It's been a few months now since we moved to London. Being the wet blanket that I am, let me go straight into the things that puncture my balloon of exuberance, becloud my joie de vivre, defizz my pep and zing, unsparkle my eyes, turn the music in my heart into white noise.
The public transport.
In four months I have counted three instances on the tube and just as many in the bus when the driver terminates the route prematurely, GIVING NO REASON FOR DOING SO!! No passenger reacts, everyone just calmly gets off and waits for another train/bus. I was amazed, but wisely forbore from marching up to the driver and demanding answers or compensation. After all if seasoned Londoners, who spend nearly a quarter of their waking hours inside trains and buses, don't say a word, it must mean we're dealing with sinister personnel here. Only once did I see a man brave enough to work up a froth and ask the driver why he terminated the route two stops from where it was actually supposed to terminate. Very coolly the driver said, go, complain if you like, but don't hold any hopes of redressal.
Now I know why the London transport is so famous and the envy of other cities. Only because the network is so vast. Never mind that it is slow, stuffy, doesn't come on time, doesn't leave on time, doesn't start at the right place, doesn't terminate at the right place, and some of the stations have the most godawful rat mazes for platforms.
Something like this - suppose you get off at a station in the city, and if you want to change to the Central line, the lowest of all the lines in terms of being underground. Typically, you first walk about 200m, take a flight of stairs/escalator up one level, walk another 300m, take two levels of stairs/escalators down, turn right, walk another 200m, go down a short flight of stairs (no escalator this time), go into the tunnel, sharp left, and there you are. You've travelled nearly a kilometre to change trains. Early on when I didn't know how far away platforms are from one another in many stations, I performed this routine, only to realise that the stop I wanted to go to was the next one - I would have reached it quicker if I walked along the street, and breathed relatively better air, besides.
I want to work from home.
The public transport.
In four months I have counted three instances on the tube and just as many in the bus when the driver terminates the route prematurely, GIVING NO REASON FOR DOING SO!! No passenger reacts, everyone just calmly gets off and waits for another train/bus. I was amazed, but wisely forbore from marching up to the driver and demanding answers or compensation. After all if seasoned Londoners, who spend nearly a quarter of their waking hours inside trains and buses, don't say a word, it must mean we're dealing with sinister personnel here. Only once did I see a man brave enough to work up a froth and ask the driver why he terminated the route two stops from where it was actually supposed to terminate. Very coolly the driver said, go, complain if you like, but don't hold any hopes of redressal.
Now I know why the London transport is so famous and the envy of other cities. Only because the network is so vast. Never mind that it is slow, stuffy, doesn't come on time, doesn't leave on time, doesn't start at the right place, doesn't terminate at the right place, and some of the stations have the most godawful rat mazes for platforms.
Something like this - suppose you get off at a station in the city, and if you want to change to the Central line, the lowest of all the lines in terms of being underground. Typically, you first walk about 200m, take a flight of stairs/escalator up one level, walk another 300m, take two levels of stairs/escalators down, turn right, walk another 200m, go down a short flight of stairs (no escalator this time), go into the tunnel, sharp left, and there you are. You've travelled nearly a kilometre to change trains. Early on when I didn't know how far away platforms are from one another in many stations, I performed this routine, only to realise that the stop I wanted to go to was the next one - I would have reached it quicker if I walked along the street, and breathed relatively better air, besides.
I want to work from home.
