WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get. This is a journal blog, an explore-blog, a bit of this and that blog. Sharing where the mood takes me. Perhaps it will take you too.

Menootering and Pootering

I've been pootering around getting a great deal of nothing done. Blame the Masters Snooker. Very distracting. That and just generally having a lack of will to apply myself to anything of any real value. I've got to get myself in hand!!!

It is Sunday evening, and this blog goes live in an hour... because I never changed it from India time, which it was on when I set up at the ashram. It's a time that kinda suits me so I have never worried about it. This is a global community and time is relative to the point of being almost inconsequential here! Anyway, I realised, yet again, that I had not scheduled posts for this week. EEk.

However, this arvo, I did get to stripping images from the SD cards of both the Fudge and the Hisstix. Poor ol' Fudge has been a wee tad ignored of late. I cannot carry it around on the buses, so it stands guard here, on a tripod, at the Hutch's window. There is no doubt it is the stronger of the two cameras when it comes to zoom and the moon. However, the Hisstix is really doing quite a marvellous job on my journies, that I am not missing the heftier camera too much.

The point here being, that I now have something to share with you this post. Buses. I take the ferry across to the 'mainland', connect with the Clydeflyer 901 from Gourock to Glasgow, then connect with the Citylink 900 from Glasgow to Edinburgh (then connect with the X62 Peebles bus, which drops me at the foot of dad's street in the South of the city). Yep, it's quite the travel and average time is 5.5 hours. I have enjoyed my transition to public transport, though - especially as it is free to me with the Saltire Card. Mostly the trips are pretty comfy. However, they just got a wee tad space-age on the 900 route.

When I boarded the bus on the last trip back to the Hutch, I was faced with this...


Now, I may not have shown you the 900 bus before - which has really just been a glorified coach. I say 'the 900' as if it were only the one. In actual fact there are many and the service runs every fifteen minutes, 24/7.

This bus I was boarding was one of no less than eighteen shiny new machines added to the Citylink fleet! While they are not electric, as one might have hoped, they do use the 460hp Euro 6 engine, which is considered to be industry-standard low-emission on diesel fuel. I do think they missed a trick with all this expenditure not to have at least attempted hybrid, which Lothian buses in Edinburgh are now transitioning to.

The passenger experience itself is very 21st century. Not only is the conformation closer to the standard city bus, with low-level boarding and double-deck seating arrangement, all the lighting, including headlamps, are LED and there is a plentiful supply of connectivity points. Not least on the little tables on the lower deck - which one of the operators was delighted to tell me I could use to charge my phone. If I had such a smart devil requiring unplugged zapping! The lower deck lighting did have me a little puzzled though... yes, it's what you see here!


The seating was very comfy and the ride very smooth, a lot less 'rock and roll'. But then I was sitting at almost ground level. The story might be different upstairs.

Viewing of the external was hampered on the lower deck. As you can see from the above image, the 'lintel' is at neck height. As for the forward view - well that is almost nil, too.


I can feel myself wanting to explore the upper deck on a ride before long if I can get the legs to cooperate! I suspect the viewing is likely to be considerably better - especially as the name of this model is The Panorama!!!

I did manage to squeeze off this shot of the castle as it rolled by... Watch this space. There will be more!


15 comments:

  1. Very interesting report on the new buses. The lighting looks very, er, blue. I hope you can manage to try the upper deck sometime - always a much better view in my experience. (Although I shudder now to think of all the secondary smoke I inhaled in eleven years of travelling on the top deck of a double decker bus to and from school in Nottingham in the 1970s and 70s....)
    Cheers, Gail.
    PS As you say, a shame the buses don't at least have hybrid engines.

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    1. Hari OM
      it IS very 'er' blue!!! Not at all sure why they would have gone for this. I was just thinking that the lower deck is a bit like a bunker is maybe for those who have no interest in what is going on outside! Once out on the road, the blueness toned down a bit from the natural light. All I could think was that it reminded me of a giant mozzie-zapper like would be on the walls of fish shops in OZ!!!  Yxx

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  2. Ohhh that is one sleek way to travel. Seats very comfy looking. The blue has me a tad puzzled. But it would be easy on the eyes I expect good for those wanting to nap and just a good for those reading or sightseeing.

    We have some hybrid buses in Raleigh. Propane powered. Those buses have all the hybrid stuff on top. Not many as they are very expensive.
    Hugs Cecilia

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  3. so glad you got your photos off, this is really interesting. I have not ridden a bus since I was 19 and used to ride one to get to work, for about a year. we are so spread out here it is difficult to find buses, it can be done with a lot of walking.. I like the looks of the bus, the blue light part is slightly claustrophobic for me, but might be better if I were there. I bet the views and photo ops are awesome from up top. I don't care for steps either, or rather my legs don't

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  4. I am thinking the wee funk you find yourself in, is the caretaking of the Father and nothing to be done about that

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  5. If/when I do get the job I want, they are moving to electric at the end of this year. Although I did hear from one woman who did drive the prototype that the suspension for the driver's seat was absolutely terrible. I hope not, because that would mean back to square -100 regarding headaches.
    The blue light might be so addicts can't shoot up? That's the colour they tend to use in public toilets over here anyway...

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    1. Hari OM
      Interesting... I was unaware of that use in loos - haven't come across any of those here. Though I can understand the logic of it, I suspect those desperate for a fix will go ahead anyway, so I think it could get messy! 

      No. I've actually been checking up on this since I posted. As far as buses go, at least, this seems to be an innovation for minimising the interference on the front window for the driver. Apparently, it is supposed to be 'non-reflective' light. However, I have some photos proving otherwise! However, there is a lot of opinion from places that have been using it for quite some time (NZ for example) that passengers who are prone to headaches or migraine are being triggered by these lights and so they are being phased out again!!! I know I certainly didn't particularly like it - but once out in the daylight, it was fairly lowkey. YAM xx

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    2. No, Mara. No more headaches.

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  6. That sure is an interesting color for light in the bus. It sounds nice to be able to sit back and let someone else do the driving especially if you can ride for free.

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  7. What a great investment to get such very nice buses. That certainly makes riding the bus a lot more comfortable. The top deck does look like fun if you want the views!

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  8. Yay for comfy upgraded buses, and viewing deck as well. Makes me want to do a bit of traveling.

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  9. wow that is a super way to travel and to see so much more than to be behind your own wheel... even better than the bus they had in Hairy Potter ;O)

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  10. I can't remember the last time I was on a bus and that one looks pretty plush to me.

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  11. What a nice bus to travel in
    hugs
    Mabel & Hilda

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  12. I see two cup holders in front of one seat. Is the device in the middle a warmer? Not sure about the blue lights but I have never really thought about it. thanks for sharing, namaste, janice xx

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