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!

Some transport news

First, TfL again refusing to do anything about dangerous traffic situation, this time by only leaving traffic lights working for three hours a day and insisting putting them on for 24 hours a day wouldn't help things.  Obviously public opinion, from pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, disagrees, but TfL is not their to serve the people who pay their salaries.  I have no idea of the real reason behind this refusal, so I assume that it's got to do with somehow generating signal failures elsewhere on the system.

Second, in Croyden, TfL is working with the local council to try and force children to walk to school, rather than be driven there.  While I approve of the exercise, the lessening of pollution, and the diminishing of the horror of school run traffic, something about this seems wrong, and it's the fact that we bloody well pay for the use of those roads, so being encouraged not to use them is a bloody cheek.  How about more and better bus services for the schools?

Third, Bob Crow continues with his domestic terrorism to prevent technological progress.

Fourth, check out plans for SkyCycle, in which special cycle lanes will be built above the streets of the capital in order to protect drivers from cyclists' inconsiderate and downright dangerous lack of basic road skills.

Fifth, and most importantly, in a more general rail services piece, there's some compelling evidence that our train operators are using the money they claim from Network Rail as a nice little earner for themselves.  They keep more than 90% of what they get, throwing a few crumbs their passengers' ways.  Sorry the picture is sideways (but not very).

Does anyone know how to get this to rotate the right way?