F*cking nightmare of a bastard commute
- Thread starter Onket
- Start date
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
The number of times I woke up in fucking Basingstoke to find that there were no more trains heading back towards London, could have done with those.
Never again though, oh no, not since moving to the Portsmouth line
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
As a treat to myself, and because we've had a couple of gorgeously sunny mornings recently, I've been getting the Thames clipper boat from Putney to Embankment and then walking up to Russell Sq where I work as an experiment. They've just bought a couple of new boats into service and its like travelling first class to work. Leather seats, tables, a full bar, snacks, and some of the most awesome views in London.
It takes pretty much the same amount of time as getting the bus (around an hour) and is way nicer.
The catch is, it's £8 each way
It takes pretty much the same amount of time as getting the bus (around an hour) and is way nicer.
The catch is, it's £8 each way
Why aren't you using Oyster? It's £7; and if you have a Travelcard £5.35.As a treat to myself, and because we've had a couple of gorgeously sunny mornings recently, I've been getting the Thames clipper boat from Putney to Embankment and then walking up to Russell Sq where I work as an experiment. They've just bought a couple of new boats into service and its like travelling first class to work. Leather seats, tables, a full bar, snacks, and some of the most awesome views in London.
It takes pretty much the same amount of time as getting the bus (around an hour) and is way nicer.
The catch is, it's £8 each way
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Actually I stand corrected, I was using my Oyster, and it's £7 you're right.
Nonetheless, still expensive. I don't use a travelcard either because it would double my weekly spend on getting to work and back (currently £15 PAYG on the bus) to over £32 for a Zone 1-2 weekly travelcard.
Were it to be included in the travelcard (like they do in Sydney for example), instead of a slightly discounted add on, I would do it every day probably.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Still, awesome views
Needs a "Please" at the start. Politeness costs nothing.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Cosy.
Three weeks WFH now, but will need to go in soon. Almost daily SWT mail me to apologise for short formed trains, here's today's:
Disruption has been reported to services between London Waterloo and Godalming.
The 18:18 will have 8 instead of 12 coaches due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Yep, just had this mail from SWT:
Dear Bahnhof Strasse,
Disruption has been reported to services between London Waterloo and Godalming.
The 18:45 will have 8 instead of 12 coaches due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
The 20:00 will have 8 instead of 12 coaches due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
We are sorry for the disruption this will cause you.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
I really like it when they cancel a train and then only send half a train for the following service. Everyone lols all the way home then...
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
My usual 45min-1hr commute stretched to a nice and relaxing 3hr drive all around the Bristol area as a result of an accident on the Portishead motorway bridge - ho hum!
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
tommers
It was... Rebekah Vardy's account
The lesson is that you are a lucky fucker for having four trains within a half hour spell.
When this happens to me, the trains are spaced 30 minutes apart!
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
When I used to commute into London from Surbiton, there were trains roughly every 10 minutes or so. But it'd usually only take one being cancelled to result in the next two or three being too rammed to board. Bad enough because Surbiton was often the last stop on a long(ish) trip in, and the trains were pretty full when they arrived...
ETA: I miss those commuting days, in a strange sort of way.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Surbiton's becoming the new hot-spot for suicides I reckon. There seem to have been a few there recently, Wimbledon used to be popular, but they're blocked access to the platforms that have the fast trains going through.
Suicide trends
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
"Opportunity" is a big factor in suicide, and platforms with fast trains running through are always going to be a risk, particularly for people who may be making an attempt impulsively. Network Rail have done quite a lot of work on proactive suicide interventions at hotspots, including staff training, but I have no idea if they've got anything going on at Surbiton.Surbiton's becoming the new hot-spot for suicides I reckon. There seem to have been a few there recently, Wimbledon used to be popular, but they're blocked access to the platforms that have the fast trains going through.
Suicide trends
The other issue is that Surbiton station is the nearest main line railway to two psychiatric units (one in Tolworth and one in Kingston), and Surbiton itself is often used (or used to be - I've not been there for 10 years) for housing for people with psychiatric and other difficulties, at places like the YMCA. Proximity to psychiatric units is often a factor - for example Tooting Bec was always an outlier for suicide statistics, because of its proximity to Springfield Hospital, and there were quite often holdups (and fatalities) at Tolworth underpass as a result of patients absconding from Tolworth Hospital and jumping (or threatening to jump) from the overpass there.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Makes sense.
At Wimbledon the platforms that have the fast trains going through have no stopping services, so it's easy to block them off, with Surbition the London-bound fast trains platform does have stopping services so can't be blocked.
Do notice at every station now loads of things by the Samaritans etc. Hopefully that will help some of those who are in a bad way.
Tolworth, where my parents met - learn something new every day!
At Wimbledon the platforms that have the fast trains going through have no stopping services, so it's easy to block them off, with Surbition the London-bound fast trains platform does have stopping services so can't be blocked.
Do notice at every station now loads of things by the Samaritans etc. Hopefully that will help some of those who are in a bad way.
Tolworth, where my parents met - learn something new every day!
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Nice to know something good came out of Tolworth (apart from me, that is).
Stuck in railway chaos, trying to get from Exeter to Hull. South West Trains all fucked up, so had to get a ludicrously crowded Great Western one, which was then late. Now the power lines on the East Coast Main Line are down and I'm stuck on another stupidly crowded East Midlands service to Sheffield, after which I'll need to get a connection. Christ knows what time I'll be home. I'm ill, tired and fed up. Fuck the railways : I'm buying a car.
I mean it's not like there was a MAJOR STORM last night or anything..................
You'd expect some disruption, but it's the fact that nothing has worked that's pissed me off. Well, that and minimal bank-holiday services, massive crowding, trains without enough legroom, trains without WiFi or power sockets, and the difficulty of getting accurate information on what's actually going on.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I used to get the Victoria train to clapham, then to Waterloo, where I would get the East train to charring cross. Then I realised it took just as long to walk up and catch the Waterloo East to charring cross as it did to just walk over the flipping bridge.
Then I realised it was quicker to forget changing trains at clapham and just walk up from Victoria.
Even that train is pissing me off now. I've started taking a quieter train to blackfrairs. Even though it's only one stop it goes all over the bloody south of London and takes 30minutes. I don't really mind though because that one reason it's not so crowded. It tends not to have headphone twats too.
Bit of a long walk to Soho, but wide north bank pavements and not too many people means I can skateboard it in about 15 to 20 minutes.
Then I realised it was quicker to forget changing trains at clapham and just walk up from Victoria.
Even that train is pissing me off now. I've started taking a quieter train to blackfrairs. Even though it's only one stop it goes all over the bloody south of London and takes 30minutes. I don't really mind though because that one reason it's not so crowded. It tends not to have headphone twats too.
Bit of a long walk to Soho, but wide north bank pavements and not too many people means I can skateboard it in about 15 to 20 minutes.
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