Sunday, 17 October 2010
Saturday, 16 October 2010
.....Wheelchair ramps...
Ok so the whole idea of hopping on the bus is for convenience, speed and simplicity right?
Well perhaps for the average user, but soon comes the time when part of your journey shall encounter a wheelchair user.
Firstly I would like to comment on passengers use of the bell to alert drivers when they would like to get off. For any normal person this bell is pressed once, once this is pressed and followed by the *ding* we all now know that the bus WILL be stopping at the next stop. This therefore saves someone else in having to press the button too as the first person has already done this for them . Why then passengers of the No12 bus then feel the urge to double check this will happen by pressing it again, and then to triple check by further pressing the bell I do not know. However this is also not enough for the No12'ers, no! Just to be extra sure the bell will continue to *ding* until that passenger is off the bus.
The first time I had ever witnessed a ramp being used for a wheelchair on the No12 was only last week.
As the bus was approaching Westminster Bridge, the alarm was sounded. The alarm is the same as a normal *ding* of the bell however it is the *ding* on steroids: *dingdidididdingdidididding*. At first I was a little annoyed that we seemed to have one of those passengers again that took it upon themselves to be the person responsible for making sure the bus DID stop at the next stop, but I was also rather impressed by their finger speed! However I later found out there was no skill involved as this bell was the distinction between a 'step' departure and a 'ramp' departure.
The bus stopped at the next stop, however no ramp had ejected.
'hullllllllow?!' a small voiced sounded between the herds of people.
As the wheel chair user was not visible to the driver, the driver had assumed that someone had pressed this button by mistake, or out of pure stupidity, as most people aboard this bus took this button as their own easy reach button instead of actually standing up on and sounding the generic button.
After one passenger informed the driver that the ramp needed to be lowered, we were then conducted into the longest bus stop I have ever witnessed.
First of all the bus makes a slight jerk to the right, a few people stumble and grunt angrily to the person next to them who accidentally nudged their shoulders. A few kisses of teeth are heard and a flap of a newspaper to regain focus on the article that was being read before the disturbance.
Next an annoying alarm is sounded, this of course grabs everybody's attention, and we all stare towards to door in action. This alarm sounds for a good 6 seconds before anything actually happens, possibly as a warning to all aboard or most probably just for pure annoyance!
Finally the tip of the ramp appears, and slowly is creeps towards the curb......everybody starts to raise their heads to watch the ramp end approaching the curb, praying that the bus will achieve this in the first attempt and that the driver has calculated this correctly as we have all seen what happens if this is not performed with precision. The buses ramp will start to wave up and down hysterically as it can not find the curb it is meant to latch onto, the alarm goes into overload and the bus then has to reverse and re-align itself with the curb.
Luckily this bus was at the right distance from the curb and 15 seconds later the ramp is attached to the curb and the alarm has stopped. However during this time the situation has been resolved and the ramp is no longer needed......
now I swear to you all that this actually happened.......
within the first 10 seconds a very large man standing at the door with the ejecting ramp had grown very impatient and had taken it upon himself to speed this process up. In one short moment in which he made his decision, the man grabbed both sides of the wheelchair and lifted the passenger off of the bus onto the street and got strait back onto the bus. Without a single comment we all looked at the wheelchair and its occupant on the street and watched them staring back at us in a confused state. During this time the ramp was still making its way to the curb, as this operation can never be over-ridden.
I did not know what to say, I had never seen impatience grow to this degree before nor had I heard the crowds of the No12 bus so quite and without something to say!
When the driver had realised that the ramp was no longer needed with one flick of a switch the ramp flipped strait back under the bus as quick as you could say wheelchair!
Two questions I am sure we all wanted to ask was:
1. 'why on earth is took 10 times as long to eject and attach to the curb, than it had to come back in?'
and
2. What had this impatient large man been eating in order to acquire the strength to do what he had just done? and had this act of impatience been perhaps instead an over eager urge to be friendly?
We obviously all would have though this, however right now our attention was not on this but still watching the wheelchair on the street, still stationary with the passenger still staring at it's human ramp stood in the doorway.
The bus departed accompanied by the *ding* *ding* *ding* for the next stop.
Well perhaps for the average user, but soon comes the time when part of your journey shall encounter a wheelchair user.
Firstly I would like to comment on passengers use of the bell to alert drivers when they would like to get off. For any normal person this bell is pressed once, once this is pressed and followed by the *ding* we all now know that the bus WILL be stopping at the next stop. This therefore saves someone else in having to press the button too as the first person has already done this for them . Why then passengers of the No12 bus then feel the urge to double check this will happen by pressing it again, and then to triple check by further pressing the bell I do not know. However this is also not enough for the No12'ers, no! Just to be extra sure the bell will continue to *ding* until that passenger is off the bus.
The first time I had ever witnessed a ramp being used for a wheelchair on the No12 was only last week.
As the bus was approaching Westminster Bridge, the alarm was sounded. The alarm is the same as a normal *ding* of the bell however it is the *ding* on steroids: *dingdidididdingdidididding*. At first I was a little annoyed that we seemed to have one of those passengers again that took it upon themselves to be the person responsible for making sure the bus DID stop at the next stop, but I was also rather impressed by their finger speed! However I later found out there was no skill involved as this bell was the distinction between a 'step' departure and a 'ramp' departure.
The bus stopped at the next stop, however no ramp had ejected.
'hullllllllow?!' a small voiced sounded between the herds of people.
As the wheel chair user was not visible to the driver, the driver had assumed that someone had pressed this button by mistake, or out of pure stupidity, as most people aboard this bus took this button as their own easy reach button instead of actually standing up on and sounding the generic button.
After one passenger informed the driver that the ramp needed to be lowered, we were then conducted into the longest bus stop I have ever witnessed.
First of all the bus makes a slight jerk to the right, a few people stumble and grunt angrily to the person next to them who accidentally nudged their shoulders. A few kisses of teeth are heard and a flap of a newspaper to regain focus on the article that was being read before the disturbance.
Next an annoying alarm is sounded, this of course grabs everybody's attention, and we all stare towards to door in action. This alarm sounds for a good 6 seconds before anything actually happens, possibly as a warning to all aboard or most probably just for pure annoyance!
Finally the tip of the ramp appears, and slowly is creeps towards the curb......everybody starts to raise their heads to watch the ramp end approaching the curb, praying that the bus will achieve this in the first attempt and that the driver has calculated this correctly as we have all seen what happens if this is not performed with precision. The buses ramp will start to wave up and down hysterically as it can not find the curb it is meant to latch onto, the alarm goes into overload and the bus then has to reverse and re-align itself with the curb.
Luckily this bus was at the right distance from the curb and 15 seconds later the ramp is attached to the curb and the alarm has stopped. However during this time the situation has been resolved and the ramp is no longer needed......
now I swear to you all that this actually happened.......
within the first 10 seconds a very large man standing at the door with the ejecting ramp had grown very impatient and had taken it upon himself to speed this process up. In one short moment in which he made his decision, the man grabbed both sides of the wheelchair and lifted the passenger off of the bus onto the street and got strait back onto the bus. Without a single comment we all looked at the wheelchair and its occupant on the street and watched them staring back at us in a confused state. During this time the ramp was still making its way to the curb, as this operation can never be over-ridden.
I did not know what to say, I had never seen impatience grow to this degree before nor had I heard the crowds of the No12 bus so quite and without something to say!
When the driver had realised that the ramp was no longer needed with one flick of a switch the ramp flipped strait back under the bus as quick as you could say wheelchair!
Two questions I am sure we all wanted to ask was:
1. 'why on earth is took 10 times as long to eject and attach to the curb, than it had to come back in?'
and
2. What had this impatient large man been eating in order to acquire the strength to do what he had just done? and had this act of impatience been perhaps instead an over eager urge to be friendly?
We obviously all would have though this, however right now our attention was not on this but still watching the wheelchair on the street, still stationary with the passenger still staring at it's human ramp stood in the doorway.
The bus departed accompanied by the *ding* *ding* *ding* for the next stop.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Emergency Stoppers!
As we all know on buses the driver has control of when and where the bus doors open. Unless of course you are aboard the No12 bus. Of course the driver has 80% of the control but when a No12 passenger wants to get off, they want to get off.
If you are in traffic, they do not wait;
If you are moving, they have no fear;
If they want to get on the bus behind instead, they change bus right there and then;
If they want a laugh, lets have one!!
Above each of the 3 doors of the No12 there is the 'Emergency Button' in order to open these doors in cases of 'Emergency'. However on the No12 these buttons serve as the passengers own personal door openening use when and where they like. In fact I can't remember the last journey when this button had not at least been attempted a good old 'twist and pull'.
Most of the time when this has been done, the driver, on cue, hops out of his compartment and staggers up the bus to the open door muttering to himself, but not once looking anybody in the eye. This is normally the only time anyone every sees the driver as no one enters from the front doors. For me the 'Emergency Stoppers' are the people who confirm to us that we even have a driver and set our minds at rest....
'oh, yep, there he is, its OK people ,we have a driver!'
Sometimes when these 'Emergency' stops happen I watch peoples reaction to the driver who starts to hobble up the bus. There blank expressions staring at him...
'who is this man?? I did not see him get on...'
The only 2 times I have ever seen the driver actually comment on these times are as follows:
1. It was the final of the world cup, Spain had just won. We caught the bus from Haymarket and we only travelled 4 seconds down the road when the bus then stopped. All the Spanish people (in the whole World it seemed) had taken their party from the Sports Bar to the street. Some had even taken it upon themselves to climb on top of the 2 other buses that had stopped, therefore now unable to move at all. After waiting here for 10 minutes, some people at the back of the bus decided that they would not wait any longer on this bus and decided to get off. They pulled and twisted the 'Emergency' stop button and got off the bus. Out of character the 'Emergency Stopper', before leaving the scene had decided to try and re-close the doors, however being unsuccessful they fled the scene.
Out pops the driver and charges up the bus in a rage. Turning to us he starts to shout,
'DONT OPEN DIS DOOR YE!? IT IS FOR EMERGENCIES UNLY! WHAT DON'T YU UNDERSTAND YE? YU WAIT FOR DE NEXT STOP!'
We looked at each other confused, surely if we had opened the doors, we would be on the other side?! Instead of answering the driver back we looked at each other stunned, as this was the first time we had ever seen/heard a bus driver speak.
2. Now seeing as most 'Emergency Stoppers' were on the other side of the doors after they were opened, when this one wasn't he soon was after!
I had just finished work, and I went to the bus stop, luckily it is the first stop on the journey in this direction so I am always able to get a seat.
Only about 6 or us boarded, so the doors were able to close almost immediately after they opened. The bus shuffled forward only a few centimeters, and then was stopped by a taxi and the fact that the lights were red. As we sat and waited, a woman stood up and looked behind, the original bus that she wanted was obviously now behind and she wanted to get off and change to that one instead. She stood at the doors pressing the bell one after the other continuously for a few seconds. Seeing that the driver was obviously not going to re-open the doors as we were now 3 seconds away from the bus stop, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She moved to the far door and started to fiddle around with 'Emergency' button. After a few attempts of being unsuccessful, a young man that had been watching her stood up, and with one twist, the door was open and she made her way out, with no utter of a Thank You of course. The young man tried his best then to close the door, but was unable to so he sat back down. The traffic around us began to move, but the only thing on our bus moving was the driver, towards the back of the bus. As the driver approached he held his finger up to the young man,
'oit, you! off! naaaaaaw!'
'pardon?' said the young man..
'you 'eard me mayte! off naaaaaw!'
With out a word the young man stood up, sulking, and hopped of the bus, just like that.
The driver fixed the door, and walked back to his compartment and we were on our way.
The next time the 'Emergency' door was opened was in fact for an 'Emergency' however, this time everybody seemed to ask the driver first to open the door!
The rules of the No12 passengers really do bemuse me!!
If you are in traffic, they do not wait;
If you are moving, they have no fear;
If they want to get on the bus behind instead, they change bus right there and then;
If they want a laugh, lets have one!!
Above each of the 3 doors of the No12 there is the 'Emergency Button' in order to open these doors in cases of 'Emergency'. However on the No12 these buttons serve as the passengers own personal door openening use when and where they like. In fact I can't remember the last journey when this button had not at least been attempted a good old 'twist and pull'.
Most of the time when this has been done, the driver, on cue, hops out of his compartment and staggers up the bus to the open door muttering to himself, but not once looking anybody in the eye. This is normally the only time anyone every sees the driver as no one enters from the front doors. For me the 'Emergency Stoppers' are the people who confirm to us that we even have a driver and set our minds at rest....
'oh, yep, there he is, its OK people ,we have a driver!'
Sometimes when these 'Emergency' stops happen I watch peoples reaction to the driver who starts to hobble up the bus. There blank expressions staring at him...
'who is this man?? I did not see him get on...'
The only 2 times I have ever seen the driver actually comment on these times are as follows:
1. It was the final of the world cup, Spain had just won. We caught the bus from Haymarket and we only travelled 4 seconds down the road when the bus then stopped. All the Spanish people (in the whole World it seemed) had taken their party from the Sports Bar to the street. Some had even taken it upon themselves to climb on top of the 2 other buses that had stopped, therefore now unable to move at all. After waiting here for 10 minutes, some people at the back of the bus decided that they would not wait any longer on this bus and decided to get off. They pulled and twisted the 'Emergency' stop button and got off the bus. Out of character the 'Emergency Stopper', before leaving the scene had decided to try and re-close the doors, however being unsuccessful they fled the scene.
Out pops the driver and charges up the bus in a rage. Turning to us he starts to shout,
'DONT OPEN DIS DOOR YE!? IT IS FOR EMERGENCIES UNLY! WHAT DON'T YU UNDERSTAND YE? YU WAIT FOR DE NEXT STOP!'
We looked at each other confused, surely if we had opened the doors, we would be on the other side?! Instead of answering the driver back we looked at each other stunned, as this was the first time we had ever seen/heard a bus driver speak.
2. Now seeing as most 'Emergency Stoppers' were on the other side of the doors after they were opened, when this one wasn't he soon was after!
I had just finished work, and I went to the bus stop, luckily it is the first stop on the journey in this direction so I am always able to get a seat.
Only about 6 or us boarded, so the doors were able to close almost immediately after they opened. The bus shuffled forward only a few centimeters, and then was stopped by a taxi and the fact that the lights were red. As we sat and waited, a woman stood up and looked behind, the original bus that she wanted was obviously now behind and she wanted to get off and change to that one instead. She stood at the doors pressing the bell one after the other continuously for a few seconds. Seeing that the driver was obviously not going to re-open the doors as we were now 3 seconds away from the bus stop, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She moved to the far door and started to fiddle around with 'Emergency' button. After a few attempts of being unsuccessful, a young man that had been watching her stood up, and with one twist, the door was open and she made her way out, with no utter of a Thank You of course. The young man tried his best then to close the door, but was unable to so he sat back down. The traffic around us began to move, but the only thing on our bus moving was the driver, towards the back of the bus. As the driver approached he held his finger up to the young man,
'oit, you! off! naaaaaaw!'
'pardon?' said the young man..
'you 'eard me mayte! off naaaaaw!'
With out a word the young man stood up, sulking, and hopped of the bus, just like that.
The driver fixed the door, and walked back to his compartment and we were on our way.
The next time the 'Emergency' door was opened was in fact for an 'Emergency' however, this time everybody seemed to ask the driver first to open the door!
The rules of the No12 passengers really do bemuse me!!
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Buggy Wars Part 2
My next buggy story is about the difference between female pushers and male pushers.
Where the females are more aggressive with their buggies: 'make way for me' 'let me off the bus' 'let me on the bus' 'you can't come on the bus', the males appear much more relaxed 'hey take your time' 'I will take my time' 'look at me, man with a baby' 'hey look I pay for my baby's life'.
Both male and female when boarding this bus with their push-chairs are needing to go somewhere...
...Female's somewhere is: East Street, Morrisons, Elephant & Castle or St Thomas Hospital...
...Male's somewhere is: somewhere with the Laydaiiiesss....*wink*
It was about a month ago, I was sitting in my usual seat - the ones facing in the opposite direction that the bus is travelling in - and reading my book. The bus had seemed to stop to let someone on for a long time so I glanced up to the rear entrance of the bus. Slowly the front wheels of a buggy lifted up onto the bus and gradually made its way on. An adorable mixed race small boy was the passenger and a few people turned to smile at him, nudging each other. Then the driver of the buggy appeared, sauntering on to the bus with that all too familiar 'limp', jeans beneath his bum, a tight white vest and a cool grin on his face.
Glancing around the bus as he got on smiling at all the ladies, he parked his buggy into the bay and limped to the nearest seat, which happened to be behind his buggy.
He has sat next to a young attractive lady who was talking to her friend on her phone. He could not stop looking at her, and from looking at her he would glance towards his baby. When the young woman ended her call strait away he shot her a sideways grin and mad a comment to her. She seemed to reply with a polite grin in the direction of the buggy so I could only guess that he was announcing that the child was his, for what reason I did not know. Failing to impress the lady, she disembarked at the next stop.
Spread across the 2 seats he continued to grin to the passengers of the bus whilst his son was waving his hands to the wall opposite him. The guy had seen me looking at his son smiling, so he decided to shoot his grins in my direction. Realising that I was obviously encouraging him I returned to reading my book.
Getting no attention from the seat he was sitting in, he decided to move to the seat next to his son and play with him. This seat now also happened to be opposite 2 attractive females who had been previously watching his son but where now in their own conversation.
Whilst appearing to play with his son (using his hands to play with him but never looking at him yet the bus around him), but obviously unsatisfied with the lack of attention him and his son were getting he began to move his head from side to side desperately trying to get into the eye sight of the girls opposite. I had never seen someone act so obviously. Finally succeeding and getting the girls attention, which admittedly was extremely hard for the girl not to notice him, he started to lick his lips and pout at them. Slightly shocked one of the girl tried to ignore what she had just seen and tried to focus solely on her friend who was deep in conversation.
Realising that he had slightly lost the girls focus he stared to point at his baby and then to her, appearing to ask a question, I lowered my book and focused on the situation in front of me. This time the girl could not ignore him
'erm sorry what?' she asked politely
'wud you like one?' he asked casually yet excited in his communication with her
'erm, maybe one day...' she replied with a very confused look on her face and probably not impressed with the inappropriate question he had just asked her
'yeeee? (chuckles) how you doin gurl? whats yur name?', and there it was, I couldn't believe it, he had used his baby as a conversation starter (if you could call it that) with the girl on the bus.
This time the girl went back to ignoring him and back to the conversation with her friend, who had not seemed to stop talking throughout this time.
This did not seem to faze the 'smooth' guy as he was now producing his phone from his pocket and motion it towards the girl, I presume to ask for her number.
This time the girl was having none of it and ignored the guy as much as she could with a worried smile on her face to her friend. The guy seemed to persist with his phone, so with that the girls jumped off at the next stop.
Without looking around the bus, he put the phone back in his pocket and continued to grin around the bus whilst playing with his son, still with out eye contact.
At East Street the guy pushed the button and limped off the bus, slowly departing from the rear exit as he did before. I watched him stand on the side of the pavement, as if to scout out his next prey. After a few seconds I watched him push his buggy towards a group of girls on a bench outside Morrisons, as the bus pulled away.
I returned to my book and as I begun to start my next chapter I realised we had had our No12 preacher join our journey and was conducting us all into the Lords Prayer.
'OUR FATHER......'
Where the females are more aggressive with their buggies: 'make way for me' 'let me off the bus' 'let me on the bus' 'you can't come on the bus', the males appear much more relaxed 'hey take your time' 'I will take my time' 'look at me, man with a baby' 'hey look I pay for my baby's life'.
Both male and female when boarding this bus with their push-chairs are needing to go somewhere...
...Female's somewhere is: East Street, Morrisons, Elephant & Castle or St Thomas Hospital...
...Male's somewhere is: somewhere with the Laydaiiiesss....*wink*
It was about a month ago, I was sitting in my usual seat - the ones facing in the opposite direction that the bus is travelling in - and reading my book. The bus had seemed to stop to let someone on for a long time so I glanced up to the rear entrance of the bus. Slowly the front wheels of a buggy lifted up onto the bus and gradually made its way on. An adorable mixed race small boy was the passenger and a few people turned to smile at him, nudging each other. Then the driver of the buggy appeared, sauntering on to the bus with that all too familiar 'limp', jeans beneath his bum, a tight white vest and a cool grin on his face.
Glancing around the bus as he got on smiling at all the ladies, he parked his buggy into the bay and limped to the nearest seat, which happened to be behind his buggy.
He has sat next to a young attractive lady who was talking to her friend on her phone. He could not stop looking at her, and from looking at her he would glance towards his baby. When the young woman ended her call strait away he shot her a sideways grin and mad a comment to her. She seemed to reply with a polite grin in the direction of the buggy so I could only guess that he was announcing that the child was his, for what reason I did not know. Failing to impress the lady, she disembarked at the next stop.
Spread across the 2 seats he continued to grin to the passengers of the bus whilst his son was waving his hands to the wall opposite him. The guy had seen me looking at his son smiling, so he decided to shoot his grins in my direction. Realising that I was obviously encouraging him I returned to reading my book.
Getting no attention from the seat he was sitting in, he decided to move to the seat next to his son and play with him. This seat now also happened to be opposite 2 attractive females who had been previously watching his son but where now in their own conversation.
Whilst appearing to play with his son (using his hands to play with him but never looking at him yet the bus around him), but obviously unsatisfied with the lack of attention him and his son were getting he began to move his head from side to side desperately trying to get into the eye sight of the girls opposite. I had never seen someone act so obviously. Finally succeeding and getting the girls attention, which admittedly was extremely hard for the girl not to notice him, he started to lick his lips and pout at them. Slightly shocked one of the girl tried to ignore what she had just seen and tried to focus solely on her friend who was deep in conversation.
Realising that he had slightly lost the girls focus he stared to point at his baby and then to her, appearing to ask a question, I lowered my book and focused on the situation in front of me. This time the girl could not ignore him
'erm sorry what?' she asked politely
'wud you like one?' he asked casually yet excited in his communication with her
'erm, maybe one day...' she replied with a very confused look on her face and probably not impressed with the inappropriate question he had just asked her
'yeeee? (chuckles) how you doin gurl? whats yur name?', and there it was, I couldn't believe it, he had used his baby as a conversation starter (if you could call it that) with the girl on the bus.
This time the girl went back to ignoring him and back to the conversation with her friend, who had not seemed to stop talking throughout this time.
This did not seem to faze the 'smooth' guy as he was now producing his phone from his pocket and motion it towards the girl, I presume to ask for her number.
This time the girl was having none of it and ignored the guy as much as she could with a worried smile on her face to her friend. The guy seemed to persist with his phone, so with that the girls jumped off at the next stop.
Without looking around the bus, he put the phone back in his pocket and continued to grin around the bus whilst playing with his son, still with out eye contact.
At East Street the guy pushed the button and limped off the bus, slowly departing from the rear exit as he did before. I watched him stand on the side of the pavement, as if to scout out his next prey. After a few seconds I watched him push his buggy towards a group of girls on a bench outside Morrisons, as the bus pulled away.
I returned to my book and as I begun to start my next chapter I realised we had had our No12 preacher join our journey and was conducting us all into the Lords Prayer.
'OUR FATHER......'
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Buggy Wars part 1
One thing that is quite apparent on this bus is the status of push-chairs, they are king and you must obey them!
When they are boarding you scatter (if you know whats good for you) in order to let them through. When they are disembarking you all hop off the bus in order to give them a wide space in which they can safely off load in; and when they are loading or unloading the bus - driver you WAIT!
My first example is not on the No12 but whilst waiting for it. I was at my usual stop, St Giles Church when the 171 to Holborn arrives, I stepped forward in hesitation as to whether to ride this bus to Elephant & Castle and change as I was a little late, however I decided not to and gosh I am glad I didn't!
The bus had not moved after a minute of sitting there which was odd as they never wait at this stop as it was not one at which they change drivers. As I scanned the bus from the driver along to the passengers my eyes stopped at the buggy section.
Now on double-deckers there is only room for 2 push-chairs.
Already on the bus was one push-chair at the furthest end of the space, with the mother, a large white woman dressed in a track-suit sitting on the chair next to it. On the far end of the space stood a young chinese lady with 2 suit cases.
Already on the bus was one push-chair at the furthest end of the space, with the mother, a large white woman dressed in a track-suit sitting on the chair next to it. On the far end of the space stood a young chinese lady with 2 suit cases.
A tall thin Jamaican lady had boarded the bus with her push-chair, which is fine seeing as there is room for 2 of them. However the bus was not moving, indicating that there must be a problem. As I observed the woman who had just joined the bus she seemed to be ramming the other buggy with hers with a frustrated face. The next minute she starts shouting at the other buggy owner to move her buggy over, the lady did this without saying anything, pulling it towards her as much as she could. The new lady continues to ram her buggy at the other, taking small run ups each time. Whilst this is happening let me point out that the luggage holder, the part on your right as soon as you board the bus was empty and the lady with the suit cases was still standing there, watching.
The Jamaican lady starts to shout again,
'move!' 'move yur chiald!'
This was something that even I could see was rather impossible now unless the lady got off the bus with it. However the track-suit lady tries again and does what she sees possible, trying not to wake her baby. This still is not good enough for the agitated lady so she begins to grab the other ladies buggy that is in HER way and tries to move it for her, this makes the other lady angry
'let go of my baybay!'.
At this point the driver started to open his door to see what all the commotion was about, but hesitated, not knowing whether to get involved. Still, the lady trying to fit her buggy in, did not once ask the lady with the suit cases to move them, nor did the owner of the suit cases take her own initiative and move.
As a last result the Jamaican lady suddenly lifts up her buggy into the air, still with her child seated, and rams the buggy in from above! Eventually it fits, awkwardly, but it fits!
After assessing the situation and whether she could adjust the buggy anymore the lady seems happy with it, gives the large white woman a kiss of her teeth and turns to the driver waving her hand
'okay drivur, we can move now dearrr!'
So with that the 171 leaves, and the 12 arrives.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
The No12 Preacher
So after becoming a regular of the No12, I began to notice other regulars. One that stood out from the rest would have to be 'The No12 Preacher'.
The first time that I noticed him was one early afternoon on my way to Oxford Circus. I was reading my book, sat facing in the opposite direction that the bus was traveling in. With beer cans and last nights London Lite beneath my feet it seemed to be a rather average journey on the bus - I spoke too soon.
3 pages into my 2nd chapter, I noticed a few people sniggering around me and young guy stood on the middle platform of the bus using his iPhone to film something behind me. It was only then that I allowed myself to listen to what was happening.
'And the Lord said that homosexuality is wrong!'
Slightly shocked yet curious to what I had just heard I swiveled in my seat to look in the direction in which the voice was coming from. Stood in the space for push-chairs was the body to which the voice belonged. They were a tall, skinny, black male in his late 30's early 40's. He has a wild beard and wide eyes and spoke very loudly altering the tone of his voice throughout his sentences. He read from a bible that he held only a few centimeters from his face. Although 'reading' from the bible he seemed to read aloud his own versions of God's word.
And so he read:
' Jesus was a modest man but at the same time her was not afraid to look good and wore good quality clothes. Not that they were like D&G or Versace, but good quality clothes like Marks and Spencers - the finest of cloth'.
At this point a loud snigger ripped through the bus and I myself could not help but giggle, bringing my hand to my mouth.
'Jesus and his disciples were fishermen, good hard working men. They had to fish to get their food and earn money - they were of course without a local Tesco Express!'
Whilst 'reading' these passages from HIS bible he seemed very much to enjoy the show he was performing for us.
At least once a week for a few months I would see him and listen to his versions of the New Testament. Each week he would grace us with his presence and lighten our journey with his words however not once did he lighten his pockets and pay for his ride. An act perhaps a God could forgive but one I am sure a Traffic Policeman would not!
Thursday, 16 September 2010
The Peckham Terminator
Whilst you await the next post, here is another example of a normal day on South East London's buses.
Adjusting to the No12 Bus
Lets go back to the first week I boarded the No12 bus 1 year ago.
Being the 'fresh' Londener that I was and new to the 'oyster' world I waited at St Giles Church for the bus to arrive. Upon its arrival I climbed into the 3rd entrance of the bus, at the back, choosing this one in excitement as never before had I had more than one entry option on a bus. Instead of greeting the usual smiling bus driver and exchanging money for a ticket, I was greeted by an angry looking (because I solely had seemed to hold up their journey by boarding the bus) and staring mob who relcutantly let me on and an electronic pole to which I swiped my oyster.
After wrestling my way to the back of the bus for a seat I sat down and observed the bus and its crowd.
By the next stop my feet had grown quite hot from the engiene below and had become quite uncomfortable after trying to rearrange my feet in a cooler position. I had now learnt which seat not to pick again and had also understood why this seat was the only vacant one upon my arrival - this is something else that I have learnt over the past year that whilst aboard the No12 bus, everyone is out for themselves and that no-one is willing to offer a helping hand.
If a seat is wet, no-one will warn you before you sit down, instead 20 minutes later when your stop arrives they will watch your wet bottom disembark the bus. If you begin to board without realising that a buggy has yet to unload, I mean how could you with 50 people blocking your view, they will watch amusingly as your are rammed back off the bus by the huge backside of an angry mother that thinks you have no manners to wait until people have got off the bus first.
So back to the first week of the 'pleassure' that it is to ride the No12 bus, I began to notice how no-one would swipe their oyster when boarding the bus, except the odd person that looked like they had a story to tell and knew better not to. 'Have I just wasted £1.20?' I thought, 'is this bus free?' Everybody seems to pass the electronic pole without a care in the world. The next week when my nan came to visit I had to show her this so we sat in the first 2 seats at the back door and watched people as they boarded and seated themselves without paying. This bus IS FREE, I could not belive it, I had moved to an area in London where a free bus operated, however it was not until the next week when things became clear.
I boarded the No12 bus, this time from the middle set of doors ( I liked to spice things up a little) and walked strait past the oyster bay and stood in the middle of the bus -here balance is the key, as here the bus has a circular station that moves seprately from the front and back of the bus at every turn - after a few rides I had got the hang of it. So a few more stops and more people joined the journey, the same actions commence. As we approach Elephant & Castle I noticed everybody cautiously looking out of the window. Suddenly someone gasped 'checkers!' and leapt towards the oyster bay, this seemed to provoke others to do so. I looked around confused yet slightly panicking, when the man opposite me said 'swipe yur card gurl!', thankfully it was the desperation in his eyes that convinced me to follow the masses and swipe.
As we came to the stop at Elephant & Castle and the doors flung open a hand stopped a small Chinese lady that had been fumbling around in her bag as she went to swipe her oyster. As she looked up you could hear the chorus of 3 voices, 'please present your tickets for inspection'. The bus full of people looked helplessly at the lady with her wrist in the hand of the Ticket Inspector, sorry, Transport Policemans hand.
From that day I learnt to always swipe my oyster card as I boarded the No12 bus as:
1. it is NOT free
2. a journey where you constantly look our for Transport Police is tiring
and
3. the one time when the people of the No12 bus are not only out for themselves and willing to help you is when it comes to cheating the Transport Police!
Being the 'fresh' Londener that I was and new to the 'oyster' world I waited at St Giles Church for the bus to arrive. Upon its arrival I climbed into the 3rd entrance of the bus, at the back, choosing this one in excitement as never before had I had more than one entry option on a bus. Instead of greeting the usual smiling bus driver and exchanging money for a ticket, I was greeted by an angry looking (because I solely had seemed to hold up their journey by boarding the bus) and staring mob who relcutantly let me on and an electronic pole to which I swiped my oyster.
After wrestling my way to the back of the bus for a seat I sat down and observed the bus and its crowd.
By the next stop my feet had grown quite hot from the engiene below and had become quite uncomfortable after trying to rearrange my feet in a cooler position. I had now learnt which seat not to pick again and had also understood why this seat was the only vacant one upon my arrival - this is something else that I have learnt over the past year that whilst aboard the No12 bus, everyone is out for themselves and that no-one is willing to offer a helping hand.
If a seat is wet, no-one will warn you before you sit down, instead 20 minutes later when your stop arrives they will watch your wet bottom disembark the bus. If you begin to board without realising that a buggy has yet to unload, I mean how could you with 50 people blocking your view, they will watch amusingly as your are rammed back off the bus by the huge backside of an angry mother that thinks you have no manners to wait until people have got off the bus first.
So back to the first week of the 'pleassure' that it is to ride the No12 bus, I began to notice how no-one would swipe their oyster when boarding the bus, except the odd person that looked like they had a story to tell and knew better not to. 'Have I just wasted £1.20?' I thought, 'is this bus free?' Everybody seems to pass the electronic pole without a care in the world. The next week when my nan came to visit I had to show her this so we sat in the first 2 seats at the back door and watched people as they boarded and seated themselves without paying. This bus IS FREE, I could not belive it, I had moved to an area in London where a free bus operated, however it was not until the next week when things became clear.
I boarded the No12 bus, this time from the middle set of doors ( I liked to spice things up a little) and walked strait past the oyster bay and stood in the middle of the bus -here balance is the key, as here the bus has a circular station that moves seprately from the front and back of the bus at every turn - after a few rides I had got the hang of it. So a few more stops and more people joined the journey, the same actions commence. As we approach Elephant & Castle I noticed everybody cautiously looking out of the window. Suddenly someone gasped 'checkers!' and leapt towards the oyster bay, this seemed to provoke others to do so. I looked around confused yet slightly panicking, when the man opposite me said 'swipe yur card gurl!', thankfully it was the desperation in his eyes that convinced me to follow the masses and swipe.
As we came to the stop at Elephant & Castle and the doors flung open a hand stopped a small Chinese lady that had been fumbling around in her bag as she went to swipe her oyster. As she looked up you could hear the chorus of 3 voices, 'please present your tickets for inspection'. The bus full of people looked helplessly at the lady with her wrist in the hand of the Ticket Inspector, sorry, Transport Policemans hand.
From that day I learnt to always swipe my oyster card as I boarded the No12 bus as:
1. it is NOT free
2. a journey where you constantly look our for Transport Police is tiring
and
3. the one time when the people of the No12 bus are not only out for themselves and willing to help you is when it comes to cheating the Transport Police!
Welcome
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the No12 bus, perhaps after reading just a few posts of this blog you too may become familiar with the unfamiliar, yet o so familiar happenings of this bus route; Dulwhich Library to Oxford Circus - the route that connects South East London to the West End and therefore connecting 'Souuuuf Landan' to the rest of the city.
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