please empty your brain below
The Phoenix in the 50's and 60's was The Rex Cinema. I saw the Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a rerun here. A scary element was added in that the screen was higher than the seating that ran downhill from it. Fear was the screen would break and we would all drown as the back row was lower than the front.

BRIAN BERKE | 05.03.16 - 5:42 a.m. | #

Please don't retire the random bus feature, I really enjoy these posts and this one is no exception.
Cxx

Chris | 05.03.16 - 6:50 a.m. | #

I used to enjoy a trip on the 234 bus. But in those days it ran from Wallington to Selsdon

100andthirty | 05.03.16 - 7:38 a.m. | #

Yet another good post,DG.I'm with Chris on this,please rethink your decision to retire the random bus rides. Please? 😉😉

Jo W | 05.03.16 - 7:40 a.m. | #

Thursday: "Sorry ladies, I'll try not to lose any more of you."

Friday: Long article on trams.

Saturday: Outer suburb bus route.

This isn't a criticism. You are who you are.

eric | 05.03.16 - 7:43 a.m. | #

Please don't retire this feature, it's really enjoyable if not just for the names of 30s suburban areas no one has heard of.

Tom M | 05.03.16 - 7:50 a.m. | #

More random bus rides! Please!! As I don't live in London I very much enjoy these glimpses of London far from the tourist tracks. Do continue!

Leuconoe | 05.03.16 - 8:09 a.m. | #

For every visit to a bus route, old railway track, mansion, hidden river, etc, you have to make your way to the starting point and make your way home afterwards.

To avoid wasting time on these necessary but unworthy-of-mention parts of a day out, you must have favourite ways of getting across London as fast as possible.

So how about a 'DG's guide to getting across London'? A bit like The Knowledge for cabbies, but on public transport.

For example, for today's jaunt on the 234 did you take the H&C from Bow Road to Moorgate and the Northern to Highgate, or did you change to the Central at Mile End and to the Northern at Bank (less stations but an extra change of trains), or is there some other, more cunning, route that you favour?

RayL | 05.03.16 - 8:19 a.m. | #

I definitely second Rayl's idea. I would imagine that there are few of us who, after living in London for a while, ever follow the TfL Journey Planner to the letter, trusting instead our own knowledge of inter-connecting passageways and cross platform interchanges to shave some crucial seconds off a trip and perhaps add some interest along the way. And, like RayL, I can think of few people better placed to recount some winning strategies than DG.

I do like this series though - particularly when, last week I think, it passed within 30m of my flat!

Robert Johnson | Homepage | 05.03.16 - 8:50 a.m. | #

If you are really unlucky you might get the mega-boring 217 which largely consists of the Great Cambridge Road.

I did prefer the 234 when it was operated with double deckers and you could travel between Archway and Potters Bar - so you could see the disused station at Highgate from the top deck in the autumn, going towards Potters Bar the bus was often driven with 'enthusiasm' after Friern Barnet.

As you saw yourself - the current version has three separate traffic patterns, even during the morning rush hour towards Highgate Woods, very few passengers remain on the bus after Muswell Hill, they aren't going through to East Finchley Stn. as you might have assumed.

| 05.03.16 - 9:06 a.m. | #

This post reminds me of exactly what I thought of the film Brokeback Mountain.

B | 05.03.16 - 9:14 a.m. | #

Yay! Fortis Green!

I too vote to keep the Random Bus Route feature.

Many thanks from one of the 12%

Suse | 05.03.16 - 9:19 a.m. | #

Please don't retire this just yet.

Route 234 facts: Fortis Green was a principal inspiration for the cult (ie largely ignored at the time, but much appreciated since) late 60s album by the Kinks, "The Village Green Appreciation Society".

Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy turned British spy who was so horrifically poisoned, lived on one of those hail-and-ride backstreets the 234 traverses between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet

Dominic H | 05.03.16 - 9:42 a.m. | #

yay, a post about "my" part of London ... including my usual shopping destination of Tesco's ... this used to be giant when it first opened blank-blank years ago but nowadays it's only medium size, the car park makes it look bigger than it really is

I never knew that roundabout was classed as Highgate Wood, I'll look at it with more appreciation when I drive through there in an hour or so's time

Caz | 05.03.16 - 9:53 a.m. | #

here's a strange coincidence: where was DG yesterday?
http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/bus-photos/221-240/234_XA18-n2.jpg

Is anything really random?

This isn't really about buses, any more than "Murder on the Orient Express" is about trains. A real bus geek would have mentioned the make of bus, the operator, and what buses used to operate on the route in 1956.

For DG, the bus is merely the vehicle (sorry!) and vantage point for his commentary on life in London's suburbia.

And if there is a gender bias, I would not be surprised if, for much of the time, DG was the only man on the buses he rides.

timbo | 05.03.16 - 10:10 a.m. | #

Please keep writing these. They are my favourite blogs.

Andy V | 05.03.16 - 10:12 a.m. | #

Hear, Hear! I'm with the majority. I enjoy reading the random bus route articles so please don't stop them!

Rob | 05.03.16 - 10:13 a.m. | #

Please feel free, DG, to retire the Random Bus feature if you wish. I am sure you can find (have found, will find) other things to write about.

And commenters are not the only readers, so the impression we get from the comments that the feature is well-liked could indeed be wrong.

But I like it, and at least some more of your readers do.

I like the bullet-point presentation.

The 234 is presumably so numbered for being a "variation" of the 134.

Fortis Green was where my father bought our first family car.

Malcolm | 05.03.16 - 10:17 a.m. | #

timbo refers to co-incidences. The human brain has evolved to find patterns. If you think how many facts your brain is made aware of in 24 hours, it's not surprising that 1 in 1000 of them are the sort of co-incidences that only happen once in a thousand times.

Malcolm | 05.03.16 - 10:24 a.m. | #

20 comments by this time on a Saturday morning? You must be doing something right!

AS | 05.03.16 - 10:32 a.m. | #

Excellent series - you can never have too much of buses - thanks D G

Dave | 05.03.16 - 10:40 a.m. | #

@Malcolm
Not such much a variant, as the result of fission.

http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/_routes/current/134.html

134 originally ran Victoria - Potters Bar, later truncated at both ends and then split into two overlapping sections in 1989, with the northern half becoming 234.

timbo | 05.03.16 - 10:49 a.m. | #

I agree with Timbo, it's a fascinating glimpse into suburban life in the early 21st century, which makes this feature so valuable, not just to your readers today, but future readers as well.

It's been said before, but you really are the Samuel Pepys of our time, and these types of posts are invaluable. I hope you reconsider retiring this feature.

Cornish Cockney | 05.03.16 - 10:50 a.m. | #

DG, don't you dare stop the random bus series, they are genuinely enlightening and amusing.

Julian | 05.03.16 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Please don't retire the bus ride section I like other people would miss
It lots you great writer

Paula | 05.03.16 - 10:57 a.m. | #

Strictly it's not the "emergent Northern Line" which separates Highgate Wood from Highgate Wood Bus Terminus, it's the above-ground link to Highgate Depot (and formerly onwards to Finsbury Park).

Malcolm | 05.03.16 - 11:09 a.m. | #

It would have been part of the Northern Line if the Northern Heights project had been completed.

timbo | 05.03.16 - 11:20 a.m. | #

It's the random bit I might retire. It's not the best way to schedule an afternoon, and the destinations aren't always thrilling. But I will of course still be writing about bus journeys. Indeed I'm on one at the moment...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.03.16 - 11:31 a.m. | #

The Everyman isn't getting a spruce-up as such - the old Odeon is being transformed into the Everyman. Much more middle class - and also more expensive!

healthjourno | Homepage | 05.03.16 - 11:55 a.m. | #

If "The Ladies Who Bus" could do it...so can you. Random rules!

OnTheBus | 05.03.16 - 12:11 p.m. | #

You could always do the route via streetview to see if it looks interesting - but many of the bus routes around London are pretty dull in terms of visual excitement.

| 05.03.16 - 12:41 p.m. | #

I very much admire the Ladies who Bus for their dedication and effort. DG's bus reports are very similar to theirs in content, but he has the edge in terms of the quality and variety of writing style.

Malcolm | 05.03.16 - 1:08 p.m. | #

DG, I see your point about efficiency but I like how it could be a non descript route one day and a potential blockbuster the next. If you remove the random element then surely you will be tempted by the blockbuster every time?

Also, do you only do them on a weekend afternoon? Maybe if you have a day off work already earmarked for blogging you could do a special edition with a 6xx school route?

Al | 05.03.16 - 1:24 p.m. | #

Correction : weekend afternoon!

Al | 05.03.16 - 1:25 p.m. | #

Please keep the bus journey sagas whether random or not. I always enjoy them.

BlackCat | 05.03.16 - 1:38 p.m. | #

oh don't be so grumpy...random buses are fun! :)

Grumpy Anon | 05.03.16 - 5:08 p.m. | #

Destination blind - Depot?

Nick | 05.03.16 - 6:23 p.m. | #

Another vote to keep the random bus feature please. Having lived for several years in an area unvisited by tube trains I travelled on buses regularly and got a small thrill when you recently rode one of my regular routes. Buses go to places that trains and tubes do not and there are many gems out there.

From one of your female readers.

Clarence | 05.03.16 - 6:24 p.m. | #

As someone who is randomly trying to ride every London bus route I like your reports. You notice far, far more than I do and I've never come across anyone who comments on their fellow passengers as you do. We've all seen similar types of folks on our travels but you share your observations. As a form of social commentary on London's bus users this will be valued in the future.

Obviously it's your blog and you can do with it as you wish but I like this extra bit of variety that chimes alongside something I'm trying to do myself.

PC | 05.03.16 - 6:58 p.m. | #

NOOOOOOO please don't retire the random bus feature!! I love it. And as a rare commenter but long-time female reader, I'm not going anywhere!

| 05.03.16 - 9:41 p.m. | #

The only occasion when I've ever been refused travel by a bus driver was on the 234 - our group of friends had been drinking in the park after a short college day and in our hazed state had seen fit to bring open containers of alcohol onto the bus.. at 3pm on a schoolday. Said cans were disposed of and we sheepishly boarded in our immature intoxicated states for the trip to Muswell Hill. To be young again, etc..

Nico | 06.03.16 - 7:52 a.m. | #

Highlighting in red means nothing... the people have spoken!

E | 06.03.16 - 3:55 p.m. | #

If you're casting around for obscure London features to blog, you could do a lot worse than Coldfall Woods, which are a) ancient and b) very pleasant to wander round.

Klepsie | Homepage | 06.03.16 - 11:42 p.m. | #

Tangentially, it wasn't until the advent of iBus that I had any idea how to pronounce Friern Barnet. (My old bus home from work was the 43, and it sounded ever so exotic as a destination)

Moogal | 07.03.16 - 10:51 a.m. | #











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