3:45 pm. I am really tired and my back hurts. I was searching for a toilet and ended up on a tesco customer one. Then bus 82 was delayed and just came now. 3:48 pm. sitting in the back on the first floor now. 3:55 pm. the light conditions are nice. looks magic how the sun is reflected by the dirty bus windows. 3:56 pm. I asked the driver if I am on the right way and now I am sitting in the back of the ground floor.
4 pm. I arrived at dunston road. now waiting for a long right to blackbird cross on the 245. pretty nice living area here, seems rich. one guy is waiting with me, starring at his mobile phone. now another woman is waiting as well. 4.06 pm. 245 ground floor. in front of me there is a dad playing with his daughter by making funny noises. she loves it. 4:10 pm. london is so huge! it sometimes distracts from my mission. 4:12 pm. it feels like getting deeper and deeper into somebody's mind and with every step you think 'allright, I know everything now, even this little detail!' and in the next moment there is a huge new area with its own characteristics in front of you and you then you think 'that must be it', but it's not. 4:15 pm. and it's all connected. and in the end one. london. 4:27 pm. I notice rightnow that my brai is getting slower to react to good observations. I miss out good shots by thinking too slow! The sky is unbelievable, a pity I only have black and white films. 4:45 pm. arrived in blackbird cross, nice. now 297.
5 pm. the sun is down, it's getting dark. again. is this the same little girl I saw playing with her dad before? just with her mum now?
5:26 pm. the bus was super delayed. I am so exhausted and my back hurts I can't even sit straight. would have dinner now, but the bus is to full to eat. 31 stops now. first floor. so many people! children are singing: 'micky, micky, micky, such my dicky'. ahhh! eating my dry crackers now instead of my nicely prepared chicken curry rice. teeth hurt as well. 5:39 pm. finally, having rice on the back bench first floor. so, so good.
6 pm. eating was good! still pain. not many people on the bus anymore, I wonder when my stops comes... hope I didn't miss it, but don't think so. still six hours? impossible. 6:12 pm. took some sainsbury's caffeine tablets.
6:20 pm. after almost one hour ride I am at bloemfontain street and it's not getting better. need to take loger breaks now. it's a nice area, wil stay here for a bit. sitting next to "tesca" supermarket...ah, my back. what should I do? 6:48 pm. I asked in a call shop/shisha bar/cafe to use their toilet. the guy was friendly and told me yes, sure, downstairs. I went down and passed an open door with old couches in it and about ten african people smoking shisha and whatever and chewing some roots. the toilet was next door, I took a picture inside and then came into the smoking room with my camera in hands to ask friendly what's going on and if I could take a picture. as soon as the oldest guy in the crew, I guess about 50 years old, saw my camera he jumped up and shouted at me angrily telling me to go out and no photos, no way!
7:51 pm. after finding my way through hammersmiths bus station and collecting some new force and motivation I am sitting in the first floor of bus 220 to armoury way. 7:59 pm. I already sat in 55 different buses so far, making notes taking pictures and being concentrated on my surrounding almost all the time. my body definitely notices that buut in my mind I am quite fresh right now! let's do this! 8:05 pm. crossing the thames for the fourth time right now. I explored so much today! sitting in the first floor together with ten other people at the moment. 8:10 pm. arrived at armoury way and changed film for the last time. 36 exposures left.
9:30 pm. I arrived in peckham, areas I know! rye lane!
9:40 got out the bus. too early. have to do this for the full 24 hours. 9:45 pm. in bus 171. why am I doing this? 10 pm. two hours to go. why are yuo doign tihs, you can't even write anymore? just decided to go to holborn. 10:10 pm. crossing thames for the fifth time. 10:20 pm. holborn, what's next?
11:03 pm. alone in 139 to oxford circus. 11:17 pm. oxford circus. 11:30 pm. 453. 11:50 pm. crossing thames for the seventh time. 00:15 am. New Cross Gate.
Finally this is the LAST PART of this series called 'getting my money's worth'. I spent 24 hours on london buses, seeing a lot of interesting people and things and making notes about what I saw and thought at all times. click HERE to see the rest of the series. I hope my words make any sense at all, getting closer to the end of this journey my thoughts sometimes were not quite coherent.
