My Personal New Bus for London Timetable
My regular bus journey on a 38 is from the Balls Pond Road to the Angel Islington, so why shouldn’t I travel First Class as many times as I can, when I use the route.
New Buses for London are scheduled to leave Balls Pond Road at the following times after 0900.
0934
1004 1034
1104 1124 1154
1214 1244
1314 1344
1414 1434 1454
1516 1539
1602 1625 1650
1712 1735
1816
1900
And they return from the Angel.
0930 0954
1013 1033 1054
1116 1146
1216 1247
1307 1337 1357
1427 1457
1527 1557
1617 1637 1655
1718 1741
1804 1829 1851
1916 1955
2043
It will be interesting to see if this is up-to-date information, as I have to be by Piccadilly Circus this morning at 11:30, so that means catching the 10:34.
I got the information from here. Someone actually issued a Freedom of Information request to get it. It would surely have been less time consuming and expensive to stand on the corner and use the Mark One eye-balls and the back of a fag packet or what the equivalent is these days.
Meandering Through The Snow
Today, I wanted to do two things.
First, I was going to Broadway Market to track down an old friend of C’s, who I knew had a relative with a shop there.
And then I was intending to go to a restaurant called Pappagone in Stroud Green Road to have lunch with an old friend.
I intended to get to Broadway Market by taking a 236 bus direct from Newington Green, just up the road from my house. As you an see, it was snowy, but the conditions weren’t too difficult.
Newington Green In The Snow
The 236 is rather an untypical London bus, as it more like a country bus, that meanders around various communities as it goes on its way. It was full and comfortable an d got me safely to Broadway Market, although it probably took longer than normal due to the weather.
I didn’t find C’s friend, but I met a man who knew her and gave him my card before returning to the bus to take it all the way to its terminus at Finsbury Park station. but the stop was closed due to roadworks and I couldn’t get to the next one, before the 236 bus arrived. Then a 394 bus arrived going the other way and I decided it was better to take this to Angel station. I didn’t get that far, as the roads were slightly blocked and I then swapped to a 271 to take me to Highbury and Islington station, which would enable me to take one stop to Finsbury Park station. From there I intended to walk up Stroud Green Road
If it all sounds complicated, you have to remember that South Hackney is mainly densely packed buildings, with few main roads. Hence the meandering routes of the buses.
It might have been better, if the Chelsea Hackney line had been built after the Jubilee line as was originally planned. But not that much better, as there is no direct Underground connection between Angel and Highbury and Islington stations.
At Finsbury Park station my troubles weren’t over, as there was no staff about to tell me how to get out in Stroud Green Road and the sign had been obscured by a notice board. I also had the disadvantage, in that although I’ve changed trains at the station many times, I’ve never emerged above ground there. Eventually, i found my way and walked up the road to Pappagone.
Up Stroud Green Road In The Snow
The weather wasn’t too bad, but I could have taken a bus up the hill if I’d needed to.
I had some very good gluten-free pasta at the restaurant and after a couple of hours or so, we took the 210 bus to Archway, where she went home and I took the Underground.
A quick change at Angel station onto a 38 bus and I was on the last leg home.
This trip illustrates how London or in fact any other city with a decent public transport system generally copes well with snow, as you can change your plans according to circumstances.
I always remember as a child, that the buses then, didn’t perform as well as the modern ones, which have most of the weight over the driving wheels and better tyres to boot. I saw a couple of New Buses for London and they seemed to be coping well, but strangely they had more snow on the roof, despite it being more curvy than the older buses. Perhaps the roof is better insulated!
Revolutionary Technology
I took this picture of HMV at The Angel.
Revolutionary Technology
Note the banner.
Revolutionary Technology in-store now
I thought that was what they sold; records. CDs and DVDs that go round and round!
They just don’t seem to be very successful at it!
Sculpture At The Building Design Centre, Islington
This piece of large art has turned up outside the Building Design Centre in Islington.
Sculpture At The Building Design Centre, Islington
It’s certainly not as understandable as the bouncy bus.
But what is it? I’m not impressed.
Marks And Spencer Give Out Fivers
I sometimes get cash out of the machine in the side of Marks and Spencer at The Angel.
The last twice, it has given me a large number of fivers.
So that’s where they all are!
The machine was still at it on the 15th January.
Marks And Spencer Give Out Fivers
Note the warning notice!
The notes were as tatty and old as the cash machine, but no-one has rejected any so far.
A Phone For A Tenner From O2
One of my Nokia 6310i’s has packed up again. So I thought I’d buy a cheap Pay-as-you-Go phone that will take my contract sim.
Three Nokia Phones
It’s the phone on the left, with the one that failed on the right. It cost me just £10 rom the O2 shop at the Angel.
Incidentally, the one in the middle had been in the drawer for something like six months. I pulled it out, fitted the sim and it worked immediately. There was even a little bit of charge left in the battery.
As the lady in the shop said, those old phones have wonderful batteries.
An Early Morning Raid On Waitrose
This morning I needed the usual Saturday morning shopping and as I’m going to Wolverhampton later this morning to see Ipswich play, I went to Waitrose early.
Or should I say two Waitroses, as due to their stocking policy, neither stocks all of my favourite gluten-free brands. First it was a visit to the littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner.
Highbury Corner littleWaitrose
All I bought was a Genius brown loaf, as my previous one was past my view of an eat-by date. It was then on a 43 bus to the Angel.
A 43 Bus To The Angel
And a walk round the corner to one of the smallest proper Waitroses in the country.
Waitrose At The Angel
I got the rest of my shopping here.
Just One Bag And A Loaf
It was just one small bag and a loaf, when I got home.
I suppose I could go to another bigger Waitrose, but then I’d have the problem of finding things in an unfamiliar store. And the Genius brown bread, seems to only be in the littleWaitroses. and decent gluten-free sausages don’t seem to be in any shop in London.
I think the bread and sausage problem is the same. Waitrose believes it’s own brands are good. They are very very wrong!
At least today, I didn’t have to get any EatNatural cereal, as you can only get the vinefruit flavour in Sainsburys. At least it’s at the Angel next to the Waitrose.
The chuggers were also still in their beds.
Where Are The Chuggers?
Or at least they hadn’t arrived yet!
London’s Boxing Day Nightmare
I asked for luck as I set out for Charlton and more or less achieved my objective in that I got to the match without trouble. After taking my pictures at Kings Cross, I took a 205 bus towards Bow, with the intention of getting the DLR to Lewisham. I wasn’t sure of where the bus went, so I changed at Mile End to a 277 bus and picked up the DLR for Lewisham at Westferry station.
The Reliable DLR
As ever the DLR did its bit, but then it doesn’t have drivers, who have to have a party on Boxing Day.
I changed at Lewisham to a 380 bus, which meandered through Blackheath and other green parts of Greenwich to The Valley.
Meandering Through Blackheath
It must be one of the smallest buses operated in London.
A Small Bus
But I suppose, it does have the advantage, that any hooligans arrested at The Valley can be sent directly to jail.
The nightmare started after the match, which was characterised by a first half display by Charlton, that was almost as bad of that by Ipswich at Leicester.
Normally, to get to The Valley, you take a train to Charlton station next to the ground from central London. But it was Boxing Day, so the trains weren’t running. The Underground wasn’t running either as the drivers weren’t, but in getting to Charlton, it’s not much use.
So I was left to struggle home on the buses.
And struggle I did, as they were rather overcrowded to say the least.
It took me three hours to get to the Angel, as I had to change twice at Lewisham and Bank. The second change wasn’t the best, as due to the delay, I needed the toilet, so I took the first bus that came and had a pit-stop at Carluccio’s in Upper Street. At least, I got a bus home virtually immediately.
If we are going to have Sales in the shops and a full sporting program on Boxing Day, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a full bus, train and Underground service, albeit with a reduced frequency.
Roll on driver-less trains like the DLR. I know it’s not as simple as some think, but as a control engineer, I know that trains can be without drivers, provided there is a train captain, like on the DLR.
Julian Knight Hits Two Targets With One Stone
I have a trawl looking for peer-to-peer lending stories and it picked up this article in the Independent by Julian Knight.
He starts by giving an excellent review of peer-to-peer lending and the broadening of financial services in general, saying it is broader in the United States. He concludes by saying.
This, I’d argue, is one of the reasons why in the US they are more entrepreneurial and start-ups get a chance to, well, start up.
He then goes on to talk about some of my least favourite people; chuggers. This his concluding paragraph.
The town of Shrewsbury blazed a trail by banning these individuals last year and now we seem finally to be consigning chuggers to the same place as the likes of the squeegee merchants.
Incidentally, a chugger at the Angel last week, virtually chased me into the road. If there’d been a policeman about, I’d have made a complaint. On the other hand, life is too short.
I shall follow Julian in future.
Sex On The Underground
What would Mary Whitehouse have thought about these two posters at Angel station?
On the other hand, who’s to know what Mr. and Mrs. Whitehouse got up to in the privacy of their own home.
I’m a bit surprised that the web site sexytimesRus.com is using that URL. Perhaps, they are expecting to be sued, so they get a lot of free publicity.
The Anonymous Widower 