What a 1st week at new job!

[Stephen Coates]

"A lot less tall"? That's a rather roundabout way of saying "shorter" steve!

I couldn't think of the right word to use at the time.

Some of the old busses which we have here are just grey with three red/yellow stripes down the middle. The new busses are all purple and grees and blue though and the back of the seats are plastic.

Talking of colours,I don't know why First Mainline had to paint their old red and yellow busses in their new pink and white. I think the old ones look better in the old red and yellow whereas the pink and white should be reserved for the new busses. Also, they had some really old busses (which were like B reg (how old is that?)) and the seats on those were really comfortable. And they had a piece of string which you could pull to ring the bell as an alternative to the one push button.

As for things flying all over the place, I always seem to fall over on the number 4 bus. I never seem to on others. Odd.

[Harrison]

Maybe 4 is your unlucky number?

On the last couple of buses I went on I think the seats were plastic with plain red vinyl seating. Very basic and made me wonder if EasyJet has taken over the transport system.

[Harrison]

(In fact, reminds me a bit of Life on Mars. What a good series that was).

Brilliant series. I was so sad when it ended. They are making a follow up series though, set in the 80's and still featuring Hunt.

[Buleste]

The reasoning besign the "design" on the seat covers is for hiding the vomit of late night revellers and kids with travell sickness. Seat belts in buses has always unnerved me. The buses where i live have all the power of a milk float with a flat battery so the seat belts can only be in there if there is a psychopath running around deliberatly ramming buses.

[Harrison]

In contrast the bus drivers in my area are quite mad. I had to brake hard the other night as a bus came flying out of a junction in front of me and hammered it down the road. He couldn't have slowed below 40MPH taking the corner, and it was in service too! I hope there were no passengers on board. But rural buses have always been like that around here.

[Stephen Coates]

(In fact, reminds me a bit of Life on Mars. What a good series that was).

Brilliant series. I was so sad when it ended. They are making a follow up series though, set in the 80's and still featuring Hunt.

I never got to watch that, but it sounds good. Can you buy a video of the series?

I have been on a few fast busses. I thought the X78 went quite fast once. The 19 also went quite fast the other day, and I was standing up. Just glad it didn't have to stop suddenly.

Sitting at the front of the top of a double decker bus easily beats going anywhere in a car. Especially on a nice day.

[Harrison]

Sitting at the front of the top of a double decker bus easily beats going anywhere in a car. Especially on a nice day.

Unless the driver decides to take a detour under a low bridge, then you are buggered!

[J T]

I never got to watch that, but it sounds good. Can you buy a video of the series?

My mum gave me both series on DVD, so yes you can get them (not sure if available on VHS, price etc). Well worth checking out. Great music for that series too. Hope the new one (Ashes to Ashes) set in London in the 80s is as good. 80s music wasn't so good as 70s rock.

I have been on a few fast busses. I thought the X78 went quite fast once. The 19 also went quite fast the other day, and I was standing up. Just glad it didn't have to stop suddenly.

It's the 'X' that makes it fast, just like the XR4x4, XKR, CCX, Bell X-1 and Fireball XL5.

[AlexJ]

I never got to watch that, but it sounds good. Can you buy a video of the series?

I'm pretty sure BBC Worldwide are done with VHS so it won't be available on video, but DVD's are available either separately or as a box set (buying the 2 series separate is slightly cheaper on Amazon for some reason):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Mars-Co...0425454&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Mars-Co...0425454&sr=8-1

[TiredOfLife]

Buses on subsidised routs often hammer it.
The reason being, they usually get heavy fines for not keeping to the timetable.