Nostalgia is a funny thing.
X15/15A on whatever Livingston wanted to throw out- could have been a Barbie Alexander Royale Volvo Olympian, Scania OmniDekka, ex-National Express Dennis Javelin or one of the scarce Leyland Lions from Glasgow to Livingston and then hope for one of the ex-Glasgow L-Reg Leyland Olympians on the 12 or 16 to Edinburgh and laugh as it tries to reach 40mph at Ingliston and the engine red hot and close to overheating.
Lunch and then a 38 to Falkirk which always involved some kind of Scania going into and out of Bridgend for no good reason, into Falkirk Bus Station/hell hole
Then a 27 from Falkirk to Glasgow via Larbert that was always a Barbie Royale and always late because someone at the time thought that 4 or 5 minute turnrounds on a route that is tightly timed and has a long detour via Larbert, a dogleg section of route via Banton and passes through Camelon, Larbert, Kirky and Bishopbriggs and along the Springburn Expressway with all the lights at Costco/Tesco is great for punctuality!
Or the X37-slightly more reliable with better layovers, half the time buses could'nt run to High Bonnybridge as the bridge was always shut, picking up half the population of Cumernauld Village, struggling to get into the bus stops at Cumbernauld Town Centre due to Canavans and Coakley buses littered everywhere and then the glamourous tour of Greenfaulds and Condorrat, then Mollinsburn and Muirhead and a final blast on the motorway into Glasgow. First Edinburgh would provide quite decent buses, but Cumbernauld would throw out the clapped out Tigers, the suffocating Scanias - SS5 TIB 8513 for instance- no opening windows so when it was sunny it was like a greenhouse and when it was raining it became very musty inside- at least it had high back seats.
£4.75. You don't get much for that these days, that's for sure.
I'd always preferred the X37 because of the Tigers as FiE used to always seem to chuck out any generic First spec Scania L113. One thing I've always regretted though is standing in Falkirk Bus Station and never going for a run on one of the ex-Grampian Atlanteans that seemed to litter the place, though perhaps being from Glasgow, I'd been on enough Atlanteans to last a life time.