A late start, and a bit of luck...
Monday 19th December
It was 11:40 before I had even got on anything, so for the 529 it was; 6772 to Walsall Crown Wharf Retail Park, and belt it to the station! I made the 12:15 with 4 minutes to spare, which was an overcrowded 170511, dud, to Tame Bridge Parkway, where I met up with a mate. 4267, a dud, provided my 45 into West Bromwich, in time for winner 1856, on the 4M back to Tame Bridge, in time again for 170509 (last 170/5 needed at LM! Boom!) running on the back of 153364 (still needed as well) to Birmingham... as you could imagine, I was ecstatic, all LM /5s finally cleared, only 2 /6s left!
Birmingham loomed, and a peak extra 5 car for Hereford raced us into the throat of the station, with me hoping the /6 in front was 632 or 633, nope, 631, doh...
Back to ground level, to kill a bit of time until the 14:49 to Hereford, booked as a 150 vice 170, so food was got and a but of bus spotting, so only one X1 branded is now needed. Back through the cavern, and to my joy, 150109, the last LM one for photting, and second for clearing was waiting. To University it was then, or nearly wasn't! It was full to the rafters, meaning I had a right game getting off...
Not chancing it with the Cross City given the earlier delays, I went for an X64 back to city, and wait...oh s***, it's pulled out. Change of plan, 98 then, oh great...
2138, a dud, pulled in, and I was bloody glad to get out of there, the pothead standing next to me was seriously starting to cause my coughing fits again...
Off at Islington Row Middleway (or Five Ways), for a Harborne service round to Old Square, no such luck, so 4192 on the 120 had to make do, not complaining though, awesome Trident that one! A brief walk, and I went for an X51 back, 6737 again, all of these are dud now, so no chance of scores there, to Walsall, through the traffic of the A34, yay. Quieter than usual, however our X51 certainly wasn't! Full and standing as usual...
Walsall loomed, along with my last bus, Sandwell Travel RN52 EOX, on the 333X, the suffix making no sense as it isn't even close to a limited stop route! Back to my nans, where I walked back from.
Not too bad, pleased with myself for clearing the /5s at LM, and with 632 scored the next day, only needing one /6...
Friday 23rd December
I had a bit of a late start, again (stupid body clock...) but I was able to pull it back...
6759 provided my first move, to Walsall, where I went for the 12:01 to Birmingham, 350118, not too unhappy, a winner at least...
Roll on Birmingham, and after a brief walk through the Bull Ring, I reached Moor Street, where winning 68, 68014 was sat waiting for the 12:55 to London Marylebone (yes, I finally found the bugger!!) meaning I now only need one Chiltern 68, 68015. 014 was cleared to Solihull, where I quickly checked to see if I could make Moor Street in time to ID the 68 that passed me on arrival into the station, and I could, so the 13:17 LM to Moor Street it was, formed of winning 172333, which made me quite happy. Arriving back to fund the 68 was 011, my most travelled one, and the 165 stopper had just pulled out, annoyingly 165004, a winner, I decided to go to do Christmas shopping which I may have completely forgotten about! To the Ian Allen bookshop! Nothing there, so time to use my ace card, a model shop in Jewellery Quarter, so over to Snow Hill it was, with 172341, dud, taking me there. About 45 minutes later, I went back for the tram, dud unit 37, taking me back to Birmingham, in time for the X51, which was packed as usual.
Arriving at Walsall in time for me to clear winner 2119 on the 302, I legged it for it, only for the awful design of Walsall to become painfully apparent... 26 minutes to do two stops timetabled to take 2...
By now, the weather was absolutely abhorrent, so a Diamond 302, 30822 was scored back to Walsall, for an 89 to Bentley Bridge, which was 4190. An hour later, I arrived, and left quickly, in time for the last 25 home, 2026, and to charge my phone, now on 9%...
Productive day at least....
