Breaking news: my station's closed for seven months!

Barely have I finished my update when the following email appears in my inbox.  I'm grudgingly impressed that TfL is using customer data analytics to figure out I'm a regular user of this station and could benefit from this update (assuming you all didn't get the same email).  I'm less impressed with the four days' notice, though of course it doesn't actually affect me too much - Paddington is just as easy for me to use as Edgware Road to get to work.  Of course, it adds an extra minute or so to every journey to and from work in waiting for one extra stop...

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause - no, wait: that phrase is not included...

Choo, choo!

Well, the crisis at work seems to be over for the time being, or at least dying down enough to let me add in the last few travel updates:

Monday night, my tube from Edgware Road to Waterloo departed two minutes late, caught up a minute to arrive just one minute late.  I was able to catch my intended connecting train to Hersham, and that was a minute late (though only outside of the TfL network, so doesn't count).

Yesterday morning, I came into work much earlier to help deal with the issues there.  I was rewarded with a train which arrived a whole minute early in Waterloo.  This didn't let me catch an earlier connecting tube, but the tube was running on time, so no delay.

Yesterday evening, a faulty elevator made me miss my tube, holding me back some six minutes - and the tube itself that I caught in the end was a minute late.  This made me miss my connecting train, though the train I was able to take was at least on time.  Still, that makes 26 minutes and £65 in total.

This morning, the train was again a minute early arriving into Waterloo.  Again, it did not mean I could catch an earlier tube but again that tube was on time, so no delay and no charge.

No news of note that I've been able to catch related to TfL.  Hopefully, normal service at Signal Failure has now resumed.

A crippled sense of empathy

Admittedly, that title could apply to me, but in this case it does not.  We're all accustomed, no matter how much we hate to see it, with the selfish wankers we call our fellow commuters pretending not to see heavily pregnant ladies and giving up their seats for them.  I have to admit, though, that last night's journey home gave me something new...

Edgware Road Bakerloo Line tube station is one of those deep ones that's served by lifts.  Two, huge, clunky, and slooooow lifts.  Normally, I take the stairs because of this (at least going down), but yesterday I was feeling lazy.  I came to the lifts to find one of the lifts was just departing - the door was closed.  Around 15-20 people had already started queueing at the other one.  But the first lift had not yet departed!

The reason for this soon became plain: a man on crutches had gotten one of those crutches caught in the closing door.  He was unable to get them out, though he was frantically trying.  The lift was prevented from departing.  Despite this, the crowd of people waiting for the second lift merely stood by and watched him.  And let's remember that the second lift had not arrived yet, so helping him would not have made them miss their lift, even if we granted that this was a good enough reason not to help a fellow human being in trouble.

And despite the fact that the first, full, lift was prevented from departing by this, not one person in that lift bothered to help either.  Not one.  Nor did anyone inside the lift pus the alarm button, nor anyone waiting for the second lift call to a station guard for help.

Instead, I had to shoulder my way through them all, drop the several bags I was holding, stick my hands into the crack in the lift doors and use my not inconsiderable weight to wrench the door open enough for the man to get his crutch out.

Now, I'll grant you that the only possible way this man got his crutch stuck in the first place was by shoving it into a closing door to try and hold it open long enough for him to enter, which makes him a stupid prick, but I am astounded by the callousness of everyone else in that station at approximately ten past five yesterday afternoon.  You know who you are, and I fervently hope that you're one day stuck in a situation where no-one will help you either.  Twats.

Anyway, moving on: the tube was one minute late.  This caused me to miss my connecting train to Hersham, so I got next one.  It was four minutes late - three within TfL's network.  Overall, this made me 29 minutes late against my TfL Journey Planner advised time of arrival for £72.50.

This morning, the train from Hersham to Waterloo was one minute early.  It didn't let me get an earlier tube, and the tube I took was two minutes late.  Another £5.

That's a new one on me

I got a new excuse for delays today: an 'overhead line problem' between Clapham Junction and Willesden Green apparently caused the delay of my train from Hampton Court to Waterloo (which does pass through Clapham Junction, but on a different line) by seven minutes.  There was a further delay of a minute on my Bakerloo Line train from there to Edgware Road, which involved both stopping in a tunnel for no reason (or at least, none given) and a very poor lift service.

Three excuses and only one tick for my weekly game of Tube Bingo.  I may have to rethink the design!

But, that's a total of eight minutes for another £20 this morning.


UPDATE: no explanation for delays on the journey home this evening, but they were made up of:

1. A District Line train arriving at Edgware Road two minutes later than advised, and at its Wimbledon destination three minutes late.
2. An overground train to Hampton Court arriving in Wimbledon three minutes later than it should have and at its final destination six minutes late

I make that a total of nine minutes and £22.50.

Soooooooo close!

It's just not fair!  I went home via the Bakerloo line from Edgware Road.  As you might be aware, it has a lift (elevator for you Americans reading this - a surprising number and my second highest readership!).  As you'll further be aware, if you've been paying attention, my Tube Bingo card for this week was only missing a faulty lift or escalator excuse for a full column.

The lift doors failed to close... and failed... and failed... ... ...

...and closed.  No announcement.  I missed the tube I had intended to take as a consequence of this, with the next one coming three minutes later, but ultimately I've decided I can't claim this one to complete my streak.  Damn.

£7.50 has never tasted so bitter, but there's always next week...