please empty your brain below
Bank junction is currently open for traffic from Queen Victoria Street due to the long-term closure of Cannon Street.

Robbob | 02.08.18 - 8:03 a.m. | #

I was strategising and thinking, if DG mentioned 149/133/60 wouldn't take him into Surrey proper, nor would combinations of anything heading south from Waterloo, but then, if it's the penultimate stop... 77 and 280?

Matt | 02.08.18 - 8:37 a.m. | #

I missed the cooler weather thanks to a long weekend in Milan. The metro, trams of all ages and buses there are comfortable in hot weather.

Sprout Eater | 02.08.18 - 8:43 a.m. | #

A joy to read, as ever.

Sarah | 02.08.18 - 9:10 a.m. | #

A joy to read indeed.

I'm reminded of Patrick Wright's most excellent book "A Journey through Ruins" set mostly in and around early 90's Dalston Lane.

I lived briefly in Tottenham at the time, there were certainly no new pubs opening.

Lorenzo | 02.08.18 - 9:27 a.m. | #

Plenty of people are being fined at Bank junction. The Standard ran a piece the other day.....

"Motorists have paid £10 million in fines for flouting a safety ban at a notorious junction. The £130 tickets are being issued at an average of one a minute to motorists breaching weekday restrictions at Bank junction."

ap | 02.08.18 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Top deck, front seat - but which side?

Joho | 02.08.18 - 10:35 a.m. | #

I aim for front left, because that way you can see what's going on at the bus stops.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.08.18 - 10:43 a.m. | #

Intrieged to imagine what could possibly be available as Polish & Mexican products.

kev | 02.08.18 - 10:45 a.m. | #

So far, it seems your journey is a lot slower than in 2012, when none of the four main legs was slower than 9 mph and the average was 10.3. The first two legs of this trip have barely managed 7mph. (Or to put it another way, in 2012, after 130 minutes you'd covered 23 miles, this time only 15.5).

I don't know if there is some factor like the day of the week affecting this, or if there is something that makes east-west routes consistently faster than north-south, or have buses really got 34% slower in six and a half years?

timbo again | Homepage | 02.08.18 - 10:45 a.m. | #

These journey descriptions, along with photos, would be great in book form although i suppose they'd date pretty quickly. No matter, i'd still buy them. They cheer me up no end in my Homesickness.

milo | 02.08.18 - 11:03 a.m. | #

@timbo again

I suspect this is simple coincidence - in my experience, the 279 routing from Waltham Cross to Tottenham isn't particularly fast and the 76 from Tottenham to the City and onwards to Waterloo is a downright slow route. On the other hand, the 96 from Dartford into town is generally quite speedy and the 53's runs through Blackheath and up the Old Kent Road are also fairly quick.

Some of it will be down to slower traffic speeds, but I think this is likely a secondary factor.

the orange one | 02.08.18 - 11:17 a.m. | #

@timbo again

Also that east/west journey included the 607, which is an actual express route.

charl13 | 02.08.18 - 11:23 a.m. | #

"You will never live here unless you do already"

A bleak thought. But true.

David | 02.08.18 - 11:41 a.m. | #

A bleak thought, which, if taken literally, points to a declining population.

But I read it as saying that the kind of people who one day might move in to that area are probably not reading this blog.

Malcolm | 02.08.18 - 11:59 a.m. | #

@David/Malcolm

Not necessarily a declining population. But it does imply people can't afford to live in the area unless they were born there and, in due course, inherit the house.

timbo again again | Homepage | 02.08.18 - 3:33 p.m. | #

I just love your satire on the tour buses. I am proud to have *never* been on one during my two trips in England. Bath and Cambridge require virtually no bus trips, while London, Brighton and IoW are so well served that ordinary buses get me to more interesting places.

Patrickov | 02.08.18 - 4:46 p.m. | #

I've done "hop on/hop off" bus tours in other countries and indeed other cities in the UK. There is something to be said for (a) a running commentary in your own language (where different to the locals) and (b) a bus going past most of the major sites and sights without having to work out which combination of tickets to buy or where to change.

Even if it might cost more than a few individual tickets, you are paying for convenience and ability not to worry. Some may prefer the challenge of working out for themselves.

I recall the yellow buses in Rome (run by the Vatican, I think) being particularly good value as they didn't charge for children under 10, when we had several in tow. And a canvas sunshade on the otherwise open topped bus.

Andrew | 02.08.18 - 7:42 p.m. | #

This post brings back memories of weekend visits to my uncles in Walthamstow in the mid to late 1940s. From our home in the outer fringes of south-west London we caught the train to Waterloo and then had a long bus ride (I think it was a 76) across London, enjoying the varied scene from the top deck. Bomb sites were a common feature at that time, just part of the landscape.

Great Aunt Annie | 03.08.18 - 7:40 a.m. | #

Destination Belmont? Mind you if you managed to go via West Croydon you could be in Redhill by now!

Drew | Homepage | 03.08.18 - 8:30 a.m. | #

Unless taking the X68 (which wasn't running for several more hours), it's not possible to reach West Croydon in three buses.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.08.18 - 8:33 a.m. | #

This post reminds me I must travel to more of London SOUTH of the river the next time I visit.

YDU | 03.08.18 - 1:35 p.m. | #

@Andrew: Point 1 is another reason why I avoid tour buses. They talk in Mandarin / Putonghua, not Cantonese, which is my REAL mother tongue.

Patrickov | 05.08.18 - 3:14 p.m. | #

"flouting its wares" should of course read "flaunting its wares". A common error.

dg writes: I like to make it at least once a year.

Paul Temperton | 09.08.18 - 2:27 p.m. | #











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