The gap (in posting) was this time caused by a nightmare morning on Thursday that involved hideous traffic and forgotten laptops. I elected to work from home in the end, and did the same Friday (as I usually do), thus causing Signal Failure's (lack of) service to rival TfL's!
Apologies. Let's get you all caught up. Wednesday evening's journey home consisted of a one-minute-delayed Bakerloo Line to Waterloo. It did not cause me to miss my connecting train to Hersham, so I can only charge for the six-minute delay in that service, all accrued within TfL's zones.
This morning, I dropped my daughter off at childcare and took the train from Norbiton to Waterloo, something I am exceptionally grateful for, since I see on South West Trains' web site that there are delays of up to 45 minutes on my usual line from Hersham to Waterloo, owing to 'icy conditions'. Presumably, this is the same ice that bedecked my car's windscreen - so solid I didn't even need to scrape it off, just passed the windscreen wipers over it once. I'm amazed I survived this harrowing ordeal.
But I did not escape entirely unscathed: I lost five minutes on that initial train journey, causing me to take a later connecting tube to Edgware Road than planned, itself delayed by a further two minutes - both times apparently due to nothing more than moving exceptionally slowly. In all, this made me five minutes late.
So, since last week, a total delay of 11 minutes for £27.50.
Showing posts with label ice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice. Show all posts
Monday, 18 March 2013
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Let it snow! (It makes me money.)
My wife, who leaves the house earlier than me so I can do toddler drop-off and she be home early for pick-up, texted me minutes after leaving today to warn me to plan extra time for de-icing the car windscreen, since she'd noticed ice and heavy frost on a number of vehicles on her way to the station. Said ice and heavy frost turned out to be snow when I left an hour later.
To be fair, she claims it only began snowing later, but it reminded me of the first time I saw snow. I was brought up an ex-pat in the Middle East, so I was 11. I also remarked to my bemused dorm mates (I was at boarding school in Derbyshire at the time) that the frost was particularly heavy that morning. Still, despite the travel chaos that ensued, it was nice to see Bushy Park covered in snow once more before we move house.
Now, about that chaos: a 31-minute delay on the train into Waterloo, accompanied by a veritable bonanza of excuses. Adverse weather, leading to slow moving trains ahead of us, leading to lots of being held at red signals in order to regulate the service. Add to this the one-minute delay on the connecting Bakerloo Line to Edgware Road for no explanation offered, and it's quite the Tube Bingo entry this morning (see below).
I believe there were quite a few problems on the TfL network this morning: can anyone top my Bingo experience thus far?
Sadly, it might be the last significant update of the week: I'm away all tomorrow and most of Friday for a company off-site. Still, we'll see what we can manage - I don't want to leave you all bereft this close to Christmas!
And before I forget, last night's journey home (which I was too lazy to update then) was not without its minor difficulties. The tube ran late but didn't cause me to miss my connection; however, there was a three-minute delay on the train. All in all, that's £87.5 to add to the tally this morning.
Finally, a little tidbit of news for you: TfL is a good neighbour! After refusing to do anything for a year, an intervention by Iain Duncan Smith caused TfL to cut back ivy on its side of the fence that was destroying someone's property. Of course, it claims no such thing was happening and that this is simply a gesture of good will (duly praised by IDS). Shame the good will had to be scared into them after 12 months of gleefully cackling and ignoring the poor claimant, but it's better than nothing. Nice precedent there now, though, so if you live anywhere affected by the tube, I'd start thinking of good will gestures they could make towards you right about now. It is Christmas, after all!
To be fair, she claims it only began snowing later, but it reminded me of the first time I saw snow. I was brought up an ex-pat in the Middle East, so I was 11. I also remarked to my bemused dorm mates (I was at boarding school in Derbyshire at the time) that the frost was particularly heavy that morning. Still, despite the travel chaos that ensued, it was nice to see Bushy Park covered in snow once more before we move house.
Now, about that chaos: a 31-minute delay on the train into Waterloo, accompanied by a veritable bonanza of excuses. Adverse weather, leading to slow moving trains ahead of us, leading to lots of being held at red signals in order to regulate the service. Add to this the one-minute delay on the connecting Bakerloo Line to Edgware Road for no explanation offered, and it's quite the Tube Bingo entry this morning (see below).
Sadly, it might be the last significant update of the week: I'm away all tomorrow and most of Friday for a company off-site. Still, we'll see what we can manage - I don't want to leave you all bereft this close to Christmas!
And before I forget, last night's journey home (which I was too lazy to update then) was not without its minor difficulties. The tube ran late but didn't cause me to miss my connection; however, there was a three-minute delay on the train. All in all, that's £87.5 to add to the tally this morning.
Finally, a little tidbit of news for you: TfL is a good neighbour! After refusing to do anything for a year, an intervention by Iain Duncan Smith caused TfL to cut back ivy on its side of the fence that was destroying someone's property. Of course, it claims no such thing was happening and that this is simply a gesture of good will (duly praised by IDS). Shame the good will had to be scared into them after 12 months of gleefully cackling and ignoring the poor claimant, but it's better than nothing. Nice precedent there now, though, so if you live anywhere affected by the tube, I'd start thinking of good will gestures they could make towards you right about now. It is Christmas, after all!
Monday, 5 November 2012
Ice, ice, baby
Another new excuse for me: slippery rail conditions, which delayed my train into Waterloo by a minute (it was nine minutes' delayed arriving at Hampton Court in the first place, so I guess all the ice melted along the way, or else stopped the brakes working properly and slid us home in record time...).
This was followed by another minute's delay on the Bakerloo line (no explanation offered) for a total delay of three minutes (because of missing my original connecting tube) and £7.50.
This was followed by another minute's delay on the Bakerloo line (no explanation offered) for a total delay of three minutes (because of missing my original connecting tube) and £7.50.
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