I've been meaning to blog our new motors for a while. Proper beasts these, at 15 meters long (maximum for rigid body) they kick the sh!t out of the competition! Quite beautiful to drive too. Guess these will be the new 'signature' vehicles for the company. Sorry for poor quality, it was a camera-phone jobby (good quality ones aren't my pics, a colleague took them when they first appeared). All except the bottom two can be clicked for a bigger image.
Parked up at the side of our part of Green Line Coach Station in London Victoria:
Parked in front of one of our (at 13.8m, already larger than normal) Neoplan Skyliners (not my pic):
A true side-on view shows the length well. The 'middle' wheel is stationary, front and rears steer. therefore everything behind the dentre wheel swings out on corners (not my pic):
The passenger cabin. All seats have seatbelts of course, not just those three pairs (not my pic):
Parked at our stop in GLCS London ready to load up:
The wheelchair lift, and lots of low luggage space makes loading and unloading a breeze (not my pic):
Main display part of the dashboard (looks better when all icons fully lit up) the many display screens available are very useful:
Full size guide in the cab:
Wonder how long it will be before a certain other company will copy ours and get the same vehicles; they copied our choice of long Neoplans and 3 months in, well everyone knows what unfortunately happened after new year...and they've not used them since.
Some people out there may associate Megabus with cheap old vehicles that break down etc. This goes to show that's it's not the case! (Breakdowns are a fact of life for all transport companies, bearing in mind vehicles are constantly on the go and do many thousands of miles a week! The mileage a car covers in it's lifetime a coach can cover in 1 or 2 years.
Feeling a lot better this afternoon. No I can't explain it either. It comes and goes in phases...
Took it easy today. Woke up and three hours later I actually got up. I'm allowed to be lazy once in a while! Went up down, had a brief walk in the park (and parking's free there), picked up a parcel. Went to Sainsbury's for some fattening goodies. Went back home afterwards. Exciting stuff I know! Did a bit more tweaking to Purple Mondy... Fitted a sunstrip to my windscreen, fed up of being blinded all the time. Need a new pair of LED clear side repeaters though, the ones I have are starting to turn yellow. Need better front bulbs next (thinking of the new Philips Blue Vision ones, look very nice) and am awaiting delivery of a variable wiper stalk. been meaning to get one of those for ages. Also thinking of bunging in a couple of LED runners in the corners of my bumpers what do you think? Should look nice.
Also been doing a bit of work on my Myspace page, adding pics, vids, stuff like that. And caught up with recent episodes of Lost and Heroes that were recorded on my planner. Who's on Myspace here? I'll add you if you want.
Think I might go and stick a nice juicy pizza in the oven, now my appetite has returned. Chop up a couple of sausages, whack them on, job done. Even made myself a brilliant cappuccino earlier (maybe that's why I'm perky?), not used the espresso machine in a while. Easy to forget how good it tastes. Listening to a bit of Now It's Overhead, always refreshing to chill out to some of that (go have a listen if you like dark/moody alternative music!). Still got Bright Eyes on loop in the car.
Just want to add, isn't Revolving Door Girl very hot? If you have no idea what I'm on about, keep watching the TV ads (for Impulse I think). I wouldn't mind getting trapped in...*ahem*
Work again tomorrow. 2 trips on brand new coaches, hopefully. Then a few days off commencing Thursday, which will be very welcome. Hope the weather's nice so I can get out with my camera. it's been a while.
I know it's a day late but I really couldn't be bothered posting yesterday! Anyway I wanted to post a tune and didn't find a film for yesterday so I just put the two together.
Here is Auf Achse by Franz Ferdinand. This song has been on my mind quite a lot lately (a few people might know why but I don't blog about it here, basically it's all in the words). Good song too so thought I'd share it. Had a quick hunt round the web and found this version of it that somebody made with their pet birdies! This video is al about the song I suppose. The video is just the best I could find in a short time. Enjoy.
Back to a normal fun video next week hopefully!
Anyway. Been busy at work again the last few days, with everyone going home from wherever the f*ck it was they all had to go a couple of weeks ago! Plus the usual ars*holes clogging up the contraflow on the M1 by needing to change lanes at the last instant clogging up everything else for no real reason. But that's always been the same. Finally got to have a go in the new coach the other day (which I've not shown yet, I'll do it in a future post soon). Drives beautifully although seat isn't very comfortable and position is a bit awkward at times but thank goodness for working cruise control. And everything works as it should which is nice. Digital tachos are a bit of a pain though! The length is no problem, getting round London was okay, not much different from the usual ones. Just need to watch as the back end swings out loads when turning, that's where all the extra length is.
The annoying Eastern European homeless guy (regular travellers might know of him) that gets in our way at Victoria trying to help to earn a few quid finally f*cked up yesterday (he's been lurking for over a year, only a matter of time, nobody could get rid of him before and he speak only about 6 words of English). He tried to unload a coach by opening the locker and taking a few bags out. But the coach in question had just started pulling out (having actually just been loaded to depart!) and we couldn't signal the driver to stop in time (he had secured it all just a moment before and was watching the traffic coming round). An CRUNCH the open locker tears into the back of a parked coach it was pulling out around. I believe the Police took the homeless man away and will charge him with criminal damage or something. Maybe now he'll actually get deported, for the best too.
And after a few spins* I'm really enjoying the Bright Eyes - Cassadaga album. (*if you can 'spin' ripped m4a tracks. I guess the iPod/computer hard drive counts, but in the car it's on flash memory...).
If I wanted to get from New York to London under my own stean I'd be stuffed. Look at this page. Note point #23. I actually think that a bit over 29 days is a little optimistic!
Long time no post. Well nothing much happen over easter Chocofest so I couldn't be bothered.
Put a few things up for sale on ebay. Why are there always people that ask the stupiest questions about the items? Just read the description fools.
Good to see such nice weather. If this is global warming then I'm off to burn some tyres (even though I don't believe all that hype). Today I watered the lawn, then did lots of stuff with car such as checking the fluids, wash it, clean out inside etc. Also bought a few lighty things for inside, carbon door protector (since one of my old reflector ones fell off) and a new steering wheel cover. Looking quite nice again. Also moved my backwards beepy thing to a better place and finally fitted new batteries to the keyfob, they died a couple of weeks back. I can't be doing with putting the key in the hole each time, what a kerfuffle.
My brother had an interview about a week ago, and he's been accepted. Yes, he's finally got himself a job at the grand old age of 23! As this job is in Rugeley (near Cannock Chase, not that my brother cares for beautiful natury places, or anything really), he has had less than a fortnight to find a flat, with under a week left. He could just commute but seeing since leaving school he could not be arsed to learn to drive so that's out of the question, and it's too far for public transport, that would take ages. We're all going out for a meal tonight because we won't see much of him after tuesday (especially as he has no personal transport).
Work wasn't too bad over the holiday period, nothing like christmas. Plenty of passengers though, nice and healthy. Plenty of cuties travelling too, good to see there are some around... Hopefully I'll get to have a go on the new long coaches in service tomorrow.
My new Bright Eyes CD 'Cassadaga' arrived yesterday fresh from the U S and A, very nice album. Listen at Saddle Creek.
Finally some news that all chocolate fans might be interested in. I have found the most deliciousest chocolates in the world ever. They are called Sticky Toffees and made by Lily O'Briens. Track them down! I need more...
