All about me and driving a bus for MK Metro/ARRIVA Milton Keynes

Sometimes do you just feel like your life goes round in circles, with nothing noteworthy happening. Just the same routine day in day out?? That’s how it’s felt for a couple of months for me, which I’m using as an excuse for the lack of blog updates.

So what has been going on?? Bugger all !!!

I am still taking my Psoriasis tablets, Acitretin. It’s been a good 18 months now that I’ve been on them, and they are still sort of working, not as well as when I first started them but they are just about holding it back. I still have the occasional incident where there’s red patches on me arms that embarass me a bit, But it’s not too bad….. I’ve even got to wear shorts this summer!! This might not sound like a big deal, But it’s been 15 years since my legs have been clear enough for me to have the courage to wear them outside, This little fact is a really big thing for me, probably the best thing that’s happened from this medication.

The downside though is the side effects which have really started to come into force of late, The worst ones at the moment are the shoulder pain and mood swings. I feel like whenever someone asks me whats wrong and I just say “it’s my tablets” it’s like I’m using it as an excuse for everything that goes wrong with me and they are like “yeah whatever” and roll their eyes, but it really is the tablets! I feel like I moan on and on about my medication, and I guess I do, but it really really has given me alot more confidence to do stuff.

Work was fun on Thursday, To start with I had a bus where the Destination blind was stuck on “A – PRIVATE-SHUTTLE” when I was actually on route 8.

This meant stopping at every stop and shouting “EIGHT!!” at people LOL. No wonder people put their hands out at buses when they have Not In Service or Shuttle on the front!

and then for the second half of my shift the Bus decided to break down right by a junction with lots of people moaning and buses struggling to get past… What a fun fun day that was LOL.

and now today, the bad news, My car’s broke

Turbo went “pop” and now it’s sat at the dealers… The problem being that the Warranty runs out on Wednesday!! Hoping they don’t try to weasel out of doing anything :-/

the most exciting thing of late was being on the Telly at Big Brother! Woo!!!

This is ‘Banking Clara’, She is the other half of Professional Matt…..

That’s me, Banking Clara and Professional Matt with the “Where’s the Shuttle?” banner

Well that’s all I can think about putting here for now, see you in 6 months! LOL

Hmmmm I’m not convinced the woman doing the weather on Look East this afternoon got it quite right when she said it wouldn’t snow here till tomorrow….

…. Still only 2 hours of this shift left

Merry Christmas to everyone!

….I need your help!!

I need people that are local to MK to let me know of ANY building projects going on within the Town that you know of please, For a new website I’m working on.

It can be anything from a new block of flats to the remodelling of a roundabout, I just need to know what it is and where.

You can either leave your replies as a comment to this post or email me directly.

Thanks everyone!!

Ooooo, Wasnt it hot today!! Managed to get upto 109F in my cab this afternoon. Seems the heat was getting to the people of MK too as everyone seemed to be crabby, Including myself. Ive been in a bit of a meh kind of mood the past couple of days, Who knows why… Maybe its the skin tablets.. or just being generally fed up with work, I suppose only time will tell. Im sure to snap out of it eventually. Hopefully it will rain! That will cheer me up!! LOL (I love driving in the rain).

Nothing bus related to report at the moment, Apparantly one of our yellow darts is being repainted into Arriva Inter-urban livery.. The first bus to have this done to it, Ill keep you posted.

Yes, Can you believe it! A blog posting not about buses!!

So whats been happening?

Incredibly Little I have to say, (Yes I really am that boring!)

I have been taking some new (to me) tablets for my Psoriasis, I think I blogged about them before, Acitretin. I started out 50mg a day, and after a couple of months Ive gone from 85% skin coverage to under 10%

[One of my arms looking almost clear]

Some of the side effects of this drug have been pretty poo. Ive had rather ban skin peeling on the palms of my hands and feet, My feet being really bad to the point where when taking my socks off a whole layer of skin would be attached…. Going to work and walking on feet with chunks of skin missing is rather painful and far from pleasant! Ive also suffered with being unable to sleep, permanently dry/cracked lips, Headaches and rather strange moods. Yes even stranger than normal!! At some points in the past couple of months its turned me into a happy bus driver, and I remember one morning trying to get the old dears to sing along to a song as we went down the road… Sadly I cant remember which song now, But a couple of them did join in. LOL

Been back to the hospital Saturday just gone and it looks like the weekly blood tests have shown that this drug is starting to effect my liver like all the rest, But luckily no where near as bad as when I was using Methotrexate, So its been decided that I can carry on with the treatment but on a slightly lower dose of 40mg a day. Hopefully that will reduce the side effects but stop the Psoriasis from coming back. Unfortunately you can only take this drug for a maximum of six months in a row, which will mean my time will be up when I go back to the hospital in November. Who knows what Ill be using then!

IVA wise everything seems to be going smoothly, Have just heard from the IVA company this week that its time for my yearly Income & expenditure review and thats the first time Ive heard from them since last years review. Well shortly be into year 4! Hard to believe it really, 5 years seemed an awfully long time when I started it in 2006… Ive managed to keep to my payments, Infact Im actually paying in £340 a month instead of my required £275. I do expect the minimum payment to go up this year as Ive had two pay rises, But Hopefully not by too much!

Going back to the current drug Im using for my Psoriasis, One other side effect is it can increase your cholesterol levels to dangerous levels, Which happened within about 3 weeks of starting it. Now my cholesterol level was far from wonderful to start with, 7.1 but it went upto a very nasty 10.8!! So I started a diet, That was at the end of March and so far Ive lost just under 6 stone (admittedly with the help of Orlistat) and my cholesterol level, Although not wonderful, is down to 5.9, Which I was told by my doctor is the average for this country. It also means I no longer have to take the Statin things with these tablets. (Which is good because Im not a very good pill taker). The only down side?! Well theres two, The first is if you have a lapse and have something high in fat then the Orlistat punishes you with, lets just say, very frequent visits to the toilet LOL. The second is having to keep buying smaller clothes! LOL and trying to get uniform at work is a struggle at the best of times, But when you keep changing sizes they aint best pleased!! hehehe. Ive changed my diet slightly to fit in with work as it suits me quite well as I like eating what I have, Which is a foot long Salad subway for lunch and a bowl of cereal for dinner, and my two treats are two packets of low fat crisps a week, and getting to eat whatever I fancy on a Sunday… Like I say it seems to work for me.

Im trying to think what else has happened….. Oh yes, I got myself a new car. Ive turned in to an (old) boy racer LOL, A Skoda Fabia VRS…

I have professional Matt to thank for this, Not only for having one and letting me have a go, which in turn made me want one, But for coming with me to buy one as I know nothing about cars….. So um.. Thanks!

Well I think that will do for a non bus update dont you think?

Oh and heres a youtube video thats doing the rounds at the moment, It made me smile

You can now follow me on twitter if you so wish, Most of my blog posts start out as a twitter at the moment.

You can find me at http://twitter.com/AllAboard

– Mobile blog from iPhone

Well last Friday fifth birthday of my blog, Who would’ve thought I’d keep to actually doing this for five years! LOL

So what’s happened in that time?

I’ve worked at Arriva, MK Metro, Parcelforce, Arriva, Centrebus, Transdev/London Sovereign, Arriva, MK Metro….

(No one is allowed to comment on my Work History ROFL)

I’m into year 3 of my IVA, and am much better off because of it…..

In the five years I’ve not found one bank account that does everything I want it to do. (Lynne/Dreamy River just loves the ongoing banking saga)….

I’ve worked for myself and sold the business on….

I wrote my first Ford Focus off on a concrete block….

I started a “MobLog“….

I’ve blogged about the Weather SIX times (!!)….

I have never won the ARRIVA Employee Photo Competition LOL….

My Psoriasis, in the grand scheme of things neither gets better or worse….

My Liver has gone from 100% to apparently 12% damaged and unrecoverable, back to 100% fit again :-S….

I’ve spent more time Driving the MK Bus Route 200 then any other….

I’ve changed mobile numbers god knows how many times….

I’ve made more friends through my blog than I ever thought possible!….

And I think the question I’ve been asked the most is “Where does the Bus to Luton go from?!”

I doubt anyone that reads this actually goes into this shop, But on Friday I was charged a price more than the Shelf label, When complaining I was just told “That’s what’s on the Till”.. The forth or fifth time this has happened now! I thought there was some law that stated they had to charge what the display price on the shelf was?!

Anyway, Don’t buy from this shop!!!

Well as you know me and CowFacedRatBag from this blog have been out n about in Milton Keynes today, Faffing about with cameras, Mooching about and taking the piss out of people

If you wanna see some of the results of today then click the link below!

picasaweb.google.co.uk/AllAboardBlog/MKVisit210209#