London underground!

[Mel]

I have no wish at all to offend anyone merely to offload. I went to London today from the east midlands on a work related thingy. I don't go to London very often. Haven't been in about 2 years. Went on the train. Price of a return ticket is coronary inducing; fortunately work were paying. St Pancras is very nice now. Headed for the tube. Talk about crowded, you could barely put a piece of paper between people. 2 trains went by before I could even get on. Not to mention hot. Had to fight my way off not to end up at Cockfosters. Some people have to endure this sort of commuting every day. You have my admiration and sympathy.
mel

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Couldn`t agree more Mel, used to drive an artic all over the smoke, delivering hanging beef, it was that bad I went back on ropes and sheets, far better for the health and the sanity. Good luck to them.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

One of the reasons I couldn't live there. One of the most unfriendly places on earth.

 

[NigelDonnelly]

I commuted into Soho on the tube from Zone 6 every day for five years and you do get used to coping with the crowding, lack of fresh air and so on.

You never get used to the cost...

 

[JonnyG]

Cant be all that bad, afterall almost 7 million people choose the area as home.

 

[thursdays child]

Mel,I am of the same opinion as yoursef about the underground. I have a particular scenario that fills me with horror! Imagine it is winter,you are all bundled up against the weather and to make matters worse you have a stuffy nose due to a cold! Now you have to go on the underground to work!!! Get the picture? Misery!!! I can appreciate that people enjoy the buzz of a big city and I like it too for a day or so but I like the big open spaces to go back to.Big city lovers have an aversion to our way of life in the same way.One mans meat and all that!!!
Thursdays Child

 

[602]

to make matters worse you have a stuffy nose due to a cold!

Hi,
Colds and Flu are all in the mind.
Look at it this way, your nose is running and you feel washed out. Then your six numbers come up. Will you go to bed early with a glass of hot milk?
But to keep it on topic, I bet you will use some of your winnings to visit London ....... sometime.
602

 

[Parksy]

I have to say that we love to visit London and we both enjoy the buzz and vibrancy of the city. Most of our caravanning is done well away from large towns and cities but we have often driven solo down to London on a Sunday to explore the capital.
I doubt if we'd cope with the Underground during a week day rush hour, it sounds horrendous and I feel sorry for those who have to battle through such crowds just to get to work everyday. Our favourite mode of transport is the top deck of a London bus, especially now that we both have our bus passes which means that our sightseeing trips around the city cost us nowt.
I speak as I find, most of the Londoners who we have spoken to or come into contact with have been cheerful and friendly, the staff on the Underground when we last used it were polite and helpful but we were travelling off peak. It was still hot in the passageways though.

 

[Dustydog]

Until 4 years ago I used to travel to the City twice a month using the Bakerloo and Circle lines from Paddington to Liverpool Street. It took nearly as long as the IC 125 did from Swindon to Paddington.Sardines in a tin springs to mind.

 

[proterra]

Train tickets not always coronary induceing. we are going down to Wimbledon next week going sat am and comiong back tue am. the total cost is £70 first class both ways. was cheaper booking 1st than 2nd class.

last time we went down fri night 1st class back sunday the fare for 2 adulta and a child was £40. plus we got served wine on the way down plus free T & C

 

[ProfJohnL]

I think that proterra's posting show the insanity of the train fare systems.

Its almost impossible to get a "standard ticket" and thats what makes the trains companies protestations about peak rate is the standanrds so everything else is discounted so maddening and confusing.

A company I did some work for wanted to send an emplyee down to London to do a order confirmation survey for a probable customer. He was told to draw the equievelent of the train fair from petty cash and get the ticket at the station, Could he get a confirmed quote? NO.

Silly things Like ,
the ticket is only available if you buy on line, but theres a booking fee which makes it more expensive
This ticket has limited traveling times,
This ticket can only purchased three or more days before you travel.
Its cheaper to buy a return than a single.
It was cheaper to buy a ticket at a more distant station and travel further than to get on at the main station.
This trian is direct ( but it took longer than a multi stop train).

Years ago a colleage used to travel from Wolverhapton to London once or twice a month. He found that was cheaper to by two tickets a return wolves to Brum and a return to Brum to London, than a returm from Wolves to London. This was due to the peak rate time for the Wolves Brum part, but by the time he reached Brum, it was economy rate time for the london leg.

^His

When he finally got to the station, the ticket he wanted to buy was not available! "Too many people had bought them"

 

[ProfJohnL]

I think that proterra's posting show the insanity of the train fare systems.

Its almost impossible to get a "standard ticket" and thats what makes the trains companies protestations about peak rate is the standanrds so everything else is discounted so maddening and confusing.

A company I did some work for wanted to send an emplyee down to London to do a order confirmation survey for a probable customer. He was told to draw the equievelent of the train fair from petty cash and get the ticket at the station, Could he get a confirmed quote? NO.

Silly things Like ,
the ticket is only available if you buy on line, but theres a booking fee which makes it more expensive
This ticket has limited traveling times,
This ticket can only purchased three or more days before you travel.
Its cheaper to buy a return than a single.
It was cheaper to buy a ticket at a more distant station and travel further than to get on at the main station.
This trian is direct ( but it took longer than a multi stop train).

Years ago a colleage used to travel from Wolverhapton to London once or twice a month. He found that was cheaper to by two tickets a return wolves to Brum and a return to Brum to London, than a returm from Wolves to London. This was due to the peak rate time for the Wolves Brum part, but by the time he reached Brum, it was economy rate time for the london leg.

^His

When he finally got to the station, the ticket he wanted to buy was not available! "Too many people had bought them"

 

[Brum1]

I have to say that we love to visit London and we both enjoy the buzz and vibrancy of the city. Most of our caravanning is done well away from large towns and cities but we have often driven solo down to London on a Sunday to explore the capital.
I doubt if we'd cope with the Underground during a week day rush hour, it sounds horrendous and I feel sorry for those who have to battle through such crowds just to get to work everyday. Our favourite mode of transport is the top deck of a London bus, especially now that we both have our bus passes which means that our sightseeing trips around the city cost us nowt.
I speak as I find, most of the Londoners who we have spoken to or come into contact with have been cheerful and friendly, the staff on the Underground when we last used it were polite and helpful but we were travelling off peak. It was still hot in the passageways though.

Parksy. Why go to London for the buzz and vibrancy of the city when you have Wolveerhampton on yer doarstop?

 

[Parksy]

I have to say that we love to visit London and we both enjoy the buzz and vibrancy of the city. Most of our caravanning is done well away from large towns and cities but we have often driven solo down to London on a Sunday to explore the capital.
I doubt if we'd cope with the Underground during a week day rush hour, it sounds horrendous and I feel sorry for those who have to battle through such crowds just to get to work everyday. Our favourite mode of transport is the top deck of a London bus, especially now that we both have our bus passes which means that our sightseeing trips around the city cost us nowt.
I speak as I find, most of the Londoners who we have spoken to or come into contact with have been cheerful and friendly, the staff on the Underground when we last used it were polite and helpful but we were travelling off peak. It was still hot in the passageways though.

Parksy. Why go to London for the buzz and vibrancy of the city when you have Wolveerhampton on yer doarstop?

I was in Wolvo on Wednesday, apart from the Molineux I always thought of it as a dump before but it's worse than that now.
I buzzed off as soon as I could

 

[joeby]

i was born in St Bartholomews in 1945 in London , then we moved to east Acton , then to Putney , and i spent the first 26 years of my life there , and the tube system was horrendous in the 50s-60s , some times the doors wouldnt close because of the the amount people near the sensors , then i got married and moved to Farnborough in Hampshire , and for the last 9 years we have lived in Swansea in south Wales , would i go back to London , no thank you , allthough a lot of my friends still live there