Thursday, 30 April 2009

About public transport in the UK (7) [Despre transportul în comun în UK]

I don’t know if I’ve grown tired of keeping this blog – in spite of having little stories to tell + photos for at least 100 other posts :-) – or whether my thirst for vainglory is upset with having so few readers (one notable exception though!), but I think my words are not as important as sharing pictures from the UK.

Moreover, little photostories were the main purpose of the current series, as I am not particularly fond of techical aspects of motor vehicles. I just want to share some images you can’t regularily find on British city streets anymore, since these ‘classicaldouble-decker buses are no longer being produced.

It’s too bad that even most city sight seeing buses are more modern versions :-(, nevertheless, in London tourists can still travel with such a bus on London Route 9 and London Route 15 – two ‘heritage routes’.

The original double decker (AEC Routemaster) remains a symbol of London, after decades of service (1956-2005). Beyond looking good – like steam locomotives looked good, didn’t they? – of course that there are various aspects worth considering whether these buses were really among the best solutions for public transport in the world or not.

Anyone interested in an extensive history of these buses – click here. For more (and better than mine!) pictures of these lovely Routemasters – click here, while for seeing dozens of models of double-deckers derived from the original AEC Routemaster – click here or click here.

For diecast metal or plastic scale models (hopefully some of them not ‘made in China’ but in the UK), for magnets, postcards etc – I recommend patiently investigating through souvenir shops in London. At first glance, a tourist could feel overwhelmed with the ‘same things’, but nice surprises (higher quality little toys) are alwyas possible.

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ia uite ce chestie! eu tocmai ma pregatesc sa scriu despre ceva din Londra si la "tema zilei" vorbeste Lord Mayor of City of London (Nick Anstee): despre investitile lor la noi, ale noastre la ei (specificand acum ca e vorba de cea intelectuala!!!!!), despre constructia unei scoli si a unei puscarii la noi, etc.
dar sa revenim la topic:nu e vorba doar de double decker, dar si de vechile taxiuri, cutiile postale si cabinele telefonice.
auzisem cu ceva ani in urma ca vroiau sa scoata defintiv din circulatie aceste superfaine autobuze, precum si cabinele telefonice.
din fericire inca n-au facut-o. cel putin n-au facut-o complet. sunt fan al acestor 4 simboluri ale Londrei.
da, evident ca am si magneti de frigider si niste minuscule suveniruri cu ele. am spus deja ca-mi plac foarte, foarte mult.
din pacate cu autobuzul aceste n-am calatorit, nici cu varianta modernizata, dar am fost cu taxiul. e bun si atat!
:-))
C.L.

MunteanUK said...

@ C.L.

nu inteleg nici eu de unde setea asta nebuna a unor 'destepti' din UK de a renunta la farmecul anumitor simboluri.

cum automobilele pt firme de taxi (produse de compania Manganese Bronze) au ramas la fel de decenii, oare n-ar fi putut ramane neschimbate si autobuzele?

dat fiind succesul telefoniei mobile, evident ca niste cabine telefonice par desuete, dar tot s-ar mai putea pastra - de pilda, ca 'adapost' de bancomate, automate de reincarcat cartele telefonice...