Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The end of the 29
am I the only mourner?
Bring back the bend bus
it always had a bad press...well
there were a few little things
like the time I nearly got stabbed
by a 6 inch blade
wielded by a gang of kids
in Seven Sisters Rd.
I never sat at the back again.
It is mourned by the poor
those on benefits
known to them as
the Free Bus.
Why do I miss it then?
It was part of our local landscape
it was such a familiar sight
if you ran for the bus
you'd catch it at the back
just before the doors closed.
It was great for wheelchairs and prams
Yesterday I saw a young woman with a pram
get off the crowded double decker
because the ONE bay
was filled by another pram
and a man with a large suitcase -
this would never happen
with the bendy bus...
Today at the bus stop
looking up the road
I could not see which bus was the 29.
Now they all look the same.
Shame. I miss it
snaking down Green Lanes.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on
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Here here... and back to the 29s again...
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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I always enjoyed challenging Miss Conception's attempts to encourage Spanish practices. The new Gove edition of the King James should sort her out.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I can't speak for the Catholic schools, OAE. They have their own version of events in the bedroom
sorry OT back to the 29...
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Totally OT here and even so, connected..
Boris could have purchased some these new D/Ds off the shelf from Skopje, Macedonia
Skopje managed to get these on the road a lot faster than London was/is able to do - and apparently they add 'flair' to that city.. Nearly as ugly as the Borismaster, they're bound to be a success.
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That's not so much of a problem, building right-hand drive versions.. a lot easier than trying to re-invent the wheel, as has been the case with the Boris Bus.
Photoshop manages it in about 10 seconds.. :o)
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Permalink Reply by GillianM on
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Now I am using a buggy again it was a bit of a blow to see the double decker 29. SO much easier to get on a bendy. Hated them when they first came out though!
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Mind you when my kids were little we had these little stripey fold up buggies. You stood ready with baby in arms, pram folded up to size of a large umbrella, waiting for bus. If you weren't ready the bus driver wouldn't wait. When you got on you stashed pram at front and sat down with baby on yr lap - you took up a minimal amount of room. It was easier to get on and off and a minimum disruption for others.
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Think that's easier when the kids are older. I had a tiny foldaway buggy that I could sling across my back if I wanted to go on the tube and I usually folded it on buses. However, with young babies, they're not suitable and if you've got two under 3s, you can't hold them both. Mothers with young babies often feel quite isolated, especially if it's their first. Being able to get on and off public transport easily makes trips to hospitals or just out a lot easier. Now the bendies are gone, will we see more offers of help from all the haters? If a mum is struggling to collapse a pram and hold a child, maybe ask if you can help? I always appreciated it if someone offered to put something on or off the bus for me. Of course d/d s make it a lot easier for drivers to refuse you entry as well even if people do offer to help. I recall bursting into tears at a bus stop at the hospital shortly after my first was born because the driver refused to wait for me to get on the bus with all my clobber, despite several kind people on the bus offering to come and help me.
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Had similar experience with my first trip w new baby too., next time I was prepared better. However one day I saw a man being aggressively told off by young woman with pram - his crime? He'd kindly put out a hand to steady the pram when bus stopped suddenly. This kind of thing makes people nervous of offering help.
Last week I saw young woman get in w 2 small children - no pram. Bus was packed. She stood with them by doors. No one offered seat or noticed her. I was standing too. I spoke to young woman - look, I said, that woman has two children, would you not like to offer het your seat? She jumped up and so did.person next to her. Sometimes people unconscious in own world - need waking up to surroundings.
But back to 29 - it was so much better for parents with buggies, also for elderly or less able - they got on the front, disabled seats there. Younger able and fitter got on further down.
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Meaning no one on this thread, I sometimes think that it is a case of not having 'walked in the shoes' (to paraphrase the proverb) of those who struggle with public transport either temporarily, in the case of parenthood, or permanently through disability that makes some people oblivious. I freely admit that I wasn't v observant when I was a lone kid-free commuter with nose in book and headphones on. I remember being with a friend who was already a mum and how she sprang to her feet to help a woman off the bus with a young child that I hadn't thought to offer help to. Lesson learned. That said, it was often the young i.e. teenagers who would give me their seat on the bus during my first pregnancy while the middle-aged stared past me.
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In my last few weeks of pregnancy I was standing up on public transport and had to ask someone if I could have their seat due to severe sciatica in my legs; he turned to me and said ‘’NO’’. Then when I had my baby in a pushchair and had to travel in rush hour a woman turned to me and said I shouldn’t be in London with a baby in rush hour and promptly pushed me aside to get on the tube. Nice! Sometimes people are conscious of their surroundings but just rude and selfish and never more so it seems than on public transport.
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