“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
— Samuel Johnson
The opposite is obviously true of me – I’m so not tired of London I wanted to live in the glitzy west end! Some of my friends however are a little more tired of London. I recommend removing the northern line commute and everything becomes better.
So the tube has been okay mostly for the last week or so which you forget completely when you have to travel 4 stops in the opposite direction to actually get on a tube in the morning. That’s not get on and get a seat that’s physically get on. I might not have time for the gym now 🙁
Last week I went to Earls Court which used to be the major stomping ground in London before Soho became gentrified and got more bars than brothels. I went for a drink at the Colherne. Okay so it’s not been the Colherne for ages and is now a trendy bar called the Pembroke but to me it will always be the Colherne. Then dinner at Balans West which seems to have stood the test of time. Then we went to Bromptons, again no longer Bromptons and now Infinity and definitely hasn’t stood the test of time!
Talking of blasts from the past, The Bridge (425 New Kings Road) has been foremost in my mind recently also for a few reasons. Including that one of the regulars who with his partner were dear friends has sadly passed. Another is I keep bumping into people who used to drink there. Oh and then of course there is Andy God – not his real surname but then there were a lot of Andy’s, Andrew’s and Drew’s in the place for some reason. Last night for the first time I discovered his surname!
So back then the internet wasn’t as slick as it is now and AOL still ruled the roost. It was mostly made up of home pages with spinning email icons. Pages basically like this one which is a resource page that time forgot!
Of the bars and dance clubs listed I think seven were owned by the same brewery and about half are now closed or open for other purposes 😉
The website owners say “Help us keep this listing up to the minute. Are there new places in your city? Have any places closed? Not quite up to par? Let us know! Send us an e-note” I may well just do that but where do I start?
So iPhone applications come and go but recently my favourite application
has been deactivated. Worse national rail have made an inferior product and want a fiver for it!
So now not only do trains run late but you have to pay to check if it’s late!
Transport for London (TfL) had appealed for telecommunications companies to come forward for a trial on the Waterloo & City line but have drawn a blank.
The aim of the test – originally scheduled for 2008 – was to find how out technically and commercially viable a scheme would be.
All I can say is thanks god – it’s one of the few places where you get peace and quiet from people on mobiles. I commute using the trains and so sadly don’t get the luxury of not being in contact on my way to and from the office.
Still we know it’s possible as mobile operator O2 already offers mobile phone access on the Glasgow Underground. So really it is inevitable that eventually there will be a London trial on the tube.
Okay so I know I rant a fair bit but really. Some people seem to have no idea that there is anything going on around them
So there is the morning commuter moving towards the barrier and then stops to get their ticket out not realiing there is a mass of people already with their tickets out waiting to get through the gate and up to the platform. The morning commuter going at their own pace up the stairs regardless of the many hundreds trying to pass them to get onto the train that’s pulling into the platform.
The morning commuter that simply stops at the top of the stairs to check their phone messages and causes a jam – despite the huge KEEP CLEAR signs painted on the floor there.
The person that insists on stopping an dstanding right by the door and making everyone behind them squeeze past to get into the train.
Good journey into work this morning then? NO! That was only train one from Balham to Clapham Junction.
Oh but wait then there are the rude people who travel as a unit and cannot be seperated for an instant. On the train from Clapham Junction to Kensington Olympia there was a family. A rude one at that. They simply decided to take up the entire doorway with prams luggage and stand around themselves. God help anyone else who tried to board or squeeze past them. The tirade of fury that was spat out was unbelievable. Imagine during rush hour other people wanting to get onto the train. Imagine during rush hour the train being overcrowded.
Still thankfully they looked like they had been on their one early morning train journey this year and wouldn’t manage another for some time. Well not at that time of day anyway. Morning travel is normally reserved for those with jobs and places to be…
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