I love trains but…

This is a little moan about national rail/southeastern – whichever company can do something to help.

When I buy a ticket and select the opportunity to use the high speed services, the machine prints “any route permitted” on the ticket, which makes sense to me.

Why then do station staff tell me that I am wrong and that it only means you can use it on the hs1 if it specifically says hs1 on the ticket?

It is impossible to prove, luckily the station staff eventually let me on the platform, but it is rather upsetting that I try to be a good user of an extremely complicated system and yet it is still my fault when things just aren’t clear enough.

Sort it out guys. And if you want me to be favourable again you could always give me, say, 9 months of free train travel across southeastern, london midland, virgin trains, c2c, first capital connect and east midlands trains, since it’s between all of you guys that I spend my student loan!

Much love,

TSK.

Where is grace?

Sorry that my posts are so far and few between, especially regarding the travel updates. Today I wanted to use my public voice to ask a big question.

I just overheard someone describing our current government with really boring words (and by that I mean swearing about them). It is of course about the cuts that they are making, something that I think is harsh too but I believe them when they say that they need to cut everywhere and lots of it. At least they do have the courage to take the kind of action that won’t get them voted in again (which probably wouldn’t happen in the same way anyway due to it being a coalition) and we will just have to see whether it works out for the better or worse.

Anyway the folk discussing the government are talking about the things they think the government should leave alone, one of which is military forces. Now, don’t get me wrong, I respect all our soldiers and other members of the forces for all that they do for us – but the people discussing the cuts are talking about not wanting to be caught out without enough military. It makes me think, where has our grace gone? The more we don’t trust other countries and build up our ability to attack and defend, the more likely they are to build theirs up in case we are secretly planning an invasion. It’s like with the trident nuclear weapons – rather than updating them so that if a country decides to wipe us out we can wipe them out too in retaliation (remember: we wouldn’t be around to witness their destruction!), why don’t we forgive those who may have wanted to do that to our own country and make a move to nuclear peace by getting rid of the weapons? In the same way perhaps being able to cut the spending on the military may show our trust to other nations and they can also reduce the money they spend on their armies, maybe giving the money to those on the poverty line.

I’m not an expert in politics, and certainly not in how much our armed forces have done for us as a nation, but I have experienced grace, getting something good that I really don’t deserve – and it is a powerful thing which changes lives and attitudes. And I wish I could share that with you all.

Weekend Closures on London Underground 4th-5th September

Hey folks! Happy September!

Apologies for not doing last week’s alert, I wasn’t in range of the Internet anywhere other than my phone, and if you read my post yesterday you’ll know I’m not getting on too well with the app for the iPhone (let alone how much copying and pasting and referring is involved in this post!). As with previously, I’m just going to copy and paste the e-mail from TFL that I get. I hope that doesn’t offend you or TFL, and if it does – I’ll change it after the weekend.

Central line
Between Marble Arch and Ealing Broadway/West Ruislip there is no service due to track replacement work.

Circle line
There is no service between Edgware Road and Hammersmith due to line upgrade work on Saturday only.

There is no service on the entire line due to line upgrade work on Sunday only.

District line
Between Bromley-by-Bow and Upminster there is no service due to track replacement work.

Between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon there is no service due to track replacement work.

Hammersmith & City line
Between Whitechapel and Barking there is no service due to track replacement work on Saturday only.

Between Edgware Road and Barking there is no service due to track replacement work on Sunday only.

Westbound Hammersmith & City line trains are not stopping at Latimer Road due to platform extension work.

Hammersmith & City line trains running to/from Hammersmith are not stopping at Paddington (Hammersmith & City) station due to improvement work.
Jubilee line
Between Waterloo and Stanmore there is no service due to line upgrade work.

Metropolitan line
Between Aldgate and Harrow-on-the-Hill there is no service due to track replacement work.

DLR
Between Westferry and Beckton/Woolwich Arsenal there is no service.

London Overground
Between Richmond and Stratford there is no service on Sunday only.

Between Shepherd’s Bush and Willesden Junction there is no service on Sunday only.

–

Happy travelling!

To look at a map please visit this website

Thanks to TfL for giving us this information.

I get this information from weekly updates by the lovely folks at www.tfl.gov.uk. If you would like to receive these e-mails too then go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/traveltools/default.aspx and click on “Weekend Closures Email” to fill in your details.

Why I Love London

Okay, so today I am really not impressed with the WordPress iPhone app – hopefully being able to show you these pictures is still worth it though!

I wanted to Geotag the post (hence trying to take photos and upload them on the spot) so that if you want to you could visit the same spot of an evening. Instead I’ll tell you that it’s somewhere between Westferry Circus and Limehouse Basin!

the other pics I took are on Flickr now that I have finally set up my iPhoto uploader sorry for the bad quality, as you can tell it was on my phone rather than my proper camera – but it was one of those moments you just have to capture somehow.

The wonders of c2c trains :)

Seeing as I used the trains today I thought I would share a little joy I had when I was on the first leg of my journey.

The part of east London that I live in is served by the c2c train company, and most of the time, including today, I am fully prepared to sing their praises – I think they get a lot of things right with the way that they run their train services.

One of the things that c2c trains in my area do quite well is that they have a variety of different services which stop at different stations along the way into Fenchurch Street station. Of course, sometimes that can work to your advantage – if you want Fenchurch Street then there are plenty of trains that are fast from my station to Fenchurch, or there are trains that stop at the other stations along the way.

At other times it doesn’t quite work to your advantage, such as it seemed to me this morning. I got to my station to find that there was a train coming in straight away but didn’t stop at Limehouse, where I wanted to get off. Or I could wait another 15 minutes for a train that did stop there.

Well, although 15 minutes isn’t a long time to wait for a train, I was really sneaky – I got on the first train, and then got off at West Ham, and waited just two minutes for a train that had come from a different part of the c2c network to stop at Limehouse.

Well, I thought that was so clever that I wanted to share it with you! It was made possible mainly through a bit of local knowledge and using the National Rail app for the iPhone, an app that is quite overpriced but really useful. Maybe you’ll be able to use it to train hop! Or, maybe you are an experienced traveller in this area and can give us some ideas of other services around the country which can make your journey quicker by changing at another station.

Looking forward to any comments on the former sentence!

Update on my TFL help request

Well, even though no one had any comments for me about any suggestions of how to fix my problem with my TFL account, I thought you’d be happy to know that it is problem solved!

I find it very difficult to remember which websites actually give you a username and which ones just use your e-mail address. Turns out that TFL is one of the sites that does give you a separate username, and it was that information I had forgotten, not my password!

This being the case, I am sure that any TFL people reading this will be thrilled to find out that this issue is nothing to do with them, just a PEBCAK. If you don’t know what PEBCAK means, then don’t worry – ignorance is bliss! (Or at least, if I told you, you might get offended if you overheard anyone in tech support referring to your broken technology as a PEBCAK.)

Weekend Closures on London Underground 21st-22nd August

Hey folks!

I’m travelling through London this weekend and feel a little stuck with what we can and can’t do with travelling!
I’m also afraid that I’m really pressed for time right now so I’m being a bit lazy. Instead of delivering the info in my usually charming manner ( ), I’m just going to copy and paste the e-mail from TFL that I get. I hope that doesn’t offend you or TFL, and if it does – I’ll change it after the weekend.

Circle Line

There is no service on the entire line due to line upgrade and Crossrail work.

District Line

Between Embankment and Upney (eastbound) and between Barking and Embankment (westbound) there is no service due to line upgrade and Crossrail work.

Hammersmith & City Line

Between Moorgate and Barking there is no service due to line upgrade and Crossrail work.

Westbound Hammersmith & City line trains are not stopping at Latimer Road due to platform extension work.

Hammersmith & City line trains running to/from Hammersmith are not stopping at Paddington (Hammersmith & City) station due to improvement work.

Jubilee Line

Between Waterloo and Stanmore there is no service due to line upgrade work.

Metropolitan Line

Between Aldgate and Harrow-on-the-Hill there is no service due to line upgrade work.

London Overground

Between Euston and Kilburn High Road there is no service after 1830 on Saturday and no service before 1200 or after 2000 on Sunday.

Between Richmond and Stratford there is no service on Sunday.

Between Shepherd’s Bush and Willesden Junction there is no service on Sunday.

–

Happy travelling! I think I’m going to investigate any replacement bus services I can find…

To look at a map please visit this website

Thanks to TfL for giving us this information.

I get this information from weekly updates by the lovely folks at www.tfl.gov.uk. If you would like to receive these e-mails too then go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/traveltools/default.aspx and click on “Weekend Closures Email” to fill in your details.