Get comfortable, this was a long one.
So I planned to do the D8 today then go to Upminster for the Esteems on the 346. Woke up, looked through some stuff, and saw a lot of stuff that I'd have to avoid:
Tower Bridge closed (knew that, but still annoying)
District signal failure at Barking
TfL Rail closed east of Chadwell Heath
Heavy traffic around Blackwall
and West Ham playing later
*throws D8 plan out the window*
199 to Greenwich (19841): Typical non-refurb E40D, but this one definitely felt faster than usual, a bit like refurb 19844.
180 to Woolwich Arsenal (PVL373): Turned up at the Cutty Sark stop to see the next 177 showing 10min and no 180s in sight. I had a thought about hopping somewhere via the 286 but fortunately before I could walk away this showed up. Bus was absolutely rammed full, didn't sound too healthy with a knocking sound every time we set off, and just before the Woolwich Ferry got overtaken by PVL366 carrying fresh air.
DLR to London City Airport: Walked down the escalator to be greeted by the train's door alarm...
Oh well, next train in 3min which wasn't too busy.
474 to Beckton (WVL414): Turned up right as I reached the stop, nothing else interesting to report.
173 to Dagenham (T191): Boring journey thanks to A13 traffic.
175 to Romford (19754): Ex-PD refurb E40D, also quite nippier than usual. Traffic looked quite heavy along the route though.
Eat chips
370 to Upminster (VLA117): Faced with a 15 minute wait for this one, nothing too awful. The bus seemed to lean very heavily to the left even while moving - presumably a suspension fault?
346 to a side road near Cranham (230): Of course on the first day, the 346 isn't on iBus and its entire service is bunched.
How typical for first days. The bus was in remarkably good nick bar a few rattles and such.
Attempt photos, they all fail
Get stranded due to the aforementioned bunched service
248 to Upminster (15020): Quite thrashy
and a lovely refurb Scania too.
District line to Dagenham Heathway (some S stock): Largely empty. Didn't bother going further because Barking and west of it would be screwed with crowds of people going to the match.
Get caught in the rain
Wait 20ish minutes (15 according to Countdown) because of a gap on the 173
173 to Beckton Station (T65): After the wait, I got this beast
Quite a fun thrash on the A13, or the bit before we encountered a 10 minute queue to enter Beckton...
474 to London City Airport (WVL414): Same bus, different driver. Nothing special to report here except the bus did make a wrong turn going out of a side road giving another, small delay.
This turned out to be important as I missed a Woolwich Arsenal train
DLR to Woolwich Arsenal: Standing loads.
Get off, miss a 53, do a quick sweep of LVF to find the 177 and 180 are screwed with bunchings and turns.
*fanfare* Time for a really winding indirect route home! Hooray(!)
386 to Blackheath, Royal Standard (36327): Arrived with a curtailment, and got to smell the local population eating chicken then dumping it on the back seats for half the trip..
At least the bus itself was all right.
As the bus reached Royal Standard, I found that Creek Road was closed by an accident eliminating my plan of getting something to Greenwich and a 199
right as I had just missed a 53.
53 to New Cross (13031): Decent bus, stayed in electric mode for quite a long time, and overtook that 53 I just missed which had turned to New Cross Gate.
*pulls up at the lights at Deptford Bridge* *a DWL turns out of the side road and disappears over the horizon* *20min wait in the rain*
225 home (LDP208): I was running about 2 hours late by this point, and what better bus to take me home. Shaky dirty Dart making a groaning noise typical of clapped out E200s. Still, it was much quicker and more beastly than the 06reg so I'm not complaining
Still, er, I still have to do the D8 and get photos of the 346 so that may as well have been entirely pointless.