- Lat night's journey home involved a passenger pulling the alarm on a tube train several stops in front of mine. This caused a five-minute delay, which in turn caused me to miss my connecting train. That would have been a slow train, and I caught the next fast on instead, so only six minutes late overall (the fast train was two minutes late as well), but still annoying. £15.
- This morning, the front left tyre of my car burst impressively on returning from drooping my daughter off at daycare. By the time I'd sorted everything out, I'd missed several hours of work. Now, admittedly I work from home Fridays, but I had a lot to do, so this was not ideal
- Just to really rub my nose in it, my laptop crashed, so I lost the first hour's worth of work too!
Friday, 31 May 2013
An alarming story
Just can't be bothered to think of a better pun for that title, sorry. But I do have an excuse:
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Fine by me
Despite a three-minute delay on the tube from Paddington to Waterloo (on top of the two-minute delay caused by having to use this station due to Edgware Road [Bakerloo Line] seven-plus month closure), I made the fast train back to Hersham last night. It was on time - a pleasant change! Interestingly, the reason given for the (ultimately inconsequential) delay on the tube was that pickpockets were operating at stations between Oxford Circus and Embankment. That's another new one on me! Presumably they were stealing timetables from the tube drivers...
This morning, the train was also on time, and the connecting tube even arrived a minute early at Paddington. That's still two minutes late compared to alighting at Edgware Road, so it's a one-minute delay overall, but not bad. Just £2.50 to add to the bill this morning.
In the news today, TfL looks close to taking over from the Metropolitan Police the responsibility for stopping motorists from entering cycle lanes and advances stop lines (bike boxes). Drivers may soon face up to a £60 fine and three points on their licence for being naughty.
While three points on the licence seems more than a tad excessive to me, I think the fine is a fine idea (ha!): cyclists do need better protection on London's streets. I hope TfL will publicly commit to using monies gained from these fines to further improving life for cyclists in London.
What I'd really like to see, however, is some token at policing things the other way too: far too often I see cyclists ignoring dedicated cycle lanes to cause road havoc, cycling across zebra crossings instead of dismounting and walking, ignoring various traffic signs and more. Anything that prevents motorists from behaving like raging dickheads is great for cyclists safety, but let's not pretend there are many, many cyclists who need to learn they don't own the road. This will make life still safer for cyclists, as well as for pedestrians and, yes, drivers.
This morning, the train was also on time, and the connecting tube even arrived a minute early at Paddington. That's still two minutes late compared to alighting at Edgware Road, so it's a one-minute delay overall, but not bad. Just £2.50 to add to the bill this morning.
In the news today, TfL looks close to taking over from the Metropolitan Police the responsibility for stopping motorists from entering cycle lanes and advances stop lines (bike boxes). Drivers may soon face up to a £60 fine and three points on their licence for being naughty.
While three points on the licence seems more than a tad excessive to me, I think the fine is a fine idea (ha!): cyclists do need better protection on London's streets. I hope TfL will publicly commit to using monies gained from these fines to further improving life for cyclists in London.
What I'd really like to see, however, is some token at policing things the other way too: far too often I see cyclists ignoring dedicated cycle lanes to cause road havoc, cycling across zebra crossings instead of dismounting and walking, ignoring various traffic signs and more. Anything that prevents motorists from behaving like raging dickheads is great for cyclists safety, but let's not pretend there are many, many cyclists who need to learn they don't own the road. This will make life still safer for cyclists, as well as for pedestrians and, yes, drivers.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Another day, another delay
Last night, due to Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line) closure, I had to travel from Paddington to Waterloo on the tube. The ticket gates at my most convenient entrance were broken, so I lost five minutes trying to locate someone to explain the situation to and get myself in without having my Pay-as-You-Go Oyster card penalised for fare evasion. This meant that, even though the tube was on time (well, two minutes late compared to what it would have been had I been able to board at Edgware Road as I used to), I missed the fast train from Waterloo to Hersham.
The train was then two minutes late, though the delay was accrued outside of Zones 1-6, so doesn't count. Still, that made for a 26-minute delay overall (£65).
This morning, the train was a minute early to make up for it, which would have allowed me to catch an earlier tube, had it not been two minutes late. Arrived at work one minute earlier than planned nonetheless, so that's £2.50 back to TfL for a grand total of £62.50 to Signal Failure.
The train was then two minutes late, though the delay was accrued outside of Zones 1-6, so doesn't count. Still, that made for a 26-minute delay overall (£65).
This morning, the train was a minute early to make up for it, which would have allowed me to catch an earlier tube, had it not been two minutes late. Arrived at work one minute earlier than planned nonetheless, so that's £2.50 back to TfL for a grand total of £62.50 to Signal Failure.
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