2011 - Day Out 15: Liverpool

Date: Saturday 02 July 2011

This trip sees a welcome return for all the WARP's (Woody, Andy, Paul and Rog if you are unsure), and we decide to go to Liverpool, a trip that began to be organised when we were in Weymouth. First of all I meet up with Mr UKBuses, where I catch the 0706 National Express West Midlands (NXWM) Service 276 from Wollaston or should that be 0704!), by the time I get my seat I am halfway across High Park Avenue, so there is no time to text Mr UKBuses to say that I am on the bus. Luckily when I get round to his bus stop, he is there, and he boards the bus, then abruptly takes his seat. We arrive a few minutes later at the bus stop on Stourbridge Ring Road, where virtually straight away, a NXWM Service 246 arrives, which we catch to Dudley. As there is not a good direct service into Wolverhampton first thing on a Saturday morning, we have to go to Dudley, then Wolverhampton! So we are directly off the plan after our first journey, and as we arrive in Dudley, the NXWM Service 126 is waiting, so we jump on that bus. We arrive in Wolverhampton quite a bit ahead of schedule, so we decide to visit JD Wetherspoon's "The Moon Under Water", where Mr UKBuses decides to have a bacon roll. Bacon roll finished, Mr D9 arrives, and he duly orders a bacon roll. His arrives in a much quicker time than Mr UKBuses, so Mr D9 duly finishes off his roll, and we make our way to Wolverhampton Railway Station. On the way, Mr WME makes an appearance and the gang is complete. A quick "breath of fresh air" is needed before we board our train, and whilst this is happening, Mr D9 gets the money out of his account for the day ahead, and some mad bloke decides to pop out of the railway station shouting at other people along the way.

Mr D9 promptly pays me for the tickets (I could have waited, but thanks for the prompt payment), and we head for Platform 1, where our 0919 London Midland train arrives and takes us to our destination for today, Liverpool. Whilst on the journey, I take on the role of Mr D9, and visit the toilet, and Mr D9 coped with not going (his bladder must have swapped places for the journey!), and after a journey time of just under one hour and 30 minutes, we arrive in Liverpool Lime Street, where we are met with Ken and his tickling stick. First of all, we buy our "Saveaway" ticket, which at £4.60 is good value for all the journeys that Mr UKBuses has planned for us today. Tickets purchased, we head outside so that I can get a "breath of fresh air", whilst the rest of the gang take photographs of the city buildings. We head down to the hub of Queens Square, where we catch our first bus of the day.

We head to stand 6 and our first bus service of the day, Arriva North West Service 13 to Deysbrook Lane, takes us to our first destination of the day. Mr UKBuses has done his research using Google Street View, and we alight the bus just after the small cottage building on the corner, and he is as always correct. We walk past said building, and walk up the road a little further, where we have to take a left turn and we arrive at our first destination, a place called "Brookside". We walk through the normal residential housing, and just around the corner, past the now redundant security post, we turn the corner and view a new residential area (Well it is not new as the housing was already built), it is the original housing from a now defunct soap called Brookside. I take a few photographs, as does the rest of the gang, and the thoughts going through my head is that I am now standing on ground that once graced the steps of Ricky Tomlinson, Claire Sweeney and Sue Johnston. Builders are still on site and I'm told they were shouting "Barry" at me (surprised as I'm sure that Barry Grant had black hair), and it is back to the bus stop, but before we do, a group shot is taken at the Brookside sign. Shots over we walk back round to the bus stop and whilst doing this we have to undertake a TUAR (Turn up And Run), with the race earlier in the year coming in handy, I get to the bus first, but we all make it, a good effort by Mr UKBuses, especially with his knee. We board and we make our way back into the city.

We make our way back to Queens Square on Arriva North West Service 12, where we visit our first Liverpool pub of the day, and it is JD Wetherspoons "The Fall Well", a pub that I had previously visited, and as we walk in, Mr UKBuses agrees that this is quieter than the Wetherspoons that they had previously visited. Well it was time for dinner, so Myself and Mr D9 opted for the standard beer and burger, Mr WME had his usual gourmet burger, and Mr UKBuses has his usual Chicken Tikka. Good choices, even though that the prices for a Wetherspoons were a bit steep (probably because it was a very central location). Whilst waiting for the food, a "Homeless" person came up asking for money, I duly gave him a pound in change, but later found out that he was sitting outside with his mates (I'm duly changing my way to charitable causes, but after this experience I was duped and it is a shame for charitable donations in the future). Food has arrived and we duly chomp it down, and we all make a visit to the toilet before our next destination.

Dinner over, we head over to Stand 2 in Queens Square where we catch our next bus to our next destination, a "Cumfybus" C4 service to a place in Liverpool called "Dingle". After a journey of just over 20 minutes, we arrive in Dingle, and even though this was a filming destination, we are not happy being here. Anyway we are off the bus now, and after just a couple of minutes walk we arrive at the top of Elswick Street, the destination being the street where "Bread" was filmed. It looks so different to what it was on television, but we decide to walk down the street, where we walk past Number 30, which was home to "The Boswells". Once reaching the bottom, we have a quick look over to the Mersey, and then we decide to walk back up the street, but we can't decide which house was home to Julie, the girlfriend of Billy. As we arrive at the top of the street, we head back to the bus stop after a surreal experience. This seems to be a close knit community, where everyone is sitting around outside their houses, and with kids playing in the streets, it takes me back to my childhood, where I used to play with the local kids, a scene which is not seen to much nowadays. We arrive at the stop to find out that the bus does not actually stop here any more, and as we choose which stop to stand at, A C5, the bus we are supposed to catch, goes past. Whilst waiting, I purchase a lottery ticket from the local shop, which is all behind a safety screen, which puts me at unease even further, and meet the rest of the gang around the corner at the correct bus stop. After a wait of around twenty minutes, our C5 turns up, and takes us back around the estate, twice! After eventually escaping the estate on where Bread is filmed, we arrive at Grove Street, where we alight to find out the filming location of The Liver Birds, we are unsure which flat was used, but Mr D9 makes sure that he has a picture by taking several pictures of the different buildings standing in Huskisson Street.

We walk to the end of the Huskisson Street, where we are greeted by a TUAG (Turn Up and Go) service of Arriva North West Service 86, which takes us back to Liverpool and the bus station called "Liverpool One". We forget to get off the bus, and we duly arrive in a bus layover area, which we have to make sure that we get out alive due to Health and Safety and no Hi-Vis vests. Out of the lay by area, we make our way through Liverpool One, and we are just outside the Albert Docks, so we have time to visit them, and we ask Mr UKBuses if he wants to do an impression of Fred Talbot doing the weather on "This Morning", obviously without the weather map, for some reason he declines. After a quick look around the docks and failed bald spot pictures by Mr WME and Mr UKBuses, I now present the first Mr SBI Bald spot picture of Mr D9, right, (Mr D9 wasn't expecting that!!!), which can be seen left. We are in need of a drink and visit the pub opposite, "The Pumphouse" which in the end we decline as it is too busy. So we head around to Pier Head, so that we can get our pass for the Mersey Ferry, but as we do, we spot a bar in the same building, but by mutual agreement, we decide to "stay on our own" after seeing the prices and decide it is not fair to include somebody for a round. A quick refreshing drink, and we make our way to the ferry terminal, where after a little wait, and a big crowd of us waiting to get on, I experience my second trip on the Mersey Ferry. As we make our way towards the estuary, we turn around and head to Seacombe, where we have to get off, but whilst on the way, I make my way inside for a couple of minutes before reappearing on the side of the ferry. A few minutes later we arrive, and I cannot get off the ferry quick enough, and quickly make my way outside the building so that I can have a well deserved "breath of fresh air". As I'm smoking, I'm still suffering from the swaying, so we make our way to the bus stand where I can sit down for a few minutes for the bus to arrive.

A few minutes later, our Arriva North West service 409 turns up and takes us on our short journey to Birkenhead. This is where my part of the trip kicks in, and a quick bypass of the shopping centre, we walk past the Wetherspoons, and we head to a pub I visited last time, so I introduce the gang to "The McKenzie", see left, where we have a well deserved rest, and I can get over the experience of the ferry. The gang had reservations about this pub before we even got to Birkenhead, but they soon say that I found a good pub, and after a couple of drinks in the establishment, we make our way back to the bus station. Mr D9 realises that it is a PPPP (Pizza Pavement Purple Pub), which can be titled due to some pizza topping style marks on the floor and walls outside! We walk back to the Birkenhead bus station, and decide to get an earlier bus, even though it is on the same route, and catch First Chester and Wirral Service 1, which takes us briskly back into Liverpool, via the Mersey Tunnel. Even though it is my second time through the tunnel, it still freaks me out that you have oncoming traffic right next to you with no central reservation or no protection.

We arrive back in Liverpool and alight the bus just around the corner from Queens Square, our hub of the day, and we have time to sample a couple of pints before we head back home, so we walk past The Crown Hotel, and enter an Irish-American Bar, "McHales", where we sample a quick pint. We decide to stay in the quieter part of the pub, with Karaoke taking place in the room next door. When the compere speaks, me and Mr UKBuses think it is a blast from the past as he sounds like "Karaoke Dave", who used to do the hosting in The Bell when we worked there, so further investigation was needed. Thankfully it wasn't Dave, so luckily it wasn't a case of "Now it is time for And, Paul, Rog and Woooody!!!". We have time for one more pint before we catch our train, so we pop next door and sample "The Crown Hotel", see right, where Mr D9 confuses the barmaid with the drink order. Drinks purchased, we head upstairs, somewhere I didn't know existed last time I visited, and we get a seat in a quiet part of the pub. With little time to spare, we make our way back to Liverpool Lime Street, where we "do a London", and go into M&S and purchase a sandwich for our trip back. We have little time to spare now, and we make it back onto our Virgin Train back into Stafford. A pleasant and fast journey takes us back to Stafford, where we also down our tea, and we alight at Stafford to change trains to take us back on the slower London Midland train back into Wolverhampton. I try and sneak a cigarette in outside the station, but the rest of the gang realise that we have to go onto Platform 3, so we make our way there to be greeted by a few people dressed in fancy dress. It's a shame the woman didn't do the belly dance for us, she was dressed for it!! After passing through Penkridge, we arrive back in Wolverhampton. Time for a quick cigarette as Mr UKBuses and myself make our way to Queen Street to catch our bus back to Stourbridge, so we say goodbye to Mr D9 and Mr WME.

Our bus is on time, and we are on our way. We get to Penn, and suddenly we hear a bang at the front of the bus, the door has fallen off. We cannot go any further due to the safety features on the bus, so we are stuck in the bus stop for a while. I take this opportunity to have a cigarette or two, and also a chance to pop across the road to The Holly Bush, to use the facilities. After a wait of around half an hour, an engineer finally brings a replacement bus, so we all swap buses, and take our seats ready to complete our journey back into Stourbridge. There is a slight problem, even though we have a fresh bus the air pressure seems to have gone down, so we are having problems departing the bus stop. After a few minutes and a completely understandable driver, we finally get under way, with cheers from the other passengers. We make our way through Wombourne and Kingswinford and finally arrive in Stourbridge. We get off at the stop just before the ring road, and walk to Birmingham Street, where finally at 22:05 our Black Diamond Service 276C takes us back home.

Another good day with all the WARP's, beautiful weather, some good filming locations found, and I have to take this opportunity to thank Mr UKBuses for getting all the locations in a plan on a well though out day out.

2011 - Day Out 14: Weymouth

Date: Friday 10 June 2011

It is nearly a full turn out for the WARPR's, but we have the WRP'S for this whole weekend in June. This may be a long blog post, so sit tight, you may have to make a cup of tea in between, I hope that I summarise our outing for the weekend. Lets start it off....

I make my way to Wollaston for the 0756 journey on National Express West Midlands Service 276, where roughly six minutes later, and a trip across High Park, I meet up with Mr UKBuses, who boards the bus ready for our first train journey of the day. We just miss the Chiltern Railway journey, but it is not long before we get the next train, London Midland. A quick journey into Birmingham, we make our way from Snow Hill and decide to have a breakfast lunch in McDonalds, where Mr WME makes his appearance. Breakfast over, we decide to make our way down to Birmingham New Street, to catch our next train, but before that I have to make a fag stop due to a long journey ahead. The rest of the gang get a sandwich for the train journey, and as I finish my fag, we make our way back inside New Street, to catch our 10:03 train.

We make our way onto the train, and get our seats, ready for the long journey ahead, we look forward to our weekend, and we enjoy our journey, and once in Southampton Central Railway Station, we have to make our change. After our long journey, I don't have enough time to have a fag break, and it is on our next train, which takes us to Weymouth Railway Station. After another train journey, which takes us about 1 and a 1/2 hours, we arrive at Weymouth, and whilst I make my way to the outside of Weymouth Station for a long overdue cigarette, Mr WME takes a few photo's in the station.

Welcome to Weymouth

The Pilot Boat, Lyme Regis

We are in Weymouth, with the sun shining, and we make our way to The Fairhaven Hotel, to drop off our bags, and have a quick freshen up, before we make our way for a couple of rides this afternoon. With the receptionist expecting us, we sign in, and Mr UKBuses signs his life away making him responsible for the rooms for the weekend. We drop our cases off, and we soon meet up downstairs. I make sure that I get a taste of the good weather, and have a fag outside the hotel, with a lovely view across the beach and the main esplanade, a view that I will enjoy for the whole weekend. With the rest of the gang ready, we make our way across the sea front and decide to have a quick drink in the JD Wetherspoons - "The William Henry", before getting our next bus. We catch the Jurassic Coast bus, First in Dorset's X53, where we go through places, such as West Bay, Bridport and Charmouth, passing through country lanes and coastal views before we arrive in Lyme Regis. Upon arrival in Lyme Regis, a few photo's are taken by Messrs UKBuses and WME before we take shelter from a shower in "The Pilot Boat", after which it is a climb up the hill to the bus stop for our bus back. A drop in weather, with Mr SBI shivering, a late First 31 arrives, taking us back to Bridport. Upon arrival in Bridport, and with the weather not showing much sign of improvement, a quick break on the bus route whilst the driver change takes place, we decide to get back onto the bus, and make an early visit back to Weymouth.

A quick freshen up back at the hotel, and we make our first visit to the top bar in the hotel, being served by the lovely Zane, see picture left, before we make our way into town. A walk through the back streets and alleys, we arrive at our first pub of the night, and it is "The Duke of Albany", where we choose to sit close to the resident parrot, who talks away. Drinks finished, we make our way around to have some tea, and we go to "Chillies" for a curry. Poppadoms first, then the main course, I can't manage the whole course, so Mr WME decides to take over and get the value for money. Food finished, and we decide to walk up the road to "The Brownlow", where upon arrival, in a not so busy pub, we notice the pool table is vacant, so we decide to have a few games, with myself taking the victory tonight. After celebrating my victory, we decide to choose Mr WME's and Mr UKBuses final stop of last year and into "The Cutter" (although the sign looks like it is The Gutter), where they have Fosters this year but not Mr UKBuses choice of tipple, Mr Guinness. After the late night drink, we make our way back to the hotel, where Mr WME and myself sample the bottom bar with Gigilo providing the entertainment, and we bump into some residents who come from Wolverhampton. It is getting late and decide to retire after a good first day on the south coast.

Date: Saturday 11 June 2011

Poole and the "glorious" bus station. Luckily it is not a long stop and we catch Wilts and Dorset's M1 service to Bournemouth, a journey that takes just over half an hour. This is our first Wilts and Dorset bus, which we are told, will accept our FirstDay Explorer's which we purchased on the X53 - No problems so far.

We arrive in Bournemouth, and the first thing we do is take photographs, but a few spots of rain start falling, and then even more, so it is off to the nearest Wetherspoons, "The Moon in the Square", and it seems everyone has the same idea, as this large pub is quite packed. A quick drink, and we head out for a bite to eat, so we head around the corner, where we sample a Burger King, I choose the "plain" burger option, it means I have to wait a little bit longer than the others, but at least I know that my burger will be fresh off the grill.

The rain seems to have stopped so we jump on the "Purbeck Breezer" service 50, which takes us to the railway station, and another opportunity for some photo's to be taken outside. After a little break outside the railway station and the Purbeck Breezer still waiting for its next journey, we decide to hop back on, and we have a short journey back into the town. There is a little wait in the town, so we take the opportunity to take some photographs of the buses in the main street from the (open) top deck. It is nearly 2pm, and we make our way on a long journey, and we pass through places such as Westbourne and Sandbanks before we have to catch the ferry to our destination of Swanage. We have a little time to wait, so Mr WME and myself ask the driver nicely if we can have a little break, and so Mr WME takes a few photographs, and I have time for a cigarette, eventually I did as the wind was giving me trouble to light it. Break over and we board the bus and make our way onto the Sandbanks ferry. It is only a short journey of about five minutes on the ferry, but the open top deck and the swaying of the ferry make me feel a little seasick. We have a little journey to make now before we get into Swanage, and as we leave the bus, Mr UKBuses has to put a cap on as his hair as moved quite a lot in the wind.

We arrive in Swanage and have time for a few photo's at the station, home of the vintage railway, and then it is time for a walk into the town, and once we get there, we have a break in "The White Swan", where it is time for a "Piddle", see picture left. After a piddle, we walk back to the station where we catch the 40 Purbeck Breezer service to Wareham where Mr UKBuses thinks it is time for a spot of driving D9 style. The service is running late, so we decide to skip Wareham and carry on the service all the way to Poole and arrive at the bus station that we loved earlier. Mr UKBuses and Mr WME take a few photo's while I spend a penny, or twenty of them to be precise and when I come back out, Mr UK Buses is at the depot for more photo's. We now have a walk through Poole town centre where we find the local JD Wetherspoons' "The Lord Wimborne". After spending a bit of time there we make our way back through town and arrive back at the bus station, ready to catch our bus back to the hotel.

After a day on Wilts and Dorset's buses of no problems with our FirstDay Explorer, we alight the First X53 service back to Weymouth. We go through the countryside once more and with the journey taking just over an hour, about forty minutes into the journey, I'm doing an impression of Mr D9, and cannot wait for the bus to get back to Weymouth. After crawling off the bus, I have to crawl a bit further into one of the toilets along the sea front. Bladder emptied, we make our way back across the seafront to The Fairhaven Hotel where we freshen up before the night ahead.

A quick freshen up and we head to the hotel bar where we have a quick drink served by the friendly member of staff, Zane. Quick drink in the lounge finished, we head back to the Kings Statue and the Wetherspoons for a bite to eat, before we walk through the town and across the bridge and up some steps from the harbour, where we find "The Chapelhay Tavern", see picture left. We have a quick drink in the pub, where we are sitting amongst a decoration of maritime objects and listen to the coastguard on the radio whilst we have the company of the pubs' German Shepherd. We head back into the harbour and it is time to be introduced to another one of Mr WME and Mr UKBuses favourites from last year, "The Boot".

Whilst in The Boot, we log onto the pubs wireless network and surf the net whilst we sup our drinks. I realise that I am still logged into my google account, where Mr WME updates my blog with the last post. At this point, Mr UKBuses retires and Mr WME and myself decide to have a visit to "The Globe" and sample a pint of Dartmoor "Jail Ale", see picture right. This is a friendly pub with a very friendly landlord who makes us feel welcome. After our drink is finished, we walk back to the hotel past The Cutter and retire ourselves after a glorious sunny day.

Date: Sunday 12 June 2011

Today is the day of "The Weymouth Vintage Bus Rally", and so we awake and I go down to breakfast, but decide to have a cigarette on the beach first, but I realise that I will have to stay in the doorway of the hotel as it is throwing it down with rain, and this is the day that we wanted it to be sunny, but alas we have no control of the British weather. Cigarette finished, I wait in the reception area for the breakfast room to open, and I am joined by the rest of the gang, and we sit down for our grub, with extra bacon as I don't have an egg. Breakfast finished, orange juice drunk, we go upstairs to get ourselves ready for the rally.

With us all kitted out appropriately for the rain, we make our way across the rain lashed sea front to the King's Statue ready for the bus down to the rally site, but we realise that the stop has been moved and we don't know where it is. A Leyland National 2 drives past us towards the harbour, so Mr UKBuses keeps his eye on the area and can see it parked up as we try and shelter from the rain. After about ten minutes, it makes it way towards us, so we flag it down, and the driver kindly stops, even though it shouldn't stop where we were standing, and we alight out of the rain. The bus drives down to the scheduled bus stop and after a few minutes and a ride through the streets, we arrive at the rally ground, which is located by The Premier Inn hotel. With the rain still lashing, we jump on and catch a newly preserved Stagecoach South West Volvo B6LE which is going to Portland Bill. After 30 minutes we arrive at our destination, but the rain is still lashing down so no photo opportunities here and we stay on the bus, which after about 15 minutes staring out at the lighthouse, we make our way back and we are back again at the rally ground. A Ford Transit minibus is at the stop now, so to avoid the rain, we catch this which is on a route around the town centre, so we shortly arrive back at the ground. Still trying to keep dry, we make our way onto a Bristol RE which takes us to Bowleaze Cove and around Weymouth before going back to the ground.

With the rain still pouring, we decide to have a drink at "The Lodmoor", which is just a couple of minutes walk away, and duly we shelter from the rain. After about half an hour, we head back outside, it is slowly stopping raining so Mr UKBuses gets a few photo's of the buses parked up, and the rain starts pouring again. After a brief wait on the control bus, we then jump onto a Volvo B10M coach, which will take us for our second visit to Portland Bill. After another half hour journey, we arrive, we brave the wind and rain and stay dry at "The Pulpit", where it is Mr UKBuses round, and it nearly looks like I may have to make use of my first aid training as he nearly falls to the ground when he is asked to pay £10.20 for the three drinks ordered. After finishing the drinks, Mr UKBuses needs the fresh air to get over the shock, and we walk into pouring rain and breath-stopping wind, but a Leyland National is parked up ready to take us back to the rally ground. We still have a bit of time to wait, so I brave the rain, which has eased slightly for a cigarette, which I eventually beat the wind to light it.

We make our way back to Weymouth, where we catch the Ford Transit minibus we caught earlier to take us to The Nothe Forte, and upon arrival, we turn round in the Forte and make our way back, and the driver kindly stops off at the seafront in Weymouth, where we decide to visit "The William Henry" for a bite to eat, before we head back to the hotel to freshen up. After an hour we meet up in the hotel bar, and make our way through Weymouth, where with the rain eased, we find "The Wellington Arms", which has the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix on the television and we arrive with the race about to start.

It looks like the weather has made its way from Weymouth to Canada and the race starts behind the safety car, and after a few laps the race is red flagged. With the race stopped and no sign of it starting any time soon, Mr WME and Mr UKBuses decide to call around to "Chilles" again for a curry, but I stay at The Wellington for the race to restart. After about two hours, the race restarts, and we are go go go again. Mr UKBuses and Mr WME return whilst the action is still going on. After a long race and a quite a few pit stops (including a drive through penalty), the action keeps on going to the last lap, where in his best victory to date, Jenson Button overtakes Sebastian Vettel to take the chequered flag and win the race in a total time of four hours and four minutes and thirty nine seconds! When Jenson goes on to the top step, I get a bit emotional after one hell of a race. It takes a few minutes for me to dry the eyes, and then after spending nearly five hours in The Wellington, we have to leave.

Mr UKBuses retires back to the hotel, but with the adrenalin still flowing, Mr WME and myself decide to stop off for a couple of more drinks, and first of all we go into a pub that has been on Mr WME's radar, "The Duke of Cornwall", where there is something I have never seen before - "Live" karaoke. Basically a customer selects a song to sing, and the live band play the tune for them to sing to! After a couple of songs are heard, we head back and finish off in our favourite from last night, "The Globe". Some more Jail Ale is sampled, and with the adrenalin calming down, we retire back to the hotel, but not before the staff at The Globe wish us the best, I think that this pub will on the list for next year when we return for the rally.

Date: Monday 13 June 2011

The final morning has come and after my now usual cigarette on the beach front before breakfast, I meet up with Mr UKBuses and Mr WME for our final breakfast. The full English is standard choice, but Mr UKBuses seems to have a bit less on his plate than the rest of us. Breakfast over, we go back to our rooms to pack our bags, and after this is done, we head back down to reception to hand our keys over for the final time, even though I didn't want to hand my key over! We say our goodbyes to The Fairhaven, a hotel on the seafront which I can definitely recommend to anyone and have no complaints about. We make our way back to the railway station, past The Kings Statue and through the back streets, with our train due, I decide to have a cigarette whilst I get the chance, and not long after we board our train.

We get ourselves comfortable in our seats and the train starts to move and we finally have to say goodbye to Weymouth, and we make our way to Southampton Central, where we have to change trains, but I do get a chance on the return journey to pop out front and have a quick cigarette, whilst Mr WME gets a few photographs. Break over, we join Mr UKBuses back on the platform, where our train arrives and we find our seats before anyone else lays claim to them on a really packed train. This train takes us back to Birmingham New Street, where we say our goodbyes to Mr WME, whilst Mr UKBuses and myself make a change onto the London Midland train to Smethwick Galton Bridge, where we change once again, this time onto the Snow Hill line for another London Midland Train to takes us back to Stourbridge Junction. Upon arrival, Mr UKBuses senior is waiting for us and kindly gives me a lift back home.

It was a cracking weekend, with the best company, and mainly good weather. I thoroughly recommend Weymouth to anyone, and also the rally, which was my second visit to the rally, and even though it was raining, it did not disappoint. After a weekend away like this, it takes me a couple of days to recover and go back to normal life, just one thing left to do is check my lottery ticket I purchased from Weymouth, I'm sure that there was a house for sale overlooking the harbour......

2011 - Day Out 13: Two Museums Days

Date: 30 May 2011

It is Bank Holiday, and the last trip of the action packed day out month of May. The WRP's decide to meet up and visit our first bus rally of 2011, The Two Museums Day at Aston Manor Road Transport Museum and The Transport Museum at Wythall, both situated in Birmingham.

First I meet up with Mr UKBuses, at the temporary stands in Stourbridge. We arrange to meet up at 0930 and I get there in time, albeit a bit (sorry make that a lot) wet. As you expect from a typical Bank Holiday, it is teeming with rain, and looking at the clouds it seems that this rain is going to be around all day. Mr UKBuses turns up in time, and we wait to catch National Express West Midlands Service 9 to Birmingham. The bus has arrived waiting for the beginning of the journey, but the bus driver takes pity on us (or it could be that the Pensnett garage driver recognised his colleague Mr UKBuses), so he lets us on and it gives us the chance to get the best seats on the bus upstairs at the front. We are on our way, and as we turn around at Parkfield Road, we get a nice view from the top deck of the interchange redevelopment as we go past. We are on our way and we head through Lye, Colley Gate, Halesowen (and it's brilliant bus station!) and Quinton. We head towards Bearwood, but we are diverted due to a building fire in Hagley Road, so I text Mr WME to let him know that we may be a little late arriving in Birmingham. Mr WME duly rings me to tell me that he will be late as he realised that his local bus service didn't start until 1000 and is just about to get the train, he decides to catch the train through to Witton and we will meet up with him at Aston Manor instead. Our journey carries on and we are not held up as much as we thought in Bearwood, so we venture further up Hagley Road, and as we arrive in Birmingham, we choose to alight at Broad Street.

We make our way into the city centre, but I make a quick visit to the nearest J D Wetherspoons at Paradise Place to make use of their toilet, and we now have to find our stop for the bus to take us to the Aston Manor Museum. With the rain still coming down, we make our way to Suffolk Street Queensway, where after a little wait, our first vintage bus of the day, a Birmingham Corporation Daimler CVG6 arrives to take us on our way. We decide to play a little joke on Mr WME and send him a text asking where he is, as we are at Wythall. He takes the bait and rings us and I tell him to stay at Aston Manor - we didn't want him to catch the bus to Wythall and further delay our day, so the joke sort of backfired! After about 15 minutes we arrive at The Aston Manor Transport Museum, and we also meet up with Mr WME, who is walking to the museum as we pass him on the bus. So our gang of today is complete and the WRP's venture inside.

After meticulous ticket checking, we have a little wander around the museum and check out the stalls, where I grab a few pictures of Hanson's buses, and with the rain still teeming outside we decide to have a look around the museums shop at the back of the building. With Mr UKBuses knee still on the mend, I am polite and ask him if he wants me to call and operate the stair-lift that is available for use. He declines, I'm not sure he trusts me with these mobility aids. A browse around the shop over, we make our way back downstairs to the main museum, with Mr UKBuses still refusing to use the stair-lift, and as we are back on the ground, we walk past the big doors at the side of the museum, and notice that the rain has stopped, so we take our chance and have a look at the vehicles on display and take a few photographs, but these strange people always end up getting in the way, see right. The break in rain is short lived, and we make our way back indoors to shelter, that is until we notice that one of the museum bus rides is about to depart, so we jump aboard the AEC Routemaster providing the journey and have a ride around Erdington and Gravelly Hill before arriving back at Aston Manor Transport Museum. With the rain still coming down, and our stomachs starting to rumble, we decide to head back into Birmingham and have some lunch. A museum shuttle bus to Birmingham is about to depart, but everyone else has the same idea and there is no room left for us, so we have a damp walk around Witton to catch our normal service bus back into Birmingham, kindly supplied by National Express West Midlands Service 7.

It is not long before we arrive back in the city and we head to J D Wetherspoons "The Briar Rose" where we dry off and sup a couple of pints with our dinner. After ordering our dinner, we have a rare view of Mr UKBuses wallet, and Mr WME has timed it right to get a picture of this rare occurrence. The gang has their usual with Mr WME and myself opting for the usual "Beer and Burger", and Mr UKBuses opting for his usual Chicken Tikka Masala. As we dry off we chat about our upcoming break in June and what we have planned, but our food is eaten and we still have another museum to visit, so we make our way back through Birmingham, with the rain calming down for a bit and back to Suffolk Street Queensway, where we see another Birmingham Corporation Daimler heading towards the stop, so we make a run for it, well Mr UKBuses makes a hop for it, and the bus is about to pull away from the stop without us, until a passer by taps the drivers cab window and alerts the driver that we are waiting to get on the bus. At this point, as the conductor is upstairs, I take over his conducting skills, and undo the safety rail, thus allowing the others on, before I board and reattach the safety rail. At this point the "real" conductor makes his way back downstairs and nearly catches me in the act. We find seats and this allows Mr UKBuses to rest his knee after his impromptu run down the street, and the bus pulls off taking us past the cricket ground and through Kings Heath to The Transport Museum in Wythall.

We pass the "50" terminus at Maypole which means that we will shortly be arriving. We arrive at The Transport Museum, and whilst on our journey the rain has started to come down faster. We are asked politely to show our tickets, which we oblige, and the first port of call for me is the toilets. This is a chance for Mr WME to get his own back on me for the trick I played on him earlier, and after my toilet stop, I search for the pair, and search. Even thought I was wondering where they had got to, they were just inches away from me and were hiding in the cab of the milk floats on display at the museum. I eventually spotted them. I did think that the milk float contained waxwork dummies, and I was infact correct, a pair of dummies were found in the milk float!! We were situated by one of the sheds that house the many buses that the museum has, and so we went to have a look around the stalls situated there. This shed was home to model exhibitions and stalls, there was even one model display that closely resembled "Coronation Street". After looking around the models, we head into the museum's shop. I think Mr UKBuses preferred this museum shop as there was no flight of stairs to climb. Scouting round the shop over and we head to the other shed to have a look at the stalls set up there, this shed was home to photographs, timetables and other bus memorabilia. The rain was still coming down, so we see the "baseball bat" on the car park, which was operating on the event day car park shuttle, so we had a ride on this converted Leyland Fleetline to stay dry, where we have found the culprit - GUILTY as charged, see left. Whilst on "the baseball bat", Mr UKBuses was reminiscing about this bus being used on Services 242, 294 and 295 around Stourbridge in the late '90's. After a brief ride to the event car park (which was half flooded) and back, we decide to try and dodge the rain, and we had an ice cream to cool us down on this wet day, taking shelter in the doorway of the new exhibition hall, whilst having a lick or two of a Mr Whippy. There is a brief respite in the rain, so it time to take a few photographs, but as the camera is out, it is not long before it is put away again as the rain starts pouring again.

With the rain stopping play again, we decide to cut our losses and catch the next shuttle back to Birmingham, and our bus to take us back is pulling up on the car park, a BMMO D9, so we are the first on, and we get prime seats on the lower deck, at the front. I think I grab the best view as I can see where I'm going and also see the driver manoeuvring the vehicle back to Birmingham. After about ten minutes, the bus pulls out of The Transport Museum, and we are on our way back to Birmingham, back through Maypole, Kings Heath and past the cricket ground, one of Mr WME's favourite places, back to Suffolk Street Queensway where we are dropped off. Where I was seated on the bus, I could see the actions that the driver was making whilst driving the bus and I must say the Mr Lunn has got his D9 driving down to a tee, which is quite scary! Luckily, a National Express West Midlands 87 is right on cue, and we jump aboard to take us to Corporation Street where we decide to have a pint in our second Wetherspoons of the Day, "The Square Peg", one of our regular pubs when we visit Birmingham. Mr WME and Mr UKBuses try and get to the bar first to get the round, but Mr WME is kind to let Mr UKBuses save a bit of money (he likes saving money where possible) and have the cheap round and Mr WME will get the more expensive round at the next pub. We have a chat again about Weymouth and after finishing our drinks it is off to the next and final pub.

We head out to Corporation Street, but our normal door has been changed to an emergency exit / disabled access, so we head through the only entrance to The Square Peg now, and walk past the disabled access door, which we then realise that Mr UKBuses is currently classed as disabled - we could have saved a bit of a walk there! We head up to Colmore Row and onwards to Bennett's Hill, to a pub that we have visited before, and one of Mr WME's favourites, "The Wellington". I find a table while Mr WME gets this round in, and they order a number (the pumps are numbered with the corresponding choices listed on a TV screen), and we have our final chat about how the day has gone. Pints supped, we head to Colmore Row, via the back entrance which turns out to be a short cut and to our stand ready to catch our bus. Mr WME's bus turns up first, National Express West Midlands Service 126 to Wolverhampton, and driving it is a colleague of Mr UKBuses, so a brief conversation ensues. Mr WME departs and we wave him off and virtually behind is our National Express West Midlands Service 9, which takes us back to Stourbridge. After a journey of approximately forty-five minutes, we arrive back in Stourbridge, where the sun has decided to make an appearance (typical now that we are heading back home), but we have a while to wait, so make a diversion to the Lloyd's bar "The Edward Rutland", to sneak in and have a crafty toilet break. We sneak in the front door, and use the front toilets which Mr UKBuses didn't know about, but unfortunately for him, there are a couple of flight of stairs to climb. Toilet break over, we head back to Stand F in Birmingham Street to wait for our bus back home, and after five minutes of waiting, our Black Diamond Service 276C arrives to take us back home. I alight at Wollaston for a well deserved chinese from my regular chinese takeaway, a perfect end to the day.

Another brilliant day out with good company, apart from the rain, and a good start to the 2011 rally season. Out of the two museums, The Transport Museum at Wythall pulled out all the stops and made a good effort for The Two Museums Day, and as always makes me feel welcome wanting to return. Less can be said about Aston Manor, a visit that was not a lot of difference from my last visit. It is my personal opinion, that as it was Two Museums Day, they could have made a bit more of an effort and after my visit today, it did not really make me want to go back for a return visit this year. The first rally out of the way, and another one in just under two weeks....

2011 - Day Out 12: The Black Country

Date: 28 May 2011

May has been a busy month for days out, it is time for my third out of four planned trips, and it is a local trip with Mr UKBuses, who has nearly recovered from his troubled knee. I still offered to push him in a wheelchair, but for some strange reason he still doesn't want me to. So taking it steady he comes out today, and I catch my usual 0856 journey of National Express West Midlands 276 Service, where arriving in Norton, Mr UKBuses boards with a slight limp, and he takes the weight off his feet until we arrive at the bus stop on Stourbridge Ring Road where we alight. We have no plan and try and make the day out based on a "turn-up and go" service where the first bus that turns up, we go on it. Our first bus to turn up is a Hansons, Service 267 to Kingswinford, where we have a venture round the side streets of Amblecote and Wordsley before arriving in Kingswinford.

We alight the bus opposite the Kingswinford Co-Op, where as we walk to The Cross, we turn into Market Street and a Hanson's 226 pulls away from the bus stop, we only have to wait a few minutes where another 226 turns up, this time operated by Diamond. It is not long before we end up at Russell's Hall Hospital, where Mr UKBuses attempts to hide himself from a Pensnett Garage driver on NXWM's Service 246, but as we head up towards Dudley at Queen's Cross, Mr UKBuses work colleague spots him and looks at him in disgust at catching a competitors bus, especially a Diamond 226! It is not long before we arrive in Dudley, and I can say that Hanson's 226 service was carrying a heavy load when spotted in Kingswinford, as we traveled the entire way into Dudley on Diamond's service there were only a handful of passengers on this journey, it looks as if Hanson's have currently got the upper hand on the "226 Bus War". We arrive in Dudley, and our next bus of choice is NXWM's 87 service, which we decide to catch to Oldbury, as Mr UKBuses believes that a new J D Wetherspoons is open in the town. After about 20 minutes, we arrive in Oldbury and we alight just outside the new library building, where Mr UKBuses tests his new camera out and gets a few bus photographs. Coincidently, the new Wetherspoons pub is supposed to be in the old library building, but we don't know where the old library was in Oldbury and after about ten minutes and a bit of search down the main streets in Oldbury, we ditch the search and make our way back to the bus stops where we see what turns up and make our mind on what to catch. (Research on the Wetherspoons website whilst writing this blog post points out that there is no new Wetherspoons pub in the Oldbury area!!!)

We catch Service 404 into West Bromwich, but just before we arrive in West Bromwich, Mr UKBuses texts a work colleague, and I text Mr D9, to see if they want to meet up for a drink at a pub called "The Windmill", and on our short journey, Mr UKbuses receives a text to say that the pub doesn't open until midday, so we decide to make our way across to Wednesbury to meet up with Mr UKBuses colleague there, a second text is sent to Mr D9 to tell him about the change of plan, and we hear nothing until about twenty minutes later as just arriving in Wednesbury bus station, Mr D9 makes contact and says he is unable to meet up with us, but thanks us for the thought. We make our way through Wednesbury town centre and hit our first Wetherspoon's of the day, "The Bellwether", where with just after having a conversation with Mr D9, I catch the bladder problem and have to rush to the toilet as soon as I get there, but at least it confirms one thing, Mr UKBuses has to get the first round of the day. Toilet break over, I make my way downstairs and Pete greets me. Pete works in the office with Mr UKBuses at Pensnett, and we have a chat whilst Mr UKBuses waits to get served - My only gripe about Wetherspoons is sometimes the service, the pubs are mainly busy, but they don't have the right amount of staff behind the bar. Finally Mr UKBuses returns to the table with the drinks and before we chat to Pete, I send a text to another member of the WARP's, Mr WME, as we decide to head across to Wolverhampton and see if he is available to meet us during his lunch break. We have a chat with Pete, and he tells us a couple of stories about his time with West Midlands Travel. Unfortunately, Pete can't stay long, and he says his goodbyes, and it is not long after we make our way to the bus stop outside The Bellwether, to make a short hop to the bus station, where we change over to the NXWM Service 311, to make another short hop to the Wednesbury Metro stop. As we make the short walk to the platform, a Metro turns up straight away, and it is time to go to Wolverhampton, via Bilston Central and Priestfields, and as we pass the old WMPTE / West Midlands Travel Cleveland Road Garage, we arrive at Wolverhampton St George's Metro terminus. The rain has started to make an appearance, and as we still have no response from Mr WME, we decide to quickly pop round the corner to Wolverhampton Central Library, where we make our way to the Learning Centre to see if he is available. We have just missed Mr WME by about five minutes. We make our way out of the library and  the rain has started to come down real fast.

We find ourselves jumping into a doorway to let the rain calm down before moving further, and after about five minutes, the rain has stopped, so we make our way down Market Street, past The Wheatsheaf, and down Princess Street before turning right into Lichfield Street and our usual JD Wetherspoon's, "The Moon Under Water", where we decide to have lunch. Drinks ordered and Mr D9's barmaid is working, Mr UKBuses has found a table and we are sitting down towards the back, and it is time to peruse the menu. Mr UKBuses decides to have his usual Chicken Tikka Masala, but I break with tradition and opt for the Gammon Steak and Chips. We wait for our food, and decide whilst waiting, to take a "cheers" photo, but it seems difficult as we are sitting in the middle of the room, so we place our camera's at the end of the next table and just manage to take a photograph, see left, apologies for the table taking main stage, but it is the best we could do in the circumstances. After about a further ten minutes, our food arrives, and boy oh boy, I find I nearly have two gammon steaks on the plate (note to self, I must ask for no eggs again in future, as it seems you get extra gammon). We dig in, and consume our food, after my first half of the gammon, I sense to myself that I will be quite full for the rest of the day, but I make sure that both pieces are finished off, and we wait a few minutes to let our food go down. We decide to get our money's worth out of the DayTrippers purchased and catch a train, so we head to Wolverhampton's railway station, passing the near complete Wolverhampton Interchange along the way. As we arrive at the station, we find we need to get to Platform 3 for our train, and as we make our way across Platform 1, we spot it arrive, so we try and get to Platform 3 as quick as Mr UKBuses can, but as we make our way down the stairs, our train pulls out, at least we made a good attempt. We look at the information boards and after numerous visits to the railway station, I find out that there are two more platforms never seen before, Platforms 5 and 6. We need to get to Platform 5, which is close to the entrance just of Platform 1, this confuses me as I thought there were only 4 platforms!! We arrive on Platform 5, and catch a local London Midland service, where we decide to get off at the Sandwell and Dudley station.

Upon arrival, we make our way to the street and as we turn up at the bus stop, our next service arrives, this time 404A, which takes us quickly and we arrive in Blackheath. We alight our bus and make our way to the bus stop opposite so that we can get to Cradley Heath, we do this by catching Central Connects' Service 123, which after bypassing The Waterfall in Old Hill, we make our way through Codsall estate and into Cradley Heath, alighting at Cradley Heath Interchange, where our next "turn up and go" service is Midlands' Service 240 to Stourbridge. After leaving late we make our way towards Stourbridge, and hope that the journey catches up time to make our connection for our next bus. After passing though Timbertree, and through Colley Gate and Lye, we pass Stourbridge Junction and arrive in Parkfield Road, we have about three minutes to get to our connection in Birmingham Street. We must be in luck today, as we make the connection by catching the Stourbridge shuttle, where Mr UKBuses tries to wind up the driver on the minutes journey, and we make our arrival in Birmingham Street with a couple of minutes spare and Mr UKBuses unscathed. Our next service is Hanson's Service 228, which takes us to Kinver, a place not visited for a couple of years, and as we make our way through Wollaston and Stewponey, with quite a few passengers aboard, we spot signs for the Kinver County Fayre, which was the last time we actually made a visit. We arrive in Kinver High Street and find out that, after the numerous roadworks that Kinver has had to put up with over the last few years, a new high street system is in place. We alight outside "The Old Carthorse", as Mr UKBuses calls it, and head into "The White Harte" for a thirst quenching coke. The sun has come out to play now, so we sit outside overlooking the high street. Coke's finished, we make our way to our next pub, "The Plough and Harrow", and after friendly service we take our seats, see picture above. I comment that this was a good pub a few years ago, with quite a trade, but there are just a handful of customers using the pub on a Saturday afternoon. I also notice the opening times, quoting a Tuesday "4 till 10pm, depending on custom". Let's hope the fortunes turn around for The Plough and Harrow, a once cracking pub for Bathams, this may be the knock on effect resulting from the previously mentioned roadworks that have hit Kinver in recent years. It is now time to make our way back into Stourbridge, and we decide to be cheeky as we are at the bus stop early, and decide to catch the bus around and back to Stourbridge via the White Hill terminus.

We make our way back through Kinver village and Wollaston, and arrive back at the Parkfield Road stop. It is now Mr UKBuses turn with bladder problems and we decide to have a quick drink in The Old Crispin, to alleviate his problem. Cokes nearly downed in record time, but now it is my turn to visit the toilet before our next bus, we make our way back to Parkfield Road, where we decide to catch a return trip on Service 240. With the same driver nodding at our tickets again, we make our way back through Lye, where upon arrival at Lye Cross, the driver makes his own meanings of traffic signs and decides to do a right hand turn in the shadow of a "No Right Turn" sign and we then make our way to Colley Gate and through Timbertree, before arriving at Cradley Heath Interchange again. From Cradley Heath, we decide to make our way to Halesowen, and to do this we catch NXWM's Service 141, boarding a busy bus, making our way through Cradley Heath and Old Hill and it is not soon before we arrive in Halesowen.

We both suffer again from Mr D9's catching bladder problem, and after making a visit to the toilets, courtesy of Halesowen's Cornbow Centre, we make our way back to Halesowen bus station. We make our only glitch of the day on our "turn up and go" services and have to wait around twenty minutes for our bus back to Stourbridge. As we find the right stand, we realise a flaw in the bus station design, and notice that the utility cupboards and office at Halesowen have been built on the wrong side as we can't actually see if our bus is coming until it actually pulls up at the automatic stand door! We both agree and decide that Halesowen's bus station isn't one of the best CENTRO's redevelopments and that we did actually prefer the original station. Our bus arrives and we head back to Stourbridge, courtesy of Diamond's Service 142, a service that will take us via Hayley Green, Colley Gate, Wynall (past the newly opened Hare and Hound's - one to note for a future local day out) and Pedmore Fields. We arrive at the main island at the top of Chawn Hill and answers our question we pose towards the island - Does this bus go down Grange Lane or Chawn Hill? I said Grange Lane, whilst Mr UKBuses opts for Chawn Hill. I win this one and we turn right into Grange Lane. Past Stourbridge Junction and back to our stop at Parkfield Road. Upon arrival in Stourbridge, we decide to head down Memory Lane and go back to our old haunt, The Bell. We walk past the police station and try and work out when this part of the ring road turned from a two lane road into three lanes, and what use to stand in the place of the old B&Q (now Aldi) store. Both questions remain unanswered. We arrive in at The Bell, and decide to give our conservatory seats a miss and try and reminisce about our times at the pub, in what was the bar. Before we do this, we take a "cheers" photo, (in hindsight, I think I should have used the zoom!!), and we talk about our old times and how busy the pub was on a Saturday afternoon. Drinks supped and we decide to head to Wetherspoon's "The Chequers Inn" at the top of Stourbridge. Upon arrival, we order our drinks and as we find a table we decide to have some more food. Will Mr UKBuses have a second Masala of the day? Surprisingly not, he opts for a chicken wrap, whilst I opt for my old favourite this time, a beer and burger. It is surprisingly quick and our food arrives. We tuck in and halfway through the meal we decided that we have opted with our stomach's rather than our brains and struggle to finish.

We let our food go down and it is time to make our way back home, so a quick walk to Birmingham Street, and under the subway, where we stop for a minute and look at how the redevelopment of the bus station is going. The subway's are nearing completion now, and it will soon be a start for phase two, the station buildings. The bus station is only about seven to eight months before it is due to be finished, hopefully the winter weather won't cause disruption. We carry on our walk and arrive in Birmingham Street and Stand F, where after about ten minutes our final bus journey turns up, Diamond's Service 276C to take us back to Norton and Wollaston, and our DayTripper tickets have certainly had their use in money today, with quite a few services caught. We pass through Norton first, so Mr UKBuses gives his goodbyes after another brilliant local day out, with the rain not ruining our day for us with its brief visit whilst in Wolverhampton. There is one more day out to do in May and only a couple of days away, where the WRP's (Mr D9 can't make it) meet up, considering it is a Bank Holiday Monday visit, lets hope the rain stays away.......

2011 - Day Out 11: Liverpool

Date: Saturday 21 May 2011

It was time to venture further afield, so Mr UKBuses and myself are off to Liverpool, then disaster strikes before we even start the trip. Mr UKBuses lets me know that he can't walk as his knee has become inflamed, I even offered to push him in a wheelchair around Liverpool, but for some reason he declined, I don't think he liked the words "River Mersey" in the same sentence. The tickets had been booked, so as not to waste them, I go for an exploration around Liverpool, a place that I have wanted to visit for a few years, and now the summer is with us, it is a good time to visit places further afield.

An early start to my Saturday, I catch National Express West Midlands Service 276 into Stourbridge, alighting at the ring road to catch my next bus to get me to Wolverhampton. As there are only two straight through buses to Wolverhampton before normal service on a Saturday Morning (0635 and 0835), I have to catch a couple of buses, so I catch my first bus, National Express West Midlands Service 257, where a changeover and a little wait ensues at Kingswinford, where I catch a short working Service 256 (Starting at Kingswinford), into Wolverhampton. I arrive in Wolverhampton, with just under an hour to wait for my train, so I buy a newspaper and sit and read it outside Wolverhampton Railway Station. I make my way onto Platform 1, where I catch London Midland's 0919 journey to Liverpool Lime Street. I am on the train for just under an hour and a half, with nice views, especially at Runcorn where I think I am further down the River Mersey. Arriving on time at 1044, I arrive at Liverpool Lime Street, a station which I like on my first visit, it is spacious, clean and a lovely building.

After a quick visit outside, I go to the ticket office, where I get my day ticket for the local area transport, and I make my first trip of the day, by going underground, and I catch the train from Lime Street to Moorfields on the Wirral Line, changing at James Street along the way. Apart from the train, I am surprised at how this looks like a mini London Underground. It is a very quick journey, and upon arrival, I make my way back to the outside world, and follow the signs to Pierhead, but I also spot another landmark, so divert and after a walk of about 10 minutes, I arrive at the famous Albert Docks. I have a walk around and find myself a few years too late, as "This Morning" have moved south, and Fred Talbot's Weather Map has long gone. I have done a full lap of the docks, and find myself heading towards Pier Head, a short walk past the memorials, I arrive, and have about ten minutes to wait.

It is just before twelve o'clock, and a trip to Liverpool must mean a trip on a Mersey Ferry, so even though I'm not a fan of the water, the ferry is arriving and I decide to go aboard, I even sit outside on the top deck, even though it does look like it may rain. We head out towards the sea, but we eventually turn around and cross the Mersey and after nearly half an hour we arrive at Seacombe. I make my way back onto dry land, and can say that I would go on "The Ferry Across The Mersey" again, but I will make sure that I wont sing the famous song, as I wouldn't want people on board to get wet. I make my way to the bus stop, where after a little wait, I catch the 409 to my next destination, Birkenhead. The bus journey takes just under ten minutes before we arrive in Lily Savage's stomping ground, and it is nearly time for the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, so I have to find somewhere to see it. My first port of call is J.D. Wetherspoons, "The John Laird" but as they are not showing it, I have to quickly find another place to watch. As I look right and in the distance, I think I see a pub, so walking down Claughton Road, I find "The Mackenzie", and I am glad to see several large screen televisions, all showing the qualifying. I get a drink and find a seat, Q3 takes its usual suspects, with Rubens Barrichello surprisingly going no further. Q2 is about to start and there is a crowd building up, all offering their thoughts on Qualifying as it happens, and Q2 takes the usual suspects, and Schumacher makes it through. All that is left is Q1, and it is a strange session as most drivers are now leaving it late and making only one lap time to save their tyres for the race, Schumacher doesn't even leave the garage, and the usual takes pole, Red Bull, with Mark Webber taking the spot for the team, Button is in 5th. The Mackenzie is a nice pub with very friendly people, but I have to make a move and I make my way to explore.

I'm on the over side of the Mersey, and I have a little walk around Birkenhead, the main centre is like a shopping centre and reminds me of Redditch. I find the local Gregg's and decide to have a couple of pasties for my lunch. I sit down and eat my dinner, and now I have the task of finding the bus station, I do nearly get lost in the maze of shopping centres, but after about 15 minutes, I find it, now I have to find the stand for my next bus, and it is stand 7 for my next journey. I need to get back to the main city centre, so I have come across the Mersey, there is one other way back, and that is under the Mersey. My bus arrives and I catch the 407 to Liverpool and the bus does take me there in ten minutes, but first I have my encounter with The Mersey Tunnel (or the exact name is The Queensway Tunnel). When Mr UKBuses told me about the tunnel, I thought you would be in and out within seconds, but I didn't realise how long the tunnel was. After doing a bit of research, I found out that the tunnel is 2 miles long, and it is a surreal experience on your first journey through there. The bus has to stay in the far lane (middle of the tunnel) due to the size, but it is like something out of Grand Turismo, with no central carriageway, cars seem to be coming at you. I arrive back in Liverpool, in Whitechapel, (not London!) and after my encounter, I soon find a JD Wetherspoons, or more precise, A Lloyds Bar, "The Fall Well", which is situated under a shopping centre. A quick coke in a pleasant Lloyds Bar, a place in the main Liverpool centre, and a pub that is not choc-a-bloc equals an ideal pub.

Break over, and now I am going to explore Liverpool City Centre, I enter a shopping centre above the Lloyds Bar, and for the next hour I walk around and all I see are pedestrianised streets of shops, and the city is a busy place with loads of shops, so I decide to turn down a side street to avoid the crowds and I find myself in another shopping centre and even more busy crowds. I see a another side street, and what a discovery, I'm in the birthplace of The Beatles, and I've turned into a street called Matthew Street, I only find out what is located in this street by chance, but I see a sign for "The Cavern Club", a famous venue, where Brian Epstein first saw the performance of a band called "The Beatles". The original club is still here, but the original and famous entrance has not survived due to redevelopment of the area. It has made my day to find The Cavern Club, a place I didn't plan to visit, but am glad that to avoid the crowds, I chose to walk down Matthew Street. I had done a fair bit of walking around the city, so a break was in order, and I find a pub to rest my weary feet, "The Williams Gladstone", a popular pub, and from the outside looks like a Wetherspoons, but is in fact a traditional real ale pub. After my quick break, I need to get my bearings, and I spot a sign for Moorfields station, so I go back underground for a brief trip back to Liverpool Lime Street.

I make my way back into Lime Street and have just over an hour to kill, so I try and find the JD Wetherspoons "The Richard John Blackler" where as I leave the station, find out that Whitechapel is virtually around the corner, how far did I walk from here to begin with and end up at Moorfields? No wonder my feet were aching. A brief walk and I do find "The Richard John Blackler", where I plan to have some tea, but as I walk into the pub, it is jam packed, so I walk around the corner and find a McDonalds to fill my stomach. Since I spent less time having tea, I make my way back towards the station, and decide to have a bottle or two of "Becks Blue" in "The Crown Hotel", opposite Lime Street. I have fifteen minutes before my train is due, so after a cigarette outside the station, I find out which platform my return train is on, and it is already at the station, so I climb aboard, where I rest my feet ready for the journey back.

The train leaves Lime Street, a bit busier on the way back than the journey this morning, but it seems that everybody else has tired themselves out, I was joined by a mother and her two daughters that had hit the shops, and as she was showing her kids what she had bought, instead of grabbing her bags, she seem to keep grabbing my knee. She did apologise, so I quickly replied "Carry On!", for some reason, the table was laughing away. As we stopped at the stations along the way, the train was emptying, with my carriage virtually empty when we arrived at Crewe. Two more stops to go and we were back in Wolverhampton, where just before arrival a lady decided that she needed to change her top, so she did in front of everyone, a pleasant surprise to end the journey which seemed to wake everyone up nearly asleep in the carriage. Upon arrival in Wolverhampton, it wasn't long to wait where I catch National Express West Midlands 256 back into Stourbridge and after missing my usual Black Diamond bus by seconds, I catch my final journey of the day, Midland's X96 back home, where I go and relax my now aching feet.

I'm glad I went for a visit to Liverpool, this being my first time there, I spent the day looking around the city so that I could get my bearings for future visits here. Overall it was a good day out, and now I did find my way around Liverpool and how the transport operates, I hope to make a return visit soon. My highlight of the day was the ferry crossing and returning back under the river. I'm glad I used this opportunity to get a bit more confidence when visiting new places alone, and I think you need to use your first visit to explore the place and get used to surroundings. Hopefully normal service will be resumed and Mr UKBuses makes his appearance with me on the next visit to Liverpool.

2011 - Website 01: Website Revamp Phase 1

I am pleased to announce that Phase One of the Stourbridge Bus Information website revamp has been completed, the SBI Timetables section of SBI is now online - http://www.sbitimetables.co.uk 

Unlike any website revamps that have taken place over the years, this one has been more involved as, just after the new year, I decided that the whole website needed a much needed revamp, this also included the management system, which is how the website gets updated. Past revamps have not included the management system, so the redesigns did not take that long. This time the management system has been involved and it also meant that as I was doing this, I would effectively start the website from scratch and also updated the database structures that the website information is stored, this also meant that I could learn new ways of asp coding, which has also / will make the updating of the whole website when finished easier to update and maintain.

When I set the task of revamping, I said to myself that I wouldn't rush to get it completed, and I have stuck to this clause, it has meant that I have learnt new ways to write pages and in effect, it has meant that my updating has / will become easier as working on a new management system, I can now update things differently and instead of updating three different options at a time, all three now update at the same time. I have managed to update the actual content, when I click submit, code is taking place so that the "Last Updated" section on the main front page will automatically update itself, rather than myself having to go into a few tasks at a time like I have in the past, one click will now do three jobs.

I have also learnt new code whilst creating web pages for the website, ones that you the visitors will see. I have learnt a new way to display the site information, which has also meant that I can include html in my database which will enable new ways of getting information across to the end user and have more flexibility in information functions on the website.

It feels that I am working backwards when I started to redesign the websites of SBI, with phase one being the SBI Timetables section. I really wanted to get rid of the old website as I wasn't happy with the layout, and patience has paid off, I am happy with the way the website looks, it doesn't look messy, which even though I created it myself, the old timetables section did look messy. I may make a couple of minor tweaks over the coming weeks to ensure that I am happy with the way it looks / works, but I'm glad I started with this section first. The patience has paid off and it is unbelievable how it is now, the way it works is completely different to the way the old SBI timetables used to work!

Really this is phase one A, because when I first designed the website layout, I quickly diverted and made the changes to the layout (the best I could) of the blog, so really you should be used to the new layout of the website!

With the new layout, I have increased the size of the page, looking at statistics on the old website, the old 800 by 600 size visitors viewed was decreasing and I have now expanded the page size to 1024 x 768, which seems to be the new least size screen width that many people are looking at nowadays, this being the advent of new LCD monitors, which means that I haven't got to squeeze the information into a small space as I did with previous designs.

I will carry this into phase two, the main part of Stourbridge Bus Information. I am still going to take my time when redesigning the website, even though I do want to get rid of the current SBI website now that I have released SBI Timetables. This is why over the coming months, work will take place with the management system and data and then I can work on the front pages that visitors see. Instead of trying to rush and perhaps make mistakes trying to get the website up and running quickly, I have decided and made the decision that I will use phase two and and gradually make sections available bits at a time, for example, Street search, get the back end complete and then the visitors pages and release it onto the world wide web, then followed by the links section, and so on. It may make the website look strange with two different layouts in the coming months, but the end product will look better once complete.

Please accept my apologies whilst the revamp takes place and you may jump from one layout to another, the old layout to the new layout, but I think this needs to happen to make the website better. In the long run, new sections will appear gradually, but at the end of the day the website will look fresher and be better in presentation and how the data reaches you once the website is complete.

A new way of contacting myself is now available, a "contact form" is available on the website. I don't want to stop you emailing me directly, if you have my email address it can still be used to get in touch, but the amount of spam I receive due to my email address being available on the world wide web is unbelievable, and this is one of the ways of stopping that spam, through a contact form. I can now link this option to the current website, so perhaps my dream of not receiving spam is closer. You can try the form out now to let me know what you think of the new website sections when they become available, and perhaps send me suggestions for the website.

So here goes, phase one is complete, and now to start phase two, the main website. Once this is complete, phase three will start and see me revamp the SBI Past section. It doesn't end there, and I can not rest so easily, due to Fotopic ceasing trading a couple of months ago, the website work will carry on, as I will start a new phase, previously unplanned, phase four, and find a new way of getting my pictures on-line, but lets not runaway just yet, lets get the main websites up and running first. I will have a few days break before starting phase two, I am exhausted with how my spare time has decreased due to website work taking place, and I will use the next few days to refresh my batteries and reignite the spark of writing asp code.

Please bear with me over the coming months, whilst the revamps take place, but once finished it will hopefully be better for my visitors - sorry can't stop and chat all day, I have work to do (albeit a few days grace!) ......