40 minute wait, I got on the NX Events bus to take me to Download. Well, me and the rest of the hairy metallers. The bus smelled like a giant shoe.

Ow, I just tried to put a bulb into my light without switiching it off first. Those fuckers get hot really quickly.


suzy scott writes on 15th June 2007...

National Express Neoplan Skyliners On the night of Tuesday 2nd January into , the overnight National Express 592 (London – Dundee/Aberdeen) service was in a fatal crash, at the junction of the M4 and the M25 (see here). Subsequently, all the Neoplan Skyliner coaches ran by Parks/Trathens for National Express, were taken off the road. These coaches were a brand new batch at the end of 2006, and two still had not got on the road at the time of the smash. Subsequently, white Volvo/Jonckheere single deck coaches were used, with duplicates as necessary.

On the night of Sunday 20th May into Monday 21st May, Service 592 from London to Dundee/Aberdeen was being worked by a Volvo/ Jonckheere single deck coach of Trathens (HSK 656), with Bruce’s Bova Futura V20 NAT doing a duplicate as far as Glasgow (as had been par for the course since January). Having said that, when I got to Glasgow, we were all bus changed off, to be replaced by... Neoplan Skyliner LSK 821! When we left Glasgow, the driver did a bit more than usual, by advising us words to the effect of (and remember it was 0715 on a Monday morning...) "This coach meets all uk and international safety standards, and is fitted with a strict speed limiter, at 100kmph." This perhaps was something to do with the expose a former Parks/Trathens driver did in the Sunday Mail newspaper at the time. He then explained seatbelts, emergency exits etc. Later that day, I received a text from Bobby, who was working in Hamilton that day, and he said that the 538 northbound towards Aberdeen got changed from a single decker to a Neoplan Skyliner today at Hamilton Bus Station... Oh, and the vehicle in the smash has returned to service too – with a new registration number.

Emily Safrin writes on 13th June 2007...

So let's see, Sunday was quite 'interesting'. Got to Cambridge Park & Ride on my usual National Express... and this random guy comes on the coach and says there is a problem with the door, and it's illegal for them to continue carrying passengers with this problem.
So he told us to all get off the coach, so we did. Then he apparently called a couple of big taxis to come and take us to our destinations in groups; one to go directly to Peterborough, one to go directly to Leicester.

We all stood there after the faulty-doored coach went zooming off for 40 minutes. rofl. These taxis were only coming from Cambridge city-centre, so where were they?
I stood talking to this lady who was also waiting, she was nice and it was much better than standing there bored and in-silence.
It turns out, that either the taxi drivers misheard, or the National Express guy who called the taxis made a mistake... Either way, these two taxis were sitting in the city centre waiting for us.

Waiting for us? We were there before them. Surely if they used one ounce of common sense they would come to the realisation that we simply weren't in that location. But they didn't realise this, and they ultimately didn't call the National Express head quarters about it. Geniuses.

Well, when I found this out, I couldn't resist jesting about it. I mean come on, it is somewhat amusing that this happened. I wasn't in any particular hurry, but it would've been nice to have arrived an hour before I did.

The two taxis turned up; I got in the Peterborough one, obviously, and was sat in the back with 5 men. The 2 sitting on my side were alright, about my age... But the three opposite me looked like something out of Lock-Stock Two Smoking Barrels. I was trying not to grin too wide about this. Everyone but me fell asleep, anyway, so that was fun. Fortunately it didn't take too long to get there.
But when we got there, haha, the taxi driver didn't know where to go. So ... *squints* Considering Peterborough can pass as my second home, and I know it quite well, I just gave him directions. lmao.

The Silver Sun writes on 12th June 2007...

I've booked all my tickets/accomodation for the Torchwood fan meet up in Cardiff in August.
I had been planning to drive, but petrol wise, once I actually sat down and worked out how much my car would use I've decided to go public transport instead.

Really pleased with the deal that I got on National Express coaches, they've got this funfare deal where tickets too and from London are only a £1 or £3. Ok this does mean it'll take all day to get from Bradford to Cardiff - this is mainly because it involves going via London.
Oddly this route only takes about 45 minutes longer the direct Bradford to Cardiff coach ( how national express can call any of their routes direct I don't know) and saves me like £35/40 which is more than enough to pay for my two nights at Nomad, so I don't mind the extra travel time at all :)

I am so looking forward to this. I haven't been out anywhere much in ages.

It'll be a bit odd travelling on the coaches again, haven't done that since my uni days (that does make me sound old doesn't it?)
Wel at least I wont have as much stuff with me as the first time I went anywhere by National express - which was up to Bradford uni. Moving to uni by coach and only being able to take whatI could carry did at least meant that I didn't end up taking a load of stuff that I didn't need, did get one or two odd looks at the wok that I had tied to the outside of my backpack though.

Klarke Sample writes on 15th June 2007...

Its a bit over due but I will tell you about the amasing weekend that is formally known as the Download Festival. I went down to the festival on Thursday the 7th of June, it lasted from the 8th to the 10th and I came back on Monday the 11th.

Adam and myself bought a crate of Guiness (12 cans), 8 cans of Heineken and 4 cans of Scrumpy Jack on the journey to the festival (which took longer than it should have because the coach got lost on the way), we intended that to last the entire weekend...

...The journey back was a pain because the coach was 3 hours late which caused me to get excessively sun burnt, so the moral of the story is never take national express to Download festival. Although it was a great weekend it is nice to be back from Download, the ability to have a bath and use a real toilet was greatly missed.

Chris writes on 14th June 2007...

First day back today and what a day. Started Ok but got to Maidenhead J 8/9 and hit the a queue. After sitting stationary for about 20mins rang control and they told me there had been an accident. Seems that they told all the office people but not the drivers!! As a result of that I did not have enough driving hours to get to Victoria so had to terminate at Heathrow. The passengers I had for Victoria had to be transferred to another coach. Not too bad though as I spent a couple of hours catching up on my paperwork and watching a bit of telly.
Journey back was good, bit delayed as I had to wait for the passengers to come from Victoria.

Chris writes on 9th June 2007...

Been on the 'Frome up' all week and 0445 in the morning so off to bed in a minute. I am always amazed by passengers. The last few days I have a few that have cases obviously over the 20Kg limit. This is not only the limit given by airlines but is also the limit given by health and safety executive. This means if a driver lifts over 20Kg and is injured he will possibly not be able to claim compensation. So I always ASK the passenger to load the bags to save my back. Two passengers had the hump but started to lift them and the handles broke off!! I cannot imagine what excess baggage charge they would get.

Darwinian Evolution writes on 1st June 2007...

It was a lovely sunny day. In May, I think. I had no idea where Basingstoke was, so I asked at the terminal information desk. They told me. "So how do I get there?", I asked. They pointed me to the National Express bus desk. After some ticketing confusion, and a bit of minor scammery that allowed me to travel half price and the bus driver to buy himself a couple of pints that evening, we were off down the M3. I'd been up for over 20 hours by this stage, but everything was new and I couldn't help but gaze out the window at the roundabouts and the green fields of Hampshire. Basingstoke wasn't far away.