Suzy, Drinker Of Coffee

Day 1 – Newtyle & Perth trip

This was the first day of my 10-days-for-the-price-of-5 holiday. (I have 10 days off, taking five days paid leave, and combining it for rest days). My normal shift at the call centre is 1300-2200 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday (the second most oft asked question, after “when’s the next bus to…”). So, you get the idea. For the first seven days I will have the Stagecoach “SuperMegaRider” ticket - £30 for 7 days travel. It covers all Stagecoach in Fife, all Stagecoach in Perth services, Stagecoach in Glasgow services within the City plus the X25, Stagecoach Western Service 4 within Glasgow, and has recently been extended to cover all Meffan’s services, and all Strathtay services – with the exception of cross-boundary services into Aberdeenshire, where your ticket is valid to Marykirk (8, 9, 29, 102, 104), Gannochy Bridge (31 inbound), or Northwaterbridge (31 outbound, 339). Yum Yum – where do you go first?

My mother wanted me to meet up with her for lunch, before heading for Newtyle to see the relatives. I’d planned to go onto Perth – thought about waiting for the new Friday extra-late Perth-Pitlochry-Blair Atholl return, but wanted to save my energies for tomorrow (and you should see what I’ve got planned!)

So, we met at Dundee Bus Station, and proceeded to City Quay. She still complains that the 31, which passes close to their place, doesn’t run anymore, because it used to run all the way into City Quay, saving the walk. I happen to know she was one of two regular passengers on that service sometimes… if that. The City Quay end was a waste of time, the rest would have been worth saving, but that’s for another day. She wanted to take me to this restaurant at the outlet, called Saks. Don’t confuse this with the American store chain, or even the hair & beauty place in town, as this is fully titled Saks Steakhouse. They do a wide variety of stuff, with a three-course lunchtime buffet. The food was not bad, nothing special, but a wide enough choice. I wasn’t too sure about one of the cakes, but there was plenty of ice cream to try instead! As we left City Quay, Mum had a look in the health food store doing a sale on, and buys a fair bit (she was fully aware she still had to get to Newtyle and back!, and that I would be only going out i.e. not coming back with her to Dundee. As an interesting throwback to where we were headed next – after the last few shops and the bus station – I snapped a picture of The Frigate Unicorn, from the other side. My dad used to be a volunteer worker and show-guide on the boat, and the two of them had their Silver Wedding Anniversary a few years ago now.

Crossing over to the bus station reminds you of the traffic lights, which appear to be stuck when a pedestrian presses the crossing signal, for up to two minutes! If you are in a hurry and heading west, you may wish to walk via the Casino instead! Anyway, after all that, we headed for Newtyle. Trident 18508 on the 57, and I bought the first £30 weekly that driver had sold so far!

We got to Newtyle, and all is fine. Dad had put together a bag of clothes he was no longer using – well, two – and it turns out a couple of the things had shrunk somewhat… but my mum had resolved this with the home before we left. Yes, Dad & “Auntie” Margaret are fine.

We were heading back for our buses, and this is where I start to get something that I’d missed out on – until now. By this point we’ve been out for a few hours, but my mum now starts to complain about the length of my skirt… now, obviously I missed out on that sort of “fun” when I was younger, for obvious reasons, but she did follow it up with “I wouldn’t let your sister go out like that…” No comment, but I can confirm it was knee-length, just! It was a little on the big side for me, I thought! Well, either that or I've lost even more weight...

She got another Trident, on the 57 back to Dundee, while I went onto Perth on Volvo Olympian 962 (I will start to use the new fleetnumbers as soon as they are on everything!) all the way through to Perth Bus Station. I then fancied a few bits & pieces from Tesco, so took Stagecoach in Perth Mercedes 47051,on the 14 to opposite Tesco Crieff Road, then crossed over to Tesco. Whilst I was shopping, the bus continued to Pitcairngreen & Bridgeton, and I came out in time to get the same bus back to South Methven Street, where I made it to South Street in time for Strathtay 615 on the 1910 16 back to Dundee.

I can’t be the only one who wants to make journeys like that, can I ? The opportunity to cross Dundee, cross Perth, etc. on different services, is now even more open, with tickets like this. The opportunity also arises for crossing Montrose or the Aberdeenshire boundary, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. How long have First been running trains and buses in Scotland now, with little sign of integration? From the Stagecoach takeover of Traction Group to the first phase of new Strathtay tickets – even with an OFT investigation in the way – was six and a bit months…

posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:57