Monday, November 29, 2010

Snow stops play already! FFS

So this Monday morning I was delayed for a foot numbingly 40 minutes getting into work.
The reason for this delay was due to inclement weather. FFS (For F*&ks Sake) this is England its all inclement weather with 4 days of sun a year.

Standing there looking at the announcement board it said "Please look at Timetables" or "works of fiction" as I like to call them. The automated announcement did kindly tell us every minute that the 6.57 is 10 minutes late at 7.07 just in case maths is not your strong point. It did get tricky when we got to 7.10 I had to think hard then. There was no real information until the natives started to get restless, when the next lot of commuters turned up on the platform to see us all standing around looking cold and pissed off more than usual.
There was an announcement that due to the inclement weather there are problems with the signalling in the Ashford area and engineers are working hard to rectify the problem.

So I took pictures of the blizzard that managed to bring Southeastern to a standstill.
Its not exactly heavy is it. I am so glad they are putting up the costs to maintain and upgrade the rail network.
Oh no that's what has been happening for the last 10 years. So when are we going to start seeing any improvements? not in my lifetime I think you bunch thieving mother fluffers.

Nick.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Dick Turpin is alive and running Southeastern.

So the fare rises for January are published in the press today. Last year the average rise for the commuter was 1.2% except for Southeastern which managed to get away with 8%.
The reason for this bigger than national average rise, was that we were paying for the new fast train service. OK now it’s up and running why are we still paying extra for it? Should it not be paying for itself?
Another thing the new line which was built for the train has been sold off to some Canadian consortium.
Where is my cut then? Huuu I part paid for it I was one of the original backers like one of the Dragons I want my cut… I knew I should have said “im out” when they put the fares up.

So what sort of rise are they going to give us this year 8% maybe 9% to really give me some pain? No they are going big this time they are looking at 12.7% are they taking the piss. There is always news about a double dip recession well I believe Southeastern are trying their best to create it in my household.

I think these prices are being hiked to pay for the lack of people on the high speed train. The HST has been shortened by 3 carriages because there are not as many people on it as Southeastern thought and who can blame them. I don’t use it as I feel like I am being ripped of already without paying an extra £1,000 per year + tube ride for the privilege.

The problem is what can you do about it. I am not using the trains for pleasure rides I am using it to get to work. The other option is to drive which at the cost of travel for me going to be over £100 per week it is looking to be the cheaper option even with my planet killer car and the price of petrol. I this what you want in these times of green-ey-ness-ness? Is me to kill baby seals with my car, because that is what I am considering doing Southeastern and it’s your fault.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Mojave Desert

Did you know that Britain has been as dry as the Mojave Desert?
No well it’s the only explanation that I can think of as to why Southeastern have been so consistently shite this week.
The first rains in a thousand years have completely codsed up the rail system.
It is Thursday any I have not yet this week been on a train that isn’t late.
On Wednesday they even cancelled the morning train due to the biblical floods we have been having. Or that they could be bothered why give a service when you have a monopoly that is subsidised and well you customers are not likely to go anywhere else.
This is England the only place damper in winter is Ireland for fecks sake.
When a Southeastern guard was asked why the trains are so bad his brilliant explanation was “well it is winter” is it? That crept up on us I didn’t see that coming. Did we have this winter thing last year?

This week we were warned by some government committee that the trains in 2014 are going to be overcrowded and provide a terrible service. I think southeastern are ahead of their time. It’s the first target they have beaten without fudging the figures.
Maybe they should change the company tagline to something like.
Don’t wait until 2014 for your crap rail service. Travel with Southeastern and get it now.”
Guess what this mornings train in was over 10 minutes late so only one more train to make a perfect score for the week.