8,9 and the mental 10
There were 3 buses in those days that you could use if you lived on the estate and wanted to go to town. The 8 and 9 came up and down Hazeldene Ave and there was a bus terminus at the bottom end of Hazeldene Ave/Eland Close-to the left of the photo on the 'car wash thingies' post upped by the master-the terminus bit of side road is still there and is marked by another weird rockery like the on shown in the 'cows head site' post. There was also the option of getting the number 10, or 'mental 10' as we called it which you could get from the catholic church on the border betwixt Kenton Bar and Kenton. The mental 10 got to town quicker, as the 8 and 9 clarted on going round Blakelaw and stuff. The reason it was called the mental 10 was because it was indeed 'mental' on a Friday and Saturday night on the way back from town after closing time. All the drunken peasant teens from down the bottom+ peasants from Kenton Hillsview area would steam on without paying and go upstairs.(on Sunday night they all went down the high street-every other night they drank either in the Kings Court, Kenton Quarry or Kenton Bar) They would all immediatly commence bawling and shouting out football type 'songs' the duration of the journey, a cacophony of horrible howling, moaning and drunken yammering accompanied by 'percussion' of hundreds of stomping feet. They also coverted the seat cushions which just fitted through the slide windows, so they would throw these out just before their stop and then collect them to take home for their bedrooms. I of course, not being a drunken peasant from down the bottom always sat downstairs with the other sensibles. Once the 10 was replaced by a single decker bus all this ghastly nonsense stopped thank goodness...
The mental 10 was indeed mental. I remember everyone, and I do mean everyone used to buy a 5p ticket instead of a full fare ticket when coming home from the pub on a Friday night. The bus driver was usually resigned to the fact that he may as well get 5p per passenger as get nothing. A sight to see - grown men with moustaches and so on proffering a 5 pence coin and asking for a "5" ticket. One evening I remember fondly a new driver obviously had not got the message and called the police, stopped the bus in Ridley Place in Newcastle and waited. The police (Bastions Of Law and Order from now on or BOLO's for short) duly turned up and tried to reason with the drunken crowd. One brave constable even came upstairs (he deserves a medal for bravery) and said "OK - I will give 5 minutes for anyone who has not got a proper adult ticket to get off the bus". Then he waited the 5 minutes - looking from person to person expecting someone to crack - nobody did and he left the bus with his tail between his legs and we travelled on - 5 pence tickets proudly in hand.......
ReplyDeleteI never got the 10 as I was a bit too young. I did catch the * & 9 though, as well as the Cowgate Circle (3 or 4?) and some that came up Ponteland Road. Going back, several were first alighting Bank Foot and there was even the "Vasey" which was a coach but went from Gallowgate the same as the regular Ponty bus.
ReplyDeleteThe "Aal-niter" used to go from the Central Station all through the night and I think the Quarter-to was the West circular. It sometimes used to stop art Carricks for the crew to get cakes, the dairy to pick up milk and the Bus Garage off Silver Lonnen to drop off same.
When the punters were doing an impression of the Number Ten it used to pull up outside West Road Cop Shop and the scuffers would pile on for an upstairs ruckus. (I generally used to sit downstairs like Memsforth).
Master, believe it or not I too was on that bus and remember that incident very well. The straw that broke the camels back was when the hooligans upstairs set fire to their tickets and dropped them down the stairwell...this was too much for the driver and that's what made him stop the bus(outside the playhouse not Ridley Place I thought)and call the BOLO's...
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