2013 - Day Out 05: Weymouth and Poole

Date: Friday 14 June 2013

It is time for our yearly weekend away to Weymouth, with the Vintage Bus Running Day taking place on Sunday, we always pop down for a few days to explore the local area and also the town's public houses on the evening. It seems to have been a long time coming, but the time has finally arrived and we are on our way to the seaside.

Bags packed and finish work early on the Thursday, all ready and prepared for the weekend away, but disaster strikes before we even leave Stourbridge. On Wednesday, my leg started to ache and on the Thursday it was a bit sorer, as I was making my way back from work I was finding it hard to put weight on my left leg, so after a visit to the Walk-In Clinic, I'm told that I have a skin infection and to keep weight off it and rest it as much as I can and am given Antibiotics, it makes a good start to the weekend break in Weymouth. Luckily I manage to get hold of a walking stick to help with keeping some weight of my leg.

The day arrives and it is time to make our way to Weymouth, the leg is still sore to walk on, so after ringing Mr UKBuses, we get a lift to Stourbridge Junction (seeing Mr UKBuses new puppy as we pick him up) and upon arrival a "fresh air break" is taken ready for the first leg of our journey. Our first train arrives and we board the 07:38 Chiltern Railways train which means I can rest my leg as we have to go all the way to Banbury passing through Birmingham Snow Hill, Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull and Warwick along the way and we arrive on time at Banbury at 09:00. The original plan was to have breakfast at J D Wetherspoons and with directions in hand we make our way. Due to my leg hurting and walking slowly we decide to pop into a McDonalds instead to have a bacon roll and I get waitress service and it is bought to my table while Mr UKBuses has to wait for his and carry his own across. After breakfast is consumed it is time for the second leg of our journey and we slowly (well I do) make our way back to Banbury Railway Station, where upon arrival, a quick "fresh air" break is taken before making our way to the platform to get our 09:55 Arriva CrossCountry train to take us to Bournemouth, passing through Oxford and Reading along the way. As the train fills I can't rest my leg on the opposite seat as someone takes the place and as she falls asleep, her legs stretch out underneath the table which means I have less and less room to keep my leg rested and it soon starts to ache. We arrive in Southampton Central and normally we would alight here for our final part of the journey, but we stay onboard and shortly after we arrive in Bournemouth at 12:12.

We have a bit of time, so we make our way to the front of the station enabling me to look after the luggage and have some "fresh air" whilst Mr UKBuses takes some photographs of the vehicles parked opposite the railway station. Photographs taken and we make our way back inside the station where we find that our final train we have to catch is already at the platform, so we board and take our seats and rest my leg. Our South West Train pulls out of the station on time at 12:24 and we pass through Wareham and Dorchester South before arriving in Sunny Weymouth at 13:10. Normally I would run down the platform to the front of the station to get some much needed "fresh air", but I hobble outside to get my fix before returning to the ticket office to get our return tickets to Poole for our evening out. Tickets purchased and we make our way to the hotel to see if we can check in. We arrive at our lodgings for the weekend, The Royal Hotel, situated on the seafront and not too far from The Kings Statue and as we enquire about booking in, we are told that we can't check in until 3pm, but they kindly let us leave our bags at the hotel.

We decide to have a little walk around the Weymouth (a slow walk for me), and our first port of call is J D Wetherspoons "The William Henry" where our first pint of the weekend is sampled. Drinks finished and we make our way into town, but first I sample the lift in The William Henry and decide it is faster to hobble down the steps. As we walk around the town, I decide to get some painkillers to help ease the pain and after taking a couple we make an unexpected visit to "The Cutter", normally we visit this on the evening, but we break with tradition and sample the public house in the daytime. The place was quiet but the friendly banter between the regulars and the bar staff kept us amused. After our drinks, we hobble back to the hotel where we check in and we have a rest for a couple of hours giving me time to rest my now aching leg.

Good to see that Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses are promtoing local attractions (Mr D9 is on the left, with his more balder head)

Time to meet up with Mr UKBuses in the hotel bar before we go to Poole for the evening to meet relatives of Mr UKBuses, as I awake and get out of my bed and put pressure on my leg, I find it unbearable to put a lot of weight on it, I hobble my way down to the hotel bar and after ordering my drink, the barmaid takes pity on me and carries it across to the table I want to sit at. Mr UKBuses makes his way down to the hotel bar and has to carry his drink from the bar himself. I'm in a bit of pain at the moment, so I decide reluctantly to stay at the hotel and rest my leg a bit more. Mr UKBuses makes his way to the railway station and is off to Poole sadly alone. I finish my drink and go to the nearest chip shop, which luckily is only a few doors away before hobbling down to the railway station myself to see if I can get a refund on the tickets I purchased earlier, sadly I could not, so make my way back to the hotel, but do see and advertisement on the way back with Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses promoting the local zoo (even catching Mr UKBuses favourite person Claire Balding in the background), I do get back to the hotel and rest my leg for a few more hours. As I'm resting Mr UKBuses rings me as he has this suspicion that I have "sneaked" someone into my room while he is at Poole, sadly he was wrong.

After resting my leg for a bit, I decide to try a pub that is only two doors away and have walked past for a few years without stepping foot inside. The only problem is that when I get there, I do have to make my way down a flight of stairs and I set foot into "Moby Dicks" for the first time, and as I get a seat to rest my leg again, I am treated to entertainment from a local trio who performs a few songs for us customers. I text Mr UKBuses to let me know where I am and if he wants to join me for a nightcap upon his return from Poole, as the time nears when he is due back in Weymouth he sends a text to say that he is going straight back to the hotel and what time to meet for breakfast in the morning. After a couple of pints in the Moby Dick's pub, I make my way back up the stairs, stopping at the hotel bar for a nightcap before hobbling back up to my room for a well deserved night's sleep.

A tiring and painful day, bit disappointed that I didn't make the trip to Poole in the evening with Mr UKBuses. A bit of rest of my leg will keep it healthy enough for the trips tomorrow, or so I hope

2013 - Day Out 01: London

Date: Saturday 02 February 2013

It is time to kick off 2013 with our trips and our first outing is back to where we left off in 2012, the City of London, so with Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses assembled it is time to get 2013 under way.

I get up early to get our first trip of 2013 underway, after getting washed and ready, I make my way to Wollaston, and read the posters on the butchers door before the first bus at Wollaston arrives. The bus arrives early and the kind driver lets me on and lets me get warmed up even though he is not due out for a further ten minutes. I get the standard text ready for Mr UKBuses to receive. Mr UKBuses replies to say "let me know when you are close", and thanks to my new mobile phone network, Vodafone (Good network if you don't need to use your phone) which is rubbish, I get the text just about when I need to send it. I reply just as I'm about a minute away from Mr UKBuses bus stop, so I hope he is there and does receive the text before the bus arrives. I don't have to panic as when we turn the corner he is standing at the bus stop. Mr UKBuses boards and as he sits down he passes me an envelope, it is my spending money for today and payment for the train tickets for Mr UKBuses and Mr D9. Mr UKBuses must have been the last to put his payment in the envelope as it is full of loose change making his ever bulging wallet a bit lighter. We don't have long on National Express West Midlands service 276 before we alight at Stourbridge Interchange where we change our mode of transport to the "Stourbridge Dodger".

On ticket checking duty this morning on the "Dodger" is Phil Tonks, who informs us that if we had purchased him a bacon sandwich we would be upgraded to First Class and could have sat next to the driver. Mr UKBuses wallet is mentioned, and he ensures that security is not broken by ensuring his inside pocket is closed firmly. We arrive at Stourbridge Junction and instead of waiting for our planned train, we jump on a London Midland train which is waiting for us at Platform 2, we decide to keep warm by catching this train and do a sneak attack on Mr D9 by alighting at the Hawthorns. We have time for a "Fresh Air" break as when we get on our next train there is no change of train until we get into London Marylebone Station, so we make our way to the back entrance of The Hawthorns and we keep an eye out on the passing Midland Metro's to see if we can ambush Mr D9. With the "Fresh Air" break over, we make our way back onto the Platform to get our Chiltern Railways train, and we can still keep an eye on the Midland Metro platforms for Mr D9. There is a couple of minutes to go before our train is due and there is still no sign of him, a Midland Metro arrives and we keep an eye out but still no Mr D9, it looks as if we have to go off plan already, but a minute before our train is due, we hear a shout from behind us and as we turn round it seems that we have been the ones ambushed by Mr D9 and we see him walk down the platform towards us and as he gets closer, the Bald Spot comes into view.

Our Chiltern Railway train arrives and it is one of their posh Mainline trains, we board and try and find a table seat, but we do not have to worry as every group of 4 seats has a table, so we choose the closest free table, see picture above right, and get ourselves comfortable for the two hour journey ahead of us to take us back to London for our first time in 2013, but not before Mr D9 and myself are in shock as Mr UKBuses informs us that he has a new camera and he spent more than £10 on it. Before I get comfortable, the first port of call for me is for a bladder stop, and I am impressed as they have Dyson hand dryers in the toilets. As I make my way back to get myself comfortable I get the first sneaky shot of a bald spot (these can be seen at the bottom of the post), and as we make our calls at Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street, the driver picks up speed and we are on our way passing through Solihull and High Wycombe before we will reach our final destination. At 08:40 Mr D9 makes a bladder stop, and as he is away at 08:44 he misses the Cash Counter reporting in! Before I did get comfortable I did have a walk all the way down the train to see if there was a shop on board, I couldn't find one, but as we were getting ever closer to London, people were walking past us with food, so I take a walk to the next carriage (the way I didn't go previously) and find out that the next carriage has the shop but unfortunately there are no bacon rolls on offer so I have to settle on a "grab bag" of crisps. We are nearly in London as we start to see Underground trains so Mr UKBuses and Mr D9 decide a bladder stop is needed before the train arrives at London Marylebone Station, not long after we arrive and I make a bee-line to the outside of the station, see picture left, so that I can get a "Fresh Air" break and Mr D9 rewards my break by spitting on my leg, but he does wipe it off, so I forgive him.

It is time to travel around London and the first couple of places we visit are TV filming locations, so with the "Fresh Air" break over and our Oystercards (or a London One Day Travelcard in Mr D9's case) at the ready, we make our way underground and head back inside London Marylebone station and "tap in" as we go to the underground platforms, and as I tap in I finally get my big refund of £2.60 back onto my card from our previous visit in November 2012, and as we make our way down the escalators I see a poster advertising my favourite musical "We Will Rock You", which I will be watching again in April, and we make our way onto the platform where we only have a few minutes wait before our Bakerloo Line Underground train arrives but we are only on the underground for a few minutes as we only have to go one stop and we alight at Paddington Underground Station, where we make our way back to ground and wait for a bus to arrive. After a few minutes of waiting, our first London bus of the day turns up and we board First London's Service 23 for a journey of just under half an hour and we alight at Alderson Street, where we try and find the location of the scrapyard used in Steptoe and Son, it looks as if the area has been redeveloped since filming, but we do find where we think it was located thanks to the help of a nearby canal and pub. After a few photographs are taken, we head back to the bus stop and retrace our previous bus journey by catching First London's Service 23 again but we are only going half the distance and we alight just outside the Ladbroke Grove Underground Station. It's time to get onto the Hammersmith and City Line, and we board our train after a few minutes wait and Mr UKBuses decides to take a seat under a poster , see picture right, describing him quite well "Even I've been accused of penny-pinching" - I wouldn't accuse him, he is an expert at it.

We arrive at Hammersmith where we change platforms and onto the Piccadilly Line where after boarding we go a few stops and alight at Acton Town Underground Station, where we go for a little walk, or so we thought, after ten minutes of walking, we arrive at our next destination, the original exterior location for "Only Fools and Horses" and the residence of Le Trotter's - the original "Nelson Mandela House", which since filming has had a refurbishment. We spend a few minutes here taking pictures and Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses seems to have been on some kind of drugs as they say that can see low flying planes, I may need to go to Specsavers as I couldn't see any. We have a little  walk to get us to the bus stop to get us to our next location, luckily it is only a short walk and we wait for our next bus, which turns out to be quite a few minutes, but eventually, with Mr D9 complaining he needs to have a bladder stop, London United's Service 440 turns up and takes us for a short journey to West Acton Underground Station. We alight service 440 and we again head underground and make our way onto the Central Line which will take us to our next location and refuelling stop, just over ten minutes of travelling we arrive at Shepherds Bush Underground Station.

As we make our way out of the station we can see our J D Wetherspoons across the road, but we have trouble getting there as when the little man turns green, a maniac driving a Range Rover decides to keep on moving slowly though the barrage of pedestrians crossing. We eventually make it across in one piece and to get to the food we have to enter the Wetherspoons through a shopping centre, I get confused and didn't know that the pub chain had branched out into a sports division as before we get the escalator we walk past a J D Sports shop. Upon arrival at the top of the escalator we enter "The Central Bar" and something weird happens, Mr UKBuses makes a bee-line straight to the bar and gets his wallet out first, Mr D9 and myself order our drinks and then find a table, well Mr D9 does, I head straight for a bladder stop. Drinks are carried over to the table, with Mr UKBuses a bit sad as the zip has just broken on his wallet (causing a full scale security alert) and we decide to order our food, Mr D9 and myself forget to make the usual bet, but we did end up having the usual, Mr D9 had his gourmet burger (gas brewing up along the way), Beer and Burger for myself and Mr UKBuses opted for his BBQ Chicken Melt without the Melt. As we waited for our grub to arrive we admired the views over Shepherds Bush and also the views of the long legs of the Wetherspoons waitress as she kept going past us taking the food orders to other people. Our food promptly arrived, delivered by the long legged waitress and after we stopped drooling we consumed our food and took a few minutes after to finish our drinks before making our way back out into the bush. Photographs were taken and Mr D9 had a special interest with the underground toilets opposite the pub, which has been turned into a nightclub. Pictures taken, we head back into Shepherds Bush Underground Station and back onto the Central Line and we only went one station before arriving at our next destination.

We arrive at White City Underground Station and as we leave the station, we have to go past the BBC Television Centre, see picture at the top of this post, but we couldn't see anyone famous apart from the Prank Patrol Van parked outside the building. After the photographs of the famous building, which is due to be closed during the latter part of this year, we have a short walk around the corner and into White City Bus Station, I couldn't take no photographs as the cold weather seemed to have upset my camera and the battery had stopped working. Mr UKBuses had a good walk around taking a few shots, whilst Mr D9 decided to have a ride on the "Boris Bikes", he would have gone for a proper ride until he saw the prices. We make our way around back to the White City Underground Station and onto the Central Line, until we lose Mr D9, but we soon know where he is when we spot the toilet doors, and after a few minutes, he appears and we are on our way. We arrive at Oxford Circus, where we change onto the Victoria Line and make our way to Victoria Station, where we leave the railway station and start to take a few photo's around the bus station outside, we see the next vehicle we are going to catch, the first time that Mr D9 will catch it, the "Borismaster". We board the bus which is operating on Arriva London's Service 38 and we enjoy sitting upstairs at the front, spending just under half an hour aboard, and as we see our next stop, we run down the back off the bus alighting off the open rear platform. We are now in Bloomsbury Square, and we see a couple of First London's service 25's go past and as they are every few minutes it is not long before another one comes, but in our case it was more like fifteen minutes, and as it eventually pulls up, we board the bus which will take us to the next destination and after a journey of thirty minutes, we arrive and alight at Whitechapel.

It is now time for a visit to our London Regular "The Blind Beggar", and a first visit inside this time for Mr D9, seeing as our last visit, the place was shut. We all take Courage and I need it when the barmaid asks me to hand over £12 for the round. I need to take a seat sharpish and have gone a bit pale, but there is one round left to buy and as Mr UKBuses schemed his way to buying the first round at Wetherspoons, we know where it will be and who has to pay for it, the last laugh will be on Mr D9. We relax for a bit looking at The Krays Memorabilia and watching the scores on the television, see picture right, but we finish our drinks and we make our way to the next bus stop to get Arriva London's Service 254 which takes us from Whitechapel and after ten minutes we arrive at The Krays stomping ground, Bethnal Green. As soon as we arrive we head back Underground and onto the Central Line back to Oxford Circus, where we change lines once again and we head onto the Bakerloo line which takes us all the way back to London Marylebone. As we make our way from the Underground for the final time today we see that there is a train ready to depart, but with only a minute to spare we get some supplies and have a final round in "The Victoria and Albert" and it is Mr D9's round. As he makes his way to the bar and orders the drinks, Mr UKBuses and myself rub our hands with glee, especially after Mr UKBuses last visit here, and we are shocked when the price Mr D9 has to pay is £11.25, much cheaper than the last visit and much cheaper than the round I had to pay for at The Blind Beggar!

To get over the shock, I have a final "Fresh Air" break before we board the 17:06 Chiltern Railway train back to Birmingham, and it is a posh train again so don't have to worry about getting a table seat. We make our way and get comfortable and relax, with Mr UKBuses having a nap and keeping the rest of the carriage awake with his snoring, and after passing through High Wycombe and Solihull, we arrive at Birmingham Moor Street at 19:35. I have fifteen minutes to enjoy some "Fresh Air" outside of Moor Street Station, and at 19:51 our London Midland train arrives and takes us back to Stourbridge Junction, with Mr D9 alighting at The Hawthorns along the way. Upon arrival at Stourbridge Junction, a quick "Fresh Air" break is taken before making our way to Platform 1 and catching "The Dodger" back into Stourbridge Interchange, where we interchange onto a National Express West Midlands service 276, which takes us back home to relax (with my Chinese supper) after another good day out.

A successful start to our trips in 2013, which is down to the good company of Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses, the day wouldn't have been possible without the good planning of Mr UKBuses, here is to more successful outings in 2013, plus it wouldn't be as good without Mr D9 providing us with some laughter throughout the day (and for the endless "Bald Spot" opportunities seen below). With no surprise, Mr UKBuses picked up the cheapest round of the day and myself ended up picking up the expensive round of the day at The Blind Beggar.

Andy's Bald Cranium (ABC)

Bald Spot 1: The Bald Spot is seen travelling on a Chiltern Mainline Train.

Bald Spot 2: The Bald Spot is seen "Fool"ing around at the original Nelson Mandela House..

Bald Spot 3: The Bald Spot is beating about the bush in Shepherds Bush.

Bald Spot 4: The Bald Spot is trying to get fame outside the BBC TV Centre.

Bald Spot 5: The Bald Spot goes all "Boris" at White City.

Bald Spot 6: The Bald Spot is let loose in Bloomsbury Square.

Bald Spot 7: The Bald Spot is having a ride on Service 25.

Bald Spot 8: The Bald Spot is escaping from Service 254.

Bald Spot 9: The Bald Spot is causing havoc in Bethnal Green.

2012 - Day Out 17: London

Date: Saturday 29 September 2012

It has been a while since we visited London, the last time was in May. With all the Olympics over we return to the capital now that the number of people visiting has died down.

Its an early start with us having to catch the first journey of the morning of National Express West Midlands service 276 which departs Wollaston at 07:36. I make my way to the stop and Autumn has arrived with it being dark and a bit on the chilly side this morning, I arrive at the stop ten minutes early and so does the bus, but the driver kindly lets me on to keep warm and as we depart I send the standard text to let Mr UKBuses know that we are on the way and as we arrive in Norton he is at his stop and boards. We make our way into Stourbridge visiting the Stourbridge Interchange and after making our way to Brook Road, we alight where I have chance to have a "fresh air break" before boarding our train. We have a while to wait so we pick the best place in the waiting room at Stourbridge Junction, right underneath the heater. Our train is due so we make our way to Platform 2 and at 07:22 our Chiltern Railway train arrives and after we board we find a table seat and make ourselves comfortable as we don't have to change as this train takes us straight into London. Mr UKBuses has a nap whilst on the way, passing through Birmingham Snow Hill and Moor Street, Solihull, Warwick Parkway and High Wycombe, but he does keep having his nap interrupted by the train horn going off a few times, the ticket inspector and his own snoring.

Just before 09:39 we arrive at London Marylebone and as we were on the first carriage we don't have far to walk. After the ticket machine keeps our outbound journey tickets we make our way out to the front of the station so that I can get some "fresh air" and after four months away, we get our Oyster Cards out ready for our first trip of the day in London on the Underground, and I must admit I have missed the smell of the Underground. We have a couple of stops to go on the Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus where we change onto the Victoria Line and make our way to London Euston. After a journey of three minutes we change once again onto the Northern Line at Euston but Mr UKBuses map reading skills need working on as he takes us to the wrong platform and we head into the wrong direction, we are slightly ahead of the plan so as we arrive at Camden Town Underground Station where we change onto the right direction platform and catch our Northern Line train to our original destination of Angel Underground Station where upon arrival and making our way back to ground surface we intend to catch a new London bus called, unofficially, "The Borismaster". As we make our way towards bus stop F we see the bus at the stop and as Mr UKBuses gets a shot of the bus it starts to pull off but it has to stop at the traffic lights so we are able to jump on at the rear onto the open platform for our first experience on the officially named "New Bus For London". We have a ride of about approximately thirty five minutes on Arriva London's service 38 and the ride is quite smooth and also quiet as The Borismaster is a hybrid bus and a bus I totally recommend to catch. We arrive at our destination of Victoria Bus Station where a few photographs are taken of the buses at the station, see picture right.

After a few shots are taken, we need to take a short walk to the bus stop for our next London bus journey of the day and bus stop J at Victoria is situated opposite one of our favourite J D Wetherspoons pubs, "The Willow Walk", but we don't have time to visit it today and after five minutes of waiting our Go Ahead London service 24 bus arrives, and Mr UKBuses gets a bit annoyed when someone pushes the queue as we board. We are on this bus for approximately fifteen minutes before we arrive at our next destination and we know we have arrived when we pass Westminster Abbey, with Will and Kate not being there today, and as we enter Parliament Square we alight to get the next Underground journey to another destination, but we make a diversion first. Situated close to the entrance of Westminster Underground Station is a public house, "St. Stephens Tavern", which Mr UKBuses decides to make a quick visit and it is in their we enjoy a pint of "Badger", Mr UKBuses enjoys his drink as it does go down rather quickly, see picture left. After our quick diversion, we make our way to Westminster Underground Station and onto the Jubilee Line where we return once again to Stratford.

We are on the Underground for just under half an hour before we arrive at Stratford Station, which can be called an interchange as you have the Underground, Trains, Docklands Light Railway and a bus station all situated in the same place. A few photographs are taken in the bus station before we take a short walk to our first J D Wetherspoons of the day, "The Goldengrove", which is a small Wetherspoons outlet which must have been quite busy during the Olympic period seeing as it is very close by to the Olympic Park. We get our drinks, "Cragrat", which we tried during our visit to Torquay, and find a table so that we can order some food. We pick the best table "Number 1", see picture right, and we peruse the menu, but have decided to have our usual, Mr UKBuses opts for his BBQ Chicken Melt - without the "Melt" - and I opt for the Burger and Beer option (The chicken variety). After ordering I return to the table to see Mr UKBuses has got the usual condiments - Tomato Sauce, Salt, Vinegar and of course, Horseradish Sauce. We don't have long to wait when our food arrives piping hot and I also get an extra burger between my burger buns, a return visit to this Wetherspoons is needed in the future! After a few minutes of letting our dinner go down we decide to visit our next destination which is not too far away and we return to Stratford "Interchange" to get the DLR.

After getting into the station we make our way to our platform to get us to a place called Stratford International, the home of The Olympic Park. After arriving we make our way outside of the station and find out that the area has been fenced off so we were unable to have a look around the main home of the London 2012 Olympics, so we head back onto the DLR and change at Stratford to get us to our next planned destination, but seeing as we had a shorter than planned lunch break and had a bit of time spare I suggested an addition to the plan which was agreed by the Chairman and was only one stop extra. We decide to visit Devons Road, a place that I have visited a few times as this was the location of the London office of where I work before it was closed down. Looking at the office building from Devons Road DLR Station I could not make out who has taken over the building but we decided to go to "The Widows Son", see picture left, the pub that was situated next to the offices. We decide to have a quick pint and then get to our next planned destination, giving the "Caravan cafe in the wall" a miss as we had just had lunch, but rest assured they do nice bacon sandwiches. Back to the Devons Road DLR station and we don't have long to wait before the DLR arrives and we make our way to Bow Church DLR station and as we make our way to the main road, virtually opposite the station is Bow Bus Depot something that I missed on my many visits to this DLR station. We take a few photographs of the garage before making our way back to the bus stop outside of the DLR station.

We board our bus, First London service 25 which takes about fifteen minutes to get us to our next destination, Whitechapel, and we keep a look out to make sure we get off at the right stop. Luckily the map allowance is paying dividends as Mr UKBuses does in fact choose the right stop and we cross the main Whitechapel Road to our London regular "The Blind Beggar", see picture right. As we walk in there a quite a few people in today as they are watching the football match on the pub's TVs so we go outside into the beer garden to enjoy the autumn sun. After the drinks are consumed (and Mr UKBuses purchased this round!), we make our way back out to Whitechapel Road and down to Whitechapel Underground Station, where we make sure that we choose the right line train, in our case the District Line to get us to Tower Hill Underground station. As we arrive at the station I have trouble escaping as my Oystercard doesn't want to scan on the barrier, but the station guard is close by and lets me through, somehow checking my card without me having to touch anything. We make our way to the bus stop outside the Tower of London and it is not long before our Stagecoach London Heritage Routemaster turns up on Heritage Route 15 which takes us to Charing Cross and along the route the conductor comes along with his scanner for us to touch in. As we go along the route the legs become crossed.

We arrive at Charing Cross and luckily we are not far from The Silver Cross, where I sneak in and make use of the toilets before sneaking out in a "Mr D9 stealth operation". Mr UKBuses waits outside and we decide to catch Go Ahead London's service 88 to get us to Westminster. We alight at Westminster Abbey and have a short walk to the Underground station and we again pass the St Stephens Tavern that we visited earlier and go Underground where we catch the Jubilee Line to Baker Street. With no signs of Sherlock Holmes, we change lines to the Bakerloo Line and go one stop arriving at Marylebone. We are well ahead of the plan and decide to catch the earlier Chiltern train back to Birmingham and we have time to get some provisions for the journey ahead. I pop into Marks and Spencer's and get some Jalepino "Doritio" style crisps and liquid refreshment and Mr UKBuses visits Burger King. Whilst he is in Burger King I pop outside for some "fresh air" and he is still waiting when I get back into the station. He finally gets his food and we have a race against time and about a minute to get to the Platform to get the 16:30 train, but we make a quick dash and luckily we get onto the train with seconds to spare.

We depart London and we make ourselves comfortable for the journey ahead, with Mr UKBuses tucking into his burger, I try my crisps and after a few handfuls, I decide to put them away as my mouth begins to go on fire in a Torquay "curry house" style, luckily I have a couple of cans of liquid refreshment to douse the flames. We arrive at Birmingham Moor Street at around 18:12 and we don't have long to wait before a London Midland train arrives and it goes straight through to Stourbridge Junction where we arrive in time for me to have some "fresh air" before having to catch the 18:59 "Stourbridge Dodger" back into the Stourbridge Interchange just in time for Black Diamond's Service 276C which takes us back home to have a rest after a good day out in the capital, but I do have to stop off on the way for my now standard post trip Chinese meal.

Another brilliant day thanks to the company and planning of Mr UKBuses and a welcome return to the capital city of London, with our next visit including a couple of nights stay.

Strange bloke with a bald spot

Whilst in London there was this strange bloke who kept getting in the way of my photographs and you could tell he has a bald spot. He also looks like the same person who kept getting in my way in Torquay:

Strange Bloke Picture 1: I was taking a photo of the Cenotaph at Whitehall and this strange bloke with a bald spot stood in front of me! 

Strange Bloke Picture 2: I was taking a photo of Big Ben at Westminster and this strange bloke with a bald spot stood in front of me! 

Strange Bloke Picture 3: I was taking a photo outside of Tower Hill Underground Station and this strange bloke with a bald spot stood in front of me, and you can definitely tell he has a bald spot on this one! 

Strange Bloke Picture 4: I was taking a photo of an oncoming Routemaster outside the Tower Of London and this strange bloke with a bald spot stood in front of me! 

2012 - Day Out 10: London

Date: Saturday 19 May 2012

It is time to go to London again, and this will be the last time for a while, we are giving it a miss whilst the Olympics take place when London will be at full capacity. On today's trip we give a warm welcome back to Mr D9, his first trip of 2012 with us so the ARM's are back together at long last.

It is an early start again and I make my way to Wollaston to catch the first National Express West Midlands Service 276 at 06.36am. The bus pulls up in the bus stop opposite at 06.34am, but the driver decides to get off and go for a walk and finally gets back on the bus and pulls up at the stop at 06.46am, leaving ten minutes late. I send the standard text to Mr UKBuses, who boards the bus at Norton, after taking his seat we stay on the bus passing through Stourbridge Interchange before arriving at Brook Road, our stop where we get off for a short walk to Stourbridge Junction. I have time for a quick "fresh air" break before we make our way to Platform 2 and after a short wait, our Chiltern Train arrives at 07.22am, strangely there are two trains on this service, so Mr UKBuses and myself board the second train behind and take our seats where we await the return of Mr D9, a text has been sent to board the second train behind. We arrive at The Hawthorns where Mr UKBuses decides to stand by the door to show Mr D9 where we are, but despite shouting at him, Mr D9 boards the train in front, at least he is on the train. Between The Hawthorns and Birmingham Snow Hill, contact is made and a quick train change is needed by Mr D9 at Snow Hill, it is my turn to stand by the doors, and Mr D9 makes a mad dash from the front of the train to our carriage on the second train, he looks like he is doing a 100m sprint, someone must have forgot to tell him that the Olympics are not for a couple of months yet!

With the group being back together and Mr D9 getting his breath back, we leave Birmingham Snow Hill and make our way to London Marylebone via Solihull and High Wycombe. Disaster strikes, just after we pass Solihull there is an announcement that we are being held up due to signal problems which eventually turns out to be an half hour wait, we pass the time by looking at old pictures of Stourbridge Bus Station in the 1970's to see if we can find the past reincarnation of Mr UKBuses, fortunately we did not see him, but we did not look at the pictures of "The Vauxhall", as he was more probably to show up on those pictures. We are on the move and we arrive at London Marylebone just under half hour later than scheduled, I make my way off the train and leave Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses for dust as I make my way outside to get some "fresh air" which was long overdue. "Fresh air" break over and with Mr D9 with his London One Day Travelcard and Mr UKBuses and myself with our OysterCards at the ready, we make our way onto the London Underground.

First of all we make our way from London Marylebone to Baker Street on the Bakerloo Line, which we could have walked as I found out on a previous trip to London that it is quicker to walk to the next station avoiding the long escalators. Our first journey on the underground is well underway, and we change at Baker Street onto the Jubilee Line and make our way to the second destination of the day (to make up time we miss out our planned London Bridge stop) which is Bermondsey, Mr D9 is pleased as he said that this was the first time that he has actually sat down on a tube train. We arrive at Bermondsey and make our way to ground and turn left down Jamaica Road, where Mr D9 and myself decide to "The Lambeth Walk" as well as singing over some other cockney songs along the way. We arrive at our destination, this being the filming location for The "London's Burning" TV Series, Dockhead Fire Station, which doubles up as Blackwall Fire Station, see picture right, in the TV Series. Pictures taken from the front and back of the station, we make our way to the main road where we luckily catch Stagecoach London Service 47 to Liverpool Street Station, along the way we pass a big crowd of West Ham football supporters, with Mr D9 standing up on the top deck and shouting "Chelsea" out of the window at them, luckily the bus does not stop and we avoid a riot.

We arrive at Liverpool Street Station, and seemingly we are back on schedule, we catch a London Overground train to Whitechapel where we introduce Mr D9 to our London Regular, "The Blind Beggar", Mr UKBuses reminds me that I am buying the first round, so we make our way out of Whitechapel Tube Station and make our usual turn left to take us to our regular. It seems that Mr D9 won't get to sample our regular as it is not open and as it is just before 11.30am, it doesn't look like it will be opening within the next half-hour, so we make our way back to Whitechapel Tube Station where we have a short wait for a District Line train which takes us to Westminster. We arrive at Westminster Tube Station and make our way to ground where Mr D9 is greeted to Big Ben standing proud in front of him (I'm talking about the clock tower!!!), Mr D9 gets his picture taken in front of Big Ben, see picture left, and after the photograph is taken, Mr D9 gets a few shots of the old telephone boxes in the Westminster area, I didn't realise that they were different types, Mr D9 explains the differences along the way as we walk up Whitehall, passing Downing Street and the Horse Guard Parade along the way before we reach our lunchtime destination, J D Wetherspoons "Lord Moon of The Mall" but as we arrive the place is packed with no seats available, we make our way across the road to "The Silver Cross", a pub that we have visited before with Mr WME, but after looking at the price hike on the menu's we decide to leave and make our way to Victoria. We catch London General's Service 24, which takes us back to where we have just come from, it is not long before we arrive at Victoria and we make our way to the second J D Wetherspoons (and a favourite of ours) of the day "The Willow Walk". Mr UKBuses informs me that it is my round, but despite stating that the first round was at The Blind Beggar (wasn't my fault that it wasn't open), he was still insisting that my round is first. As we walk in, the place is packed and there are no seats available again, but we decide to have a drink, with me buying!!! As we start our drinks we keep our eyes peeled for a table to become free, I spot one and try to keep it safe, but when I look around, Mr D9 and Mr UKBuses have disappeared, they have found another table. We take our seats and look at the menu and food is ordered. Mr D9 opts for a gourmet burger, which arrives on a Wooden chopping board, Mr UKBuses has his BBQ Chicken Melt without the Melt and I opt for a Skinny Chicken Burger but I didn't read the menu properly as it arrives with just salad and no chips. We have one more drink before we leave, with Mr D9 paying for the round.

We have a change of plan to get to our next destination, so we enter Victoria Underground Station and board a District Line train to Wimbledon Station, changing at Earl's Court Underground Station along the way, a station which we have never visited before and it does have an old feel to it. We arrive at Wimbledon  Station and it is straight onto the Croyden Tram Link where we alight at Mordon Road to get us to the next filming location of the day. It has been over two years since The Bill has stopped filming, but at the studios, the facade of Sun Hill Police Station still exists, minus the signs, see picture right. After taking photographs, Mr D9 and myself decide to use a footpath nearby where the bushes come in handy for the drinks that we had at The Willow Walk, after our unplanned bladder stop we make our way back to the Mordon Road Tram Stop and catch the Croyden Tramlink back to Wimbledon, where leave the station for an unplanned "fresh air" break. After the break, we make our way back into Wimbledon Station where we catch the District Line train back to Victoria and upon arrival we are in time for the planned "Borismaster", we wait and wait and the "Borismaster" does not show, so we catch a normal Arriva London service 38 to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, but on our way there we see the "Borismaster" going in the opposite direction, it seems to be eluding us but I am sure that we will get to sample it in the future. We arrive close to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, but we cannot see it, so instead we have a walk to Holburn Tube Station where we catch a Picadilly Line service to Baker Street, where we change to the Bakerloo Line back to London Marylebone, Mr UKBuses has the right seat though, see picture below.

Upon arrival at the station we notice that we have a bit of time before our planned train, so we visit the public house situated in the station, Mr UKBuses thought that he was going to escape buying a round today, but I bet he wishes that he purchased the first round at The Willow Walk as he ends up paying the most expensive round of the day, costing nearly twice as much as what Mr D9 and myself paid out earlier for our rounds. After supping our drinks, I have a "fresh air" break ahead of our journey and we board the 17.24pm Chiltern Railways service back to Birmingham, luckily we get a table seat right at the back of the train just before loads of Blackpool Football Club supporters board blocking the gangways for the journey ahead, the train does an unexpected stop at Wembley Station to pick up some more. We arrive back at Birmingham and change at Birmingham Moor Street, where after another "fresh air" break and bladder stop, we change platforms and catch the London Midland train back to Stourbridge Junction, as we near The Hawthorns we say goodbye to Mr D9, with Mr UKBuses and myself arriving back at Stourbridge Junction changing platforms to catch the "Stourbridge Dodger" being driven by Bridge Radio DJ Phil Tonks, ensuring a safe journey for the 0.8 miles of track into Stourbridge Interchange. From there we catch Black Diamond's Service 276C back home saying goodbye to Mr UKBuses along the way.

It was a good day out thanks to the good company of Mr UKBuses and Mr D9, and it was all possible thanks to the excellent plan that Mr UKBuses came up with. It's goodbye to London for a while, but I'm sure that we will be back later in 2012.

Andy's Bald Cranium (ABC)

Bald Spot 1: An early shot of the bald spot is captured as we board our tube train towards Bermondsay.

Bald Spot 2: The bald spot is captured opposite Big Ben.

Bald Spot 3: The bald spot is pictured close to the Cenotaph, this was taken with the kind distraction from Mr UKBuses.

Bald Spot 4: The bald spot is making an appearance for the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

2012 - Day Out 05: London

Date: Saturday 03 March 2012

It is time to visit the capital again, so with the Oyster topped up, train tickets in the pocket and the plan in Mr UKBuses pocket, the early morning alarm has gone off and it is off we go to London.

We have an early start and after waking at 05:30, I get myself up and ready before leaving the house at 06:20 to make my way to Wollaston, where I will catch the first bus of the day. As I arrive at the bus stop, Mr UKBuses breaks with tradition and sends me a text enquiring if I am on the bus yet. The bus is due to arrive at 06:36, and at 06:39, I text Mr UKBuses to let him know that the bus has not turned up yet, the text seems to have done the trick, as at 06:40, a National Express West Midlands Mercedes 0.405N comes speeding around the island, pulling up to let me on board. As I sit down, the bus pulls off and I send the traditional text message to Mr UKBuses to state that the bus has arrived and is now on the way to his stop. With the bus driver realising that he finished his cup of tea a bit too late at the depot, he catches up time with his foot on the pedal pressed a bit further down, and it is quicker than normal that we get to Mr UKBuses stop and he duly boards the bus and takes his seat. As I "threw" the money across the car to him last week to pay for the rail tickets, he responds by getting my tickets out of his pocket and "throws" them across the bus to me. We arrive in Stourbridge and after a couple of minutes layover at the stop in Parkfield Road, we do a loop passing the nearly finished Stourbridge Interchange, and head up Church Street again, this time heading straight on up Red Hill. At the end of Red Hill, we turn the corner into Brook Road where we alight the bus and walk up towards Stourbridge Junction. At the junction we make our way to Platform 2 and get some supplies for the journey ahead, I opt for a Mars Bar Duo seeing as it is a long journey to London and after the supplies have been purchased I notice that we have enough time to spare, so we head to the main entrance of the station where I have a "fresh air" break enabling my nicotine levels to be topped up until we arrive in London, once the break is finished we make our way back to Platform 2 where a big number of passengers are awaiting the train to arrive.

Our Chiltern Train arrives on time at 07:22, and we board towards the front end of the train, where we spot that a table seat is available which gives us more leg room and comfort and somewhere to lay our refreshments out for the journey ahead, also being close to the drivers compartment it also means that we have not got far to walk when we arrive at London. As we are on the Chiltern Railways, it means that we can get comfortable without having to get up and change at Smethwick or Birmingham to change trains as this train is one of the few that leave from Stourbridge Junction travelling all the way through to the Capital. We stop at Cradley Heath, Rowley Regis, Smethwick Galton Bridge and The Hawthorns before arriving at Birmingham Snow Hill, where the train starts it second leg of it's journey, by the time we are at Birmingham we are now snug making the journey more pleasurable knowing that we have not got to get out into the early morning cold. After a few minutes we leave Birmingham Snow Hill where the next stop is Solihull and the train gets quite full, which means that the table has to be shared. The train can now reach top speeds now, only slowing down to stop at Warwick Parkway, Leamington Spa and Banbury. As Mr UKBuses gets more comfortable and has had an early start, he has a nap, which enables me to load the Kobo application on my BlackBerry Playbook Tablet and read some of my book, The London of Jack the Ripper: Then and Now, a book which gives information about the murders as well as information on where they took place and where they are / would have been located in today's London. As I start reading, The Ten Bells public house is mentioned along with another pub, The Princess Alice, which after using the trains free Wi-Fi to do a little research, is not too far from the previously mentioned Ten Bells, this has been noted and could be visited on future trips. After a few chapters read, I find it hard to concentrate as there seems to be a loud noise coming from the train, sorry my mistake, the people around our table including myself are having to suffer from Mr UKBuses snoring, our guests seems to have a smile on their faces when Mr UKBuses stirs from his nap. I do have to interrupt the person sitting next to me as I need to make a little visit to the on-board facilities, once completed, interrupting her again. Mr UKBuses decides to follow suit interrupting the person sitting next to him.

We have been on board for just over two hours and at 09:37, our trains pulls in on time at London Marleybone, and we only have to take a few steps on the platform to reach the station's concourse. The first port of call is outside the front of the station for a "fresh air" break, whilst I am doing this Mr UKBuses has walked down the street to take a few pictures of buses laying over. Cigarette finished and now it is time to make a start for our day around London, well it would be but I cannot find Mr UKBuses, and if anyone remembers the shop keeper in Mr Benn, as if by magic he suddenly appears from out of nowhere. With us reunited, we head back into the station and go onto the underground and we have our Oyster Cards out ready, the first tap will allow us to get through the barriers and also "physically" add the money that we paid when we topped up, well Mr UKBuses card wont as he is told to "Seek Assistance" (something I have been telling him for years), but his second tap lets him through. Down the long escalator we go and onto the Bakerloo line, where we only go a few stops to Oxford Circus where we change onto the Central Line for a long journey underground to Ealing Broadway. Upon arrival at Ealing Broadway, we walk out of the station and have a walk around the streets to get us to our first planned location. The walk says eight minutes on the plan, but it seems longer and Mr UKBuses himself seems to think we are lost, but he spots "The Grove" and we are back on track. We walk further down and arrive at Windsor Road, this means we are at the first location and we carry on our tradition of finding out filming locations, this time "Only Fools and Horses". Our first of two Only Fools locations today brings us to a shop, pictured right, which appeared in an episode called "The Chain Gang", in which Del and company invest in some gold chains and are also part of a scam when the seller gets taken ill in a restaurant where he is selling the gold on behalf of the gang, and is taken off by ambulance (his sons) with the gold still handcuffed to him. The shop was actually used as the restaurant in the episode and we take a couple of minutes to look at the surrounding area, looking at where Del Boy's van was parked and Mike's car was parked. The blue car in the picture is where the phoney ambulance would pull up. As with all filming locations that we have visited, I notice that the road seems smaller than what it appears on screen. Filming location number one out of the way, we carry on up the street and have a short walk to Grange Road and a bus stop where service 65 will turn up to take us towards the next Only Fools filming location.

A few minutes pass and a London United Service 65 pulls up, we board and don't have far to go and after a journey time of approximately seven minutes, we arrive at South Ealing Underground Station, well we nearly passed it after one of Mr UKBuses short notice stops was in place. A few photographs are taken and we make our way inside the station, as we walk in a couple of ladies are handing out "Co-Op" leaflets and inform Mr UKBuses that they normally charge for a photograph, Mr UKBuses responds but I am unable to tell you what he said on here. We make our way down to the platform and we are on the Picadilly Line, our train arrives and we only have one stop to go and soon we arrive and alight at Acton Town, the local area serving us up with another "big" location used in Only Fools and Horses. Again we have to do a bit of walking to get to the filming location, and after aproxiamately ten minutes, and walking down a number of streets we arrive on a street called Avenue Road and as we walk further down the road a familiar sight appears, all thirteen floors of it, and it is a place called "Harlech Tower", but for many people they will know it as "Nelson Mandela House", see picture left, this was used as the block of flats that Del Boy, Rodney and Grandad lived at in the first couple of series (filming later moving to a location in Bristol). With no sign of Grandad, Rodney or Del Boy and after a few photographs are taken, we carry on and after five minutes we arrive at Mean Road, and we time it right as we arrive at the bus stop as a First London Service E3 bus turns up and takes us for a little journey, before arriving back at the Acton Town Underground Station. We alight the bus and  head back down to the platform to get back onto the Picadilly Line, where we head for Picadilly Circus, but as we are on our journey in the depths of London, we decide to get off a station early and alight at Green Park. Back to ground level we walk to the bus stop located outside the tube station, and after a couple of normal service 9's pass us, our "Routemaster" operated by London United, Service 9 pulls up and we step onto the platform and up the steps where the conductor comes towards us and produces his Oyster Card scanner, with mine working this time on this type of scanner, and it takes us for the short journey (we get a shorter journey due to a diversion towards the end of the route), and we arrive at Trafalgar Square, where we decide to have a spot of lunch. Our normal dinnertime public house is located just around the corner and after a short walk we arrive at J D Wetherspoons "The Lord Moon of The Mall", and as I wait at the bar to get the first round in, Mr UKBuses searches for a table, after a couple of minutes walking around the pub, he comes back to say that there are no tables, and luckily I hadn't been served, so we decide we have to search elsewhere for food.

We make our way to the bus stops opposite and we wait a few minutes for a Go-Ahead London General Service 11 to arrive which will take us to Victoria, where a J D Wetherspoons we have sampled food whilst in London before, is situated. After alighting the bus close to Victoria Bus Station, we take a short walk, taking pictures of buses laying over along the way, and walk into J D Wetherspoons "The Willow Walk", this pub always offering a friendly and polite service as we can vouch for on previous visits. I make my way to the bar, and Mr UKBuses says that he will find a table. After a couple of minutes I am served, and judging by the lack of Mr UKBuses by my side, I gather that he has found a table, which is a good thing for him but not for me as I have no idea which direction he took, as I scan the pub from where I'm standing, this gentleman at the back seems to be waving his arms around frantically. Sorry, my mistake as it is not a gentleman trying to take flight, it is Mr UKBuses, so I walk towards the "back of the Wetherspoons", and take a seat. I alert to Mr UKBuses that I am about to take a "Bladder Stop", with the crossing of my legs pointing out that I am desperate for this stop. Mr UKBuses comes up with the good idea of me ordering the food first as "I'm up" (theoretically a good idea, but the gents is a few steps away from the table, the bar quite a few more steps further). I wait a couple of minutes at the bar and order the food, with Mr UKBuses opting for his BBQ Chicken Melt, without the "Melt", and myself the Beef Burger. I take my free drink to the table, and luckily there are no wet patches on my trousers, but before Mr UKBuses suggests me getting the condiments as "I'm still up", I make a dash to the toilets first, getting the sauces and salt and vinegars on the way back. The food does not take long to arrive and we tuck in and after we have devoured the food, we give it a few minutes to settle in our stomachs before we make a move, see picture right, the sign is ready to inform Mr UKBuses of the dangers ahead. We are now ahead of the plan, and also at the location which we should of caught the bus to after lunch from Trafalgar Square. We head out of the door and thanking the sign for the advice, Mr UKBuses does not fall down the steps and we have a short walk around the corner before we arrive back at the next photographing location, we just have to walk around half a mile of fencing to actually get to it, the location being Victoria Bus Station.

The bus station is currently undergoing a redevelopment which is also causing a few delays to services because the buses have less space to move as normal and are causing a little congestion, this also means that the main bus station is more busier with passengers which can ruin your photographs when people walk in front of you, as can be seen in the photograph, left, with a stranger  walking in front of me, who is a secret fan of the TV show "rainbow" as he is displaying it on the back of his coat. Photographs taken (well what I could), we decide to move on and we need to get aboard a Service 38, which is also the route that the currently solo "Borismaster" is running on, but with four Arriva London Service 38 buses in a group at Victoria Bus Station, it is not due any time soon, so we board the bus at the front of the pack, and make our way to Angel, Islington. We are on board our service 38 bus for approximately forty minutes when Mr UKBuses does his now famous "short notice" stops, and we get up out of our seats quite quickly and get off the bus before it has chance to pull off again. We cross the road, where we get a chance to take a few more photographs before getting on the tube to our next and final filming location of the day. Well, we would get there if we could find the Angel Underground Station, according to the bus stop we are outside of the station but we cannot see it, until we spot the "Roundel" up the street, so we make our way back underground again onto the Northern Line where we have a ride to the Chalk Farm Underground Station. As we alight at the station we follow the "way out" signs and come face to face with a lift, we enter into the lift and assume that we are deep underground, but as we leave the lower level, it takes about a second before we are at ground level. To get to our next filming location we have to walk a distance, well about five steps. We are standing outside a dry cleaners, which Mr UKBuses takes a few photographs of. It turns out that we are standing outside of what was one of the few locations that were used for "The Winchester Club" in the TV Show Minder. As we couldn't see Arthur or Terry, we make our way back into the lift at Chalk Farm and in the short time ever in the lift and back onto the Platform and back on The Northern Line. After about fifteen minutes we arrive at Moorgate, where we change onto the Hammersmith and City Line where this will take us to our London regular, "The Blind Beggar".

As we arrive at Aldgate East, we decide to have a change of plan, and we alight and go in search of the "other" pub that was supposed to have been used by Jack The Ripper, and with the name still stuck in my head from the book I read on the train earlier, we go hunting for it. We have to walk up Commercial Road to get to the pub, a road that we are used to from previous visits to The Ten Bells. As we come back into the light from Aldgate East Underground, we realise that we have come out of the wrong entrance, and once we get our bearings, we locate Commercial Road and start walking. After a few minutes we spot a pub sign and have found the our second Jack The Ripper pub, "The Princess Alice", but we won't be trying it out today as it is shut, it doesn't look like it has closed down, so perhaps on a future visit we will try again. Whilst we are in the area, we decide to walk further up the street for our third visit to our original Jack The Ripper pub, "The Ten Bells". We can tell it is busy as we spot customers with drinks in their hands outside. Our last visit found that the bar has been moved into the centre of the pub, which means it also uses more space, and as we are in daylight, the pub looks different from our last visit in November when it was pitch black, inside and out. Drinks served, we make our way outside, after a few minutes, the landlord comes out and tells us that we are "out of line", quite literally, we are out of the line, a faint white chalk line that, due to his licensing agreement, customers have to stay in if holding drinks. We move into line, and finish our drinks off and then I am treated to a very rare experience. Mr UKBuses has his wallet out and I'm able to see inside and the contents. At this point Mr UKBuses informs me that he is starting to get tired, probably because of the weight of the wallet. Drinks are finished, which means that with no drinks in hand, we can leave the confines of the line and we make our way down Commercial Road to the nearest bus stop. We wait about ten minutes before a First London Service 67 turns up and takes us the short distance to Aldgate Bus Station. As we are dropped off around the back of the bus station, it gives us a chance to get a few more photographs of the station and the vehicles using it. After the photographs are taken we decide to make our way back to London Marylebone, so we walk along the main Aldgate High Street to wait for our bus to take us their. After a few minutes waiting, a Stagecoach London Service 205 turns up and takes us all the way back to London Marylebone, after passing Liverpool Street, Kings Cross and Euston railway stations along the way. We arrive and alight outside of London Marylebone and we have just under thirty minutes before our train is due.

I pop into Marks and Spencers Food which is located inside the station to get my refreshments for the journey back, Mr UKBuses decides to go to Burger King so that he can have his meal on the train just after we board. Whilst Mr UKBuses is waiting for his food, I pop outside for a "fresh air" break, the last one of the day in London and just as I am finishing Mr UKBuses finds me outside, his meal in hand, and we head inside to find out what platform we have to board our train. As we make our way inside we see something that is very rare and I don't think I have seen this before on my prior visits to this station - loads and loads of passengers hanging around the departures boards awaiting platform announcements for their trains back home. We are in the same prediciement, our platform has not been announced yet. The train to Harrow-on-the-Hill is announced and that halves the passengers waiting as a mass exodus is taken to Platform 1. Our train is next and it has been announced that our train will be leaving from platform 6. With this announcement, Mr UKBuses makes his way in the direction of Burger King as he assumes that the way to the platform is this way, he doesn't notice that as the train has been announced, everyone seems to be coming past us to get to their train. As Mr UKBuses spots this, he starts to make a run in the station towards Platform 6 (he is giving rare showings of things today), and we arrive at Platform 6, where I have a blonde moment and notice this empty carriage with a table seat available. I press the button on the door and nothing seems to be happening, looking further up the platform I notice that we are trying to board the wrong train. Mr UKBuses gives another sprint and we finally board the train and as we do, we luckily drop into a table seat which will give us more comfort for the journey ahead.

Our train leaves London Marylebone, and after the announcer informs us that the delay in platform information was due to a passenger taken ill at Wembley, affecting services entering the city, it answer the question as to why there were loads standing at the departure boards. As we get comfortable, Mr UKBuses consumes his Burger King meal, and I boot up the Playbook to look at booking tickets for our next trip. First off I choose thetrainline.com, but as Mr UKBuses finishes his tea, he recommends going onto londonmidland.com, finally giving away his secrets as you don't have to pay a booking fee. After completing the wrong registration, I register for the booking side of the website and with the account created and after about thirty minutes, tickets are finally booked for Nottingham in a couple of weeks time, which will also see a welcome return in 2012 of Mr D9. With the tickets booked it is time to relax for the rest of the journey and Mr UKBuses has a play on my PlayBook. We have suffered a few delays on the train journey back, and as we arrive late back at Birmingham Moor Street, we alight and I find out that I have time to go to the front of the station for a "fresh air" break. With the break over we head back inside and wait at our platform for the 19:51 train which takes us back to Stourbridge Junction stopping at all the local stations along the way. We arrive back at Stourbridge Junction and make our way to Platform 1 where we wait for "The Dodger" to take us to Stourbridge Town, or Stourbridge Interchange which is what it will be called once it has been completed. We board "The Dodger" and it looks like we will be treated to the driving of Mr Phil Tonks, but as we take our seat he comes over and says his hello's and that he is off to go for a break and eat his Pot Noodle, a king sized one at that. With Mr Tonks gone, we will have to wait another day for his driving experience, "The Dodger" takes the short line taking us back into Stourbridge Town, where we have a quick walk past the new interchange and down to our stop situated on Birmingham Street where Black Diamond's Service 276A takes us back home on our final journey of the day. We arrive at Wollaston and I say goodbye to Mr UKBuses, and have a little chat with the bus driver about the forthcoming F1 season before alighting the bus and going to Lucky House for my now traditional Chinese supper to eat once I arrive back home.

Another brilliant day out with yet another cracking plan by Mr UKBuses, which I give a big thanks to for finding the filiming locations and a good day out. With the tickets booked for March 17, it looks as though we will have another cracking day out if today's antics are anything to go by.