I feel really sorry for regular commuters who have to travel to London by rail every day. Over the years I've had jobs where projects had to be done at client offices and so inevitably some of those gigs were in town, I used to hate the "commute" part of it. Today I had the pleasure of training it up to London for a board meeting (I usually go up 3 or 4 times a month for various reasons) and it was particularly hellish.
As you already know, if you live in the UK, it was freezing cold this morning, and damp! My local train to Reading (where I change to the main-line) was 40 minutes late. I think I was pretty close to getting frost-bite in my toes standing on an icy-wet platform in "business shoes". The train was full so I had to stand up for the entire journey as my feet thawed out (ouch!), this wasn't so bad for the short connection to Reading (only 2 stops) but then I found the main line into London choc-a-block too. I had to stand in a packed gang-way cheek to jowl with fellow passengers all the way to Paddington, there were also problems on the line, so that leg took twice as long as it normally does. Then to cap it all the Central line was having problems so the trains were exceptionally packed (lovely) Coming home wasn't that much better although I did manage to get a seat for one of the journey legs, albeit next to some bloke who ate burger and chips the whole way, and stank the place out, delightful.
For this privilege I paid the princely sum of £51! (and no, that's not for a week that's just one return trip) - the distance is roughly 31 miles (as the crow flies) or around 80p per mile, sometimes I do wonder what the hell we're all going to do when the oil runs out, will only loads-a-monies be able to travel anywhere?
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