Strange Thoughts of a Strange Man

I really have to not get the early train. It's filled with really odd people.

This morning I was sitting opposite a woman who appeared to be eating a toasted sandwich (odd in itself on a commuter train) by sucking it. Or perhaps she was trying to eat it genteelly or was avoiding that awkward thing where the bit of bacon you want to eat stays attached to the rest of the bacon in the sandwich. Either way she would have been better off getting up earlier and eating it at home.

The loony got on at Grove Park. Why is it always there?

He probably wasn't really a loony but I am always a bit wary of people who carry on talking when no-one is listening. Anyway, he insisted on passing through a group of people standing at the wide part of the aisle to walk up and stand in the aisle next to my seat. Again I was sitting on the end.

Instead of standing sideways, he faced the back of the train so that every time the train jostled one way or the other his bottom either knocked my shoulder or the shoulder of the guy across the aisle.

I hate that.

At least he wasn't facing forward. I have been attempting to write again and really hate it if someone is reading over my shoulder.

Labels: Commuting, Grove park, loony, Writing

This happened last year but I was still surprised, not to mention completely dismayed, to see that we had a large group of teenaged Japanese tourists on the train this morning AND on the train home.

I was unfortunate enough to be in the same carriage on the way home.

Who in their right mind thought it would be an enormously good idea to stuff an extra 20 people in an already packed commuter train in the heat of summer?

Not only were there 20 extra people on the train but they were very very loud. I was trying to listen to an audio book but they made it impossible.

Surely they could have gone into London and back out again at other times?

Labels: Commuting, Stupidity, Tourists

Today I used my new Travelcard for the first time.

Not a particularly exciting announcement, I must admit. However, this year I have bought a six zone Travelcard on Oyster (see below) rather than a paper ticket.

I have seen other people use Oyster cards at Orpington. I have seen them use them on the bus. I have used a pre-pay Oyster card on buses and tubes before but this is the first time I have used one that contains a season ticket.

So, I had two questions on my mind when I arrived at the station this morning:

1) Will it work?
2) Have I just wasted £1710 (yes, it costs THAT MUCH) on a bit of plastic?

Logically I knew it would work. I bought a six zone annual Travelcard and Orpington is in zone 6. Orpington has Oyster readers and I have seen them working but those two questions still revolved around in my head when I got on the bus, when I got to Orpington station and when I got off the train at Charing Cross.

It worked but am I paranoid or what?

*Note to foreign readers, non-Londoners and people similarly blessed by not having to commute into our bustling metropolis: a Travelcard is a way of paying for travel in and around London in advance. You can buy them for the day, week, month or year and to cover a number of zones. Zone one is central London and zone six is the one furthest out. There is a certain amount of snobbery that goes on regarding which zone you live in. Zone one is where the hip and trendy dudes live and in zone six we’ve only just learned to bang the rocks together and pull the hay out of our hair.

If you buy them from any of the overland rail companies, you are sold a paper ticket. A year of passing these through card readers can make them a bit ragged and wears the print away. The alternative is a thing called an Oyster card, a plastic card with some sort of radio activated chip in it so that you only have to slap it on the reader for it to activate and magically pay for your journey.

The only advantage to continue buying paper tickets is that sometimes, when the service over the year has been bad, a 5% discount is offered on the next card. It wasn’t available to me this year, therefore I am now an Oyster user.

Labels: Commuting

This morning was unusual. I met up with Dominic at Orpington and so had someone to talk to on the train. The train was also late and therefore overcrowded. This is not so bad. If you get on at Orpington there is no chance of not getting a seat. People joining the train at later stations, however, will have to stand.

One lady with a large bottom tried a different approach. She didn't actually manage to sit on my shoulder but it was close.

Labels: Commuting