(26 Jan 2015, 8:30 am)Malarkey My plan is fucked already, 08:13 has no showed, so im on the 27 heading to Gateshead as im busting for the loo and there no way im using the ones at Heworth.

(26 Jan 2015, 8:32 am)Dan I made that mistake once!

(25 Jan 2015, 8:45 pm)MarcTheA4 #21 - Newcastle, Eldon Square to My House - (13:45 --- 14:35) - GNE 6056 - Volvo B5HL/Wright Gemini 2
Ah, an Olympian and a newly repainted bus in one day - time to end it with a lovely long, quiet ride on the 21. We leave Newcastle with only 3 upstairs and about 10 downstairs. We get to Gateshead - 3 people get on. They make the journey unbearable. Uncivilised scruffs. I actually got an inkling, one was an enthusiast - and the other two were his carers...

I got the impression he may have had autism, and I know I've always stood by my rule of autistic people being treated the same - but now I feel different. I know that is wrong, but this...'man-child'...has changed my mind!!

They get on, and runs upstairs, a great big fat twenty odd year old, and starts looking for plug sockets on 6056. He shouts downstairs: 'MAFFEW - THEY DONT HAVE ANY PLUG SOCKETS'...the guy I can only assume is called 'Matthew', gets irritated as they go towards the back, accompanied by a young woman who looked like a scruff. Matthew gets irritated when he finds there are none upstairs, and threatens to get off. He punches the head rests in frustration, and the driver stops short of leaving thinking they were getting off. The woman convinces him to stay, and Matthew notes the fleet number as 'sixty fifty six' - this alone made me think they were enthusiasts. They start shouting about how there are no plug sockets and how they are advertised, and I can hear them through my bloody headphones. I try to relax, but that fat gorilla keeps complaining about how there are no plug sockets.

At Low Fell, the person occupying the front seats get off, and the ape runs down, spilling coke and crisps everywhere...to get them. Matthew and the woman follow him while he sits like a retarded dog...I honestly feel like chucking my lifeless body down the stairs while an Arriva X2 passes. He yells (to his friends who are less than a metre to the side of them) - 'MAFFEW - THERES A SOLAR ON THE X2, LOOK, LOOK!!!'. Matthew: 'Nah mate it's a Pulsar'. Chimp: 'Hew woz a Pulsar Maffew?'. They spend about 5 minutes explaining to him what a Pulsar is....groan...

They get to the Police Station at Chester and the autistic guy starts going on about how he doesn't like the 21 going past here because he's scared of it. Baby. ThetPulsar overtakes us, and he shouts 'MAFFEW - THERES THAT SOLAR AGAIN'...OH MY FUCKING GOD - HE HAS JUST EXPLAINED THAT IT IS A PPPPPULLLLLLSAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

I can't take it any more as we leave Chester - thankfully my stop is only 3-4 minutes towards Durham. Phew! But nonetheless, he sees the Pulsar again...'MAFFEW - LOOK THERES THE SOLAR AGAIN WHATS THE NUMBER'. Matthew: 1452. Ape: 'MAFFEW YOUR WRONG THATS A VOLVO RENOWN'. Matthew: 'Nah mate, it's a Pulsar'. Ape: 'IT USED TO BE ON THE LIME I THINK YOUR LYING'...I just lost it and bailed...

Made the journey thoroughly disgusting - if I ever see them again I'll shove that bottle of coke down his goddamn asophagus!!!

A bad end to and otherwise brilliant day...5/10.

(29 Jan 2015, 5:49 pm)MarcTheA4 Explorer on Saturday.

A few rides on the 36 followed by some runs on the Metro, and maybe some Newcastle-based stuff with Arriva and Stagecoach.

(29 Jan 2015, 5:52 pm)Tom What has happened with your ticket book?
You never seem to buy singles like you did previously. 

(29 Jan 2015, 5:54 pm)MarcTheA4 Value for money tbh.

I'll buy the odd Get Around single for a run into Chester (and back maybe) after school or on Sunday's.

In hindsight, £2.30 from Monument to the MetroCentre is pretty steep imo.

(29 Jan 2015, 5:55 pm)Tom Maybe you should get a POP card? Only 60p for a single. Anyway, it should really be 85p on the 100 as you are under 16. Seems a shame that you have spent all of the effort with your ticket book for it just to go to waste?

(29 Jan 2015, 5:57 pm)MarcTheA4 Don't think I qualify for a POP card? I think you have to be Tyne & Wear - I'm County Durham.

See my edit!

(30 Jan 2015, 6:59 pm)MarcTheA4 Might try some Stagecoach's Newcastle E400s while I'm out tomorrow. Might see an ALX300 on something familiar. Maybe a run to Regent Centre on a Sapphire or MAX then the Metro back...will hitch a few rides on the 36s tomorrow, might get something good.

(30 Jan 2015, 7:52 pm)northern156 I'm out on the buses for a change tomorrow!

Not got a definitive plan but I'll be in Eldon Square for 0830 before getting the Metro from Haymarket to Northumberland Park for a hearty all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Toby Carvery in Shiremoor. I'll then be on the X40 a few times to have a trip on the bendy Scanias before they disappear (never been on a bendy example before). I was then planning on going to Middlesbrough but I simply cannot be bothered - I'll go around Chester, Durham, Sunderland and Peterlee I think! (Including visiting the Chester Greggs, Marcus!)

(30 Jan 2015, 7:54 pm)MarcTheA4 You lad.

Have a good time, Sean!

I would suggest getting something from Sunderland to Houghton, then on the new 36 into Chester (Mercs, not OmniCities ) - or maybe just ride it all the way from Park Lane Interchange?