June Challenge I.(c) - 6 buses, Bourne Hill and I am hair

[squirmelia]

My notebooks fell off my shelf and I started looking through them and there were journeys I'd been on by bus written in some of them, that I never got around to writing up. Here is one such journey:

I did June Challenge I.(c) Buses, but which June I did it in, I am unsure now. Maybe I have photos and tracks to accompany it somewhere. Anyway, for this challenge, I got on the first bus that came along, then got off after 9 stops.


I started near to St Paul's.

The first bus was the 45 to King's Cross.

St Paul's (?) - Fleet St/Thameslink – Snow Hill – Holborn Circus/Fetter Lane – Gray's Inn Road – Theobald's Road/Clerkenwell Road – Gray's Inn Road / Rosebery Avenue – Guilford Street – Eastman Dental Hospital – Acton Street.

“No war,” is written on a tiny circular window. We pass a “wedding special” bus, but there is just a driver on it.

We head up Gray's Inn Road, where my great grandfather was a policeman. I look for him, imagine him walking up the street, many years ago. Would it be 100 years ago now?

Stuck in traffic, I look at the faces on the buildings and I stare into empty offices. “Save money. Gilette,” a ghost sign says. I watch the Belisha beacons flash, but they are different now – they have halos flashing.

I see The Blue Lion – est 1627. I wonder if my great grandfather went in there?

The next bus is the 17 to Archway.

Acton Street - Swinton Street – King's Cross Station/York Way – Wharfdale Road/Canal Museum – Killick Street – Camere Street – Caledonian Road / Copenhagen Street – Story Street – Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Station – Her Majesty's Prison Pentonville.

The bus sign flickers strangely.

-------U Station/York Way
------ h- S Stopping

I see a girl outside holding a flag that says “Eid” on it in her mouth.

I see a woman in sunglasses wearing a tiny pointy party hat.

The bus crosses the canal and I see police walking down there.

A hen party stands at the bus stop wearing slightly scary masks. I'm not sure of who. The bride?

There's a colourful sculpture (?) at Caledonian Road/Copenhagen Street.

I look at the top of the bus shelter and wonder about the Hellraiser bus stop.

There are birds painted near Caledonian Road.

The third bus I get is the 254 to Edmonton Green.

Her Majesty's Prison Pentonville – Caledonian Road Station – Holloway Delivery Office – Freegrove Road – Camden Road – Chambers Road – Holloway/Nags Head – Seven Sisters Road / Nags Head – Hornsey Road – Durham Road.

“Wake me up when I'm famous,” a child's pink t-shirt says.

The fourth bus I get is the 29 to Wood Green.

Durham Road – Fonthill – Finsbury Park Station – Finsbury Park / Blackstock Road – Alexandra Grove – Manor House Station / Woodberry Grove – Rowley Gardens – Endymion Road – Harringay Green Lanes – Mattison Road

29 to Wood Green is a busy bus. We go past Gillespie Park. I see BT Plus adverts scattered around.

Finsbury Park has a fence around it. Presumably an event.

There's a softball club and people are playing. There's “Mr Bee Body Art” or is it “Ant”?

It's hot on the bus.

The fifth bus I get is the 141 to Palmers Green.

Mattison Road – St Ann's Road – Beresford Road – Falkland Road – Turnpike Lane Station – Brampton Park Road – Wood Green Shopping Centre – Wood Green Station – Haringey Civic Centre – Nightingale Road

The bus heads down Harringay Green Lanes.

There are interesting food places, such as for Bulgarian breakfast. I see people playing basketball. I see a picture of Psy and it says Gangnam Style on a takeway.

There are people buying bowls of aubergines and watermelons.

I think about D who lived near here for a while.

I see teens carrying their phones down their tops.

D is at Nova now. I wish I was too really. Maybe I should have gone. D & C aren't waiting at Wood Green Station today and C isn't twirling on the bars that are there.

The next bus I get on is the 329 to Enfield.

Nightingale Road – Arcadian Gardens – Berkshire Gardens – Tottenhall Road – North Circular Road – Broomfield Lane – Palmers Green/The Triangle – Lodge Drive – Fox Lane – Bourne Hill.

I've walked around Arcadian Gardens way while doing an Ingress banner once.

There's a book in a bush. “One mole digging a hole.”

“Don't worry, be happy,” it says on a person's t-shirt and there is a panda with doughnuts.

There are people pushing an old white car. There's a pub called The Occasional Half and a hairdresser called “I am hair.”

I stop writing there, after 6 buses.