Not much has been going on really since my last post

I’m desperate for a day off. I’ve been working some long hours lately and just feel shattered all the time.

Today was a special treat, as special treats go.. We got to pick our own buses instead of having one allocated. This might sound a bit sad to get so excited over, But when you have to drive these things in 5 hours blocks, Having a bus you like makes all the difference.

Saying that Today was still poo. The route is far too busy for the timing we are given, They knock off around 20 minutes from the running time compared to Mon-Sat. Plus the fact it’s been very very busy today, (and yesterday come to think of it, especially with Indian OAP’s. No idea why but their seems to have been THOUSANDS catching the bus all at once over the weekend), So i’ve been running late for my whole shift.

A contender for the highlight of the day is a conversation I had with a Pensioner this afternoon…

OAP Get’s on Bus in Harrow, Station Road and show’s me her Bus Pass.

Me: Sorry, That’s a Herts Bus Pass, You can’t use it on here.

OAP: YES I CAN!!

Me: No you can’t, Your Pass allows you to travel around Hertfordshire and on Complete journeys that begin or end in your county.

OAP: That’s right, That’s why I CAN use my pass on this Bus.

Me: No you can’t because you are in Harrow

OAP: But Harrow is in Hertfordshire!

Me: I think you’ll find it isn’t.

OAP: Well my friend told me that is was in Hertfordshire.

Me: Well I’m afraid your friend is wrong.

At this point her husband (I assume) plonks down £2 pounds and tells his wife “Sit down dear, He’s got you”.

Well I should’ve realised that if I said the 183 was like a Holiday compared to other routes then something bad would happen.

On Monday, at about 12:30 in the afternoon, When you expect to just be carrying Grannies and people out shopping, you know, Nothing exciting along come something to wake you up.

A lady comes rushing to the front of the bus to tell me to call the police as there is a fight going on upstairs. Sure enough when I look at the CCTV Screen I can see two young men punching some guy.

Pull bus over to side of the road, Call a “code red” on the radio and it flashes up “QUEUE”. That’s right I’m in a queue for CentreComm (The London Buses control Centre). I’m connected to the same channel as another bus driver who seems to be talking as slowly as he possibly can.

By the time It’s my turn and i’ve relayed all the info the two blokes have walked off down a side street and the injured guy doesn’t want to know about police or Ambulances, Even though there is blood pouring down his face. All the other passengers who are now on the side of the road can’t believe that he doesn’t want help and then start to blame me for not making him wait for treatment.

Not quite sure how I can force him to stop if he doesn’t want to. Anyway, assistance cancelled via CentreComm (After stiiting in another queue) and we go on our way, 10 minutes late.

I won’t ever say how much of a Holiday the 183 is again!!

Very tiring week this week.

I swapped shifts with another driver so ended up on the 114’s all week. This route makes the 183 seem like a holiday! The 114 seems to attract the rougher side of society, More than it’s fair share. The type of people that use this route seems to change (for the worse) from South Harrow, With a little dip around Kenton Lane. To be honest, It is mostly the kids that are the problem who seem to think the bus is a mobile yoof club… Saying that, a 183 was set fire to the other week by some young female, Obviously the older side of our fleet wasn’t to her liking.

Anyway, It wasn’t a very eventful week. I found 7 old dear Freedom Passes out of date (expiry 31st March 2006) and when informed of the fact that they would not be able to use said pass and would have to pay £2 all pulled faces I’ve never seen before.

On Wednesday we had the great “Wheelchair Ramp Roulette” game at Harrow Bus Station. This game is quite simple to play, All you need is one of our buses, and somebody in a Wheelchair. The aim of the game is to guess what type of Wheelchair Ramp you have before you start to extend it. Will it be the ‘goes out straight away, touches kerb then stops’ type? (The most boring type for this game) or will it be the ‘Innie Outie’ Type? This one goes out to the kerb then shoots back inside the bus, Hiding from everyone. (Now this is the most exciting and fun type of ramp to play this game with) Or will it be the final ‘not coming out’ type? Well this round of the game we got to play with the Innie Outie type. Much fun was had by all for a good 5 minutes while I tried to get the ramp to stay out which it eventually did on my 8th attempt. You can tell how boring Wednesday was by the fact that this was indeed the Highlight of the day!

I heard through the grapevine that one of our buses had been in an accident on Saturday evening. Looks like the driver tried to take it through a 6ft6 width restriction in Edgware… Problem being bus is over 9ft wide… End Result Below (oops!)…

Today has been very busy with there being no Met line to Pinner from Harrow and also Temp Traffic Lights at Roe Green, Kinsgbury and the Junction of Kingsbury Road and Edgware Road in Hendon. Most buses were running 25-30 minutes late by mid afternoon and from about 14:30 onwards the Garage started to “Turn” buses at various places to try and get everybody back on time. So if you were waiting ages for a 183, Or you caught one and it ended at Harrow instead of Pinner today, Now you know why!