Let’s travel back in time a little and ignore the fact that the second bus is approaching it’s build. We go back to having just finished our first couple of events and I suddenly knew all the bit’s that needed tweaking.

On the very first event I learned that it is all well and good having beautiful opening hatches but what happens when it rains? In England it rain a lot! The original glass (Emergency Exit Windows) hatches that are the center two of our opening sections where made by TFL or AEC (back in the late 50’s) As with everything from that era, they are perfect. Not only do they open and close with perfection, they’re water proof when open and closed. My own hatches (closed panels on opening 1 and 4) are a little different.

However well they fit, when it rains and they are open. Water will leak in to the bus from the top of opening section. This has been solved by riveting a rubber strip to the top of the frame that gets pushed slightly upwards when the hatch is opened. It took a long time to find the right rubber to fit in that gap.

In my naivety I was adamant on having a kettle on board our Routemaster Mobile Bus Bar when out on jobs. After the first few events I went out and bought one. It was only after a few events that we ran on a generator that the kettle didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.

It was a dry hire deal and the people using the bus could not figure out why the power had gone off and kept going off. I came back on site (luckily it was fairly local) and diagnosed the equipment. I checked all the switches. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I then asked the lovely couple from a local pub “What was the last thing you did?” The reply was “We just decided to have a cup of tea!”

It still took a further 10 minutes for me to realize. Tea!? Hang on!! Kettles are juicy bits of equipment and even though my generator is a silent diesel beast the kettle brought it down. A new rule was set in stone from that moment on. NO MORE KETTLES ON MY BUS! ;) Shame, I love a good tea….

This was a simple one. I had already bought the speaker but just hadn’t figured out where to fit it. Upstairs has all the music but when you work behind a bar you want the tunes to keep you on your tows! I eventually fitted the last speaker in our unit that fits in between the fridges.

This is something I still actually need to sort out even though our bus bar has nearly done one and a half seasons! As you all know our sliding open sunroof sits in rails on top of the existing roof. There is about 5 to 10 mm of clearance in between. When I drive past a tree the top deck turns into a flipping jungle! For some reason the gap is exactly big enough to collect all the foliage an the insects that live on it and shove it in the bus! It is kind of annoying when you spend a good 2 hours cleaning the bus up for its next event and when you get there you have to do the whole of the upstairs again!

The roof is totally waterproof, which was my main concern when building but the greenery gets in. The solution has been thought of. It comes in the shape of a giant line of bristles. They’re about 3 inches tall and bend with the roof opening and closing. I’ve located the product, it’s reasonably priced, I have time to do it and I have also figured how to fit it. Problem is, I haven’t got off my lazy a** to do anything about it!  Soon, I promise!

1. Some of the sealant on the counters isn’t neat enough
2. The step up to the drivers cabin was painted red and shouldn’t be. It has now partially flaked off so it needs a tidy up.
3. Some of the LEDs upstairs are failing. New ones are needed.
4. The destination blinds are not totally waterproof so the blinds can get a little damp.