Avid Readers (hehem….),
May I again apologise for the long delay since my last post. It has been totally hectic as I have put the final touches to two modules’ assessments: one about the future of Local History Museums in London, the other about Torture at the Tower of London. Exciting stuff, but not what this blog is all about.
So, I promise I have been procrastinating, I mean, working when I could on this project and have been going through all the photos I have taken on the route, editing and renaming them. I have designated all the stops a special code which may or may not prove helpful in the long run. It is useful because now all the files are in route order e.g. from Kingston, Fairfield Bus Station is ‘K1’, Eden Street is ‘K2’, Cromwell Road is ‘K3’ etc. It is not useful because duplicate stop names now have two codes e.g. Fairfield Bus Station is also ‘S46’ being the last stop from Sutton on the 213. I’m not sure I’d make a very good archivist, managing information is tricksy!
As well as messing about on Photoshop, I have been practising the art of ‘participant observation’. If you ever use the 213, I’m the one with the little green notebook writing down everything you say! Mostly I have been observing myself as the little gems of insight below will attest:
8/5/13 towards Kingston, 1pm: Ate my lunch on the bus, it was tricksy because of the balsamic dressing – not too stinky though
8/5/13 towards Sutton, 6pm: Bus on diversion due to closure of Eden Street. Smells of lime jelly; traffic is bad
9/5/13, towards Sutton, 7.50pm: Cold, drizzly rain makes waiting for the bus not very nice! Bus on diversion from Kingston Hospital to Langley Grove, down Coombe Lane West and Traps Lane
10/5/13, towards Kingston, 9am: Ran for the bus – always a difficult call because you never know if the driver will wait; still no announcement for Brabham Court; Gary the Transport Surveyor for RBK was on the bus, ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’
24/5/13, towards Sutton, 5pm: Two guys and a lass talking about clubbing, the lass had spent so much at Ann Summers she ‘got free lube’ and was happy to share that insight with the whole bus.
25/5/13, towards Kingston, 9am: Just missed my usual bus and since they aren’t so regular on Saturdays it means I will be later for work than I want to be; X26 goes past at 9.03am, could’ve probably made that had I walked directly to Worcester Park
More to follow – I promise to start some serious eavesdropping. The problem is, most of it isn’t particularly wholesome listening. In the past I have heard about: a man going to the magistrates’ for a hearing telling his mate he hopes to get off a custodial sentence; a woman arguing with her partner over the phone about custody of their child; a man questioning the paternity of an unknown woman’s baby, and how the likely father was a nutcase; who fancies who, who is sleeping with who. Maybe it’s just that these are the conversations which stick in the mind… I should probably frequent the lower deck more often to hear about babies and shopping….
213bus 