Travelling people
"Take the National Express when your life's in a mess
It'll make you smile
All human life is here"
The trip to london was certaily interesting - starting from waiting at the bus stop in Weston, where a man wandered down the road past me, stopped, and asked the date. I said it was the 13th, but he was obviously looking for more - which made me wonder if I'd accidently fallen into a badly written SF Time-travel novel:-) I supplied the month, year and day, which seemed to satisfy him and he continued on his way - straight into the newsagents across the road where he bought a newspaper - which surely gave him the same information? Very Twighlight zone-y!
I was shocked when the bus turned up, and I discovered a single to Bristol now costs £5.10! 3 years ago when i commuted to bristol every day a return was £3.60! The Bristol to London ticket only cost £6.00! WTF?!
Still, I found the extra couple of pounds and made it to bristol without diffculty, and on time, then managed to find and board the London bus wthout any hassle, which also left on time! It was far ettre than i had expected - the last time I travelled on a National express bus I swore I would never do so again. It was the slowest, most uncomfortable, roundabout route i had ever had the misfortune to travel. Hitching was quicker, easier, cheaper & safer (imo)! But Today was a far differnt experience - the coach was pretty new, with cushioned leatherette seats, leg room, no soft drinks pusher, and a smooth ride. Unfortunately the air-con was stuck permently on full blast icy cold, so we were all huddled up in hats, gloves & coats with our breath misting in the air in front of us! The driver was vry apologetic, but I still think it requires a letter of complaint to HQ.
Much to my surprise, we got into Victoria early. it comes of using the M4 bus lane I guess:-) Although in all the many times I have sat in the traffic myself, i have never seen bus go past - it was nice to bypass all the cars . It's a long time since I've walked around central London. I'd pretty much forgotten how it's a culture all of it's own. I had to dodge punks having their photo taken, hoards of Japenese tourists filming statues, single minded shoppers barging people out of their way and men in suits who probably earn more every minute than I do in a year, as i transferred over to the Tube station.
the queues for tickets were some 30mins long, so i joined one of the shorter ones and passed the time watching the entertainment of someone talking themselves out of a caution for common assault and into an arrest for sexual assault and abuse of a police officer. At the machine I tried to buy a single ticket to go the 10 miles to walthamstow, but it wouldn't let me & made me buy a one day travelcard for £5.70. So....... Bristol to London 120 miles. £6.00, or 5p per mile. Zone 1 to zone 3 10 miles. £5.70 or 57p per mile. It's cheaper to drive!
More to come.......
It'll make you smile
All human life is here"
The trip to london was certaily interesting - starting from waiting at the bus stop in Weston, where a man wandered down the road past me, stopped, and asked the date. I said it was the 13th, but he was obviously looking for more - which made me wonder if I'd accidently fallen into a badly written SF Time-travel novel:-) I supplied the month, year and day, which seemed to satisfy him and he continued on his way - straight into the newsagents across the road where he bought a newspaper - which surely gave him the same information? Very Twighlight zone-y!
I was shocked when the bus turned up, and I discovered a single to Bristol now costs £5.10! 3 years ago when i commuted to bristol every day a return was £3.60! The Bristol to London ticket only cost £6.00! WTF?!
Still, I found the extra couple of pounds and made it to bristol without diffculty, and on time, then managed to find and board the London bus wthout any hassle, which also left on time! It was far ettre than i had expected - the last time I travelled on a National express bus I swore I would never do so again. It was the slowest, most uncomfortable, roundabout route i had ever had the misfortune to travel. Hitching was quicker, easier, cheaper & safer (imo)! But Today was a far differnt experience - the coach was pretty new, with cushioned leatherette seats, leg room, no soft drinks pusher, and a smooth ride. Unfortunately the air-con was stuck permently on full blast icy cold, so we were all huddled up in hats, gloves & coats with our breath misting in the air in front of us! The driver was vry apologetic, but I still think it requires a letter of complaint to HQ.
Much to my surprise, we got into Victoria early. it comes of using the M4 bus lane I guess:-) Although in all the many times I have sat in the traffic myself, i have never seen bus go past - it was nice to bypass all the cars . It's a long time since I've walked around central London. I'd pretty much forgotten how it's a culture all of it's own. I had to dodge punks having their photo taken, hoards of Japenese tourists filming statues, single minded shoppers barging people out of their way and men in suits who probably earn more every minute than I do in a year, as i transferred over to the Tube station.
the queues for tickets were some 30mins long, so i joined one of the shorter ones and passed the time watching the entertainment of someone talking themselves out of a caution for common assault and into an arrest for sexual assault and abuse of a police officer. At the machine I tried to buy a single ticket to go the 10 miles to walthamstow, but it wouldn't let me & made me buy a one day travelcard for £5.70. So....... Bristol to London 120 miles. £6.00, or 5p per mile. Zone 1 to zone 3 10 miles. £5.70 or 57p per mile. It's cheaper to drive!
More to come.......
posted by Juggling Mother @ 7:06 pm
2 Comments:
At Monday, January 15, 2007 2:09:00 am,
Anonymous said…
Fuel Hikes??
At Thursday, January 18, 2007 1:21:00 pm,
JR said…
Glad part of the trip was a pleasant surprise. As for the aircon, it was non-existent anywhere, much less full blast when I was there in the heat of last summer. Still, I did enjoy walking all over London, it's such an interesting city!
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