From the category archives:

Journies

Broken down train at Stratford

January 19, 2010

Our train our of London broke down half way to Stratford this evening, and a 30-minute journey turned into a two and a half hour slog on three trains, stopping at almost every station on the line.

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Starting the new year over

January 11, 2010

The snow has hampered the smooth running of the railways for most of a week, and now some trains are being made up with fewer coaches than normal, leading to overcrowding.

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Delays, delays and delays

September 2, 2009

Another couple of bad journeys yesterday. A delay in the morning getting my train into London late and then, in the evening, equipment problems, which meant the next Chelmsford train leaving Liverpool Street wouldn’t be for 25 minutes.

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France vs the UK

July 7, 2009

We’re just back from France, where we took a TGV down to Provence and back. It’s reinforced for us just how much better the trains seem to be abroad.

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A week of contrasts

April 9, 2009

A week of contrasts, as I start on an inefficient commuter run into London, and finish with an excellent East Coast train, both run by the same company.

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Pleasantly surprised

February 3, 2009

After the heaviest snowfall in 18 years, I’d expected the trains to be far worse. Yesterday, I worked from home, primarily because I didn’t entirely trust things not to get worse by mid-afternoon, but today I headed back to the office and all was… well, fine.

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Tube troubles

January 25, 2009

Coming home from the Royal Albert Hall on Friday evening should have been easy: Piccadilly Line to Holborn and then Central to Liverpool Street and on to the over-ground. Except it wasn’t. The Central Line was closed from Marble Arch to Leytonstone because of a ‘passenger under a Central Line train at Liverpool Street’. Code for ’suicide’.

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First day back at work

January 2, 2009
Thumbnail image for First day back at work

Most of the world is still on its Christmas break, it would seem. New Year on a Thursday means you have an awkward day left over at the end of the week, and nobody can quite decide whether it should be a freebie, a sickie or a day in the office.
We opted for a day [...]

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