London Bridge Chaos!

Argh...and I thought I had cleverly missed all the mess...!

With my usual platforms now completely destroyed (as I mentioned previously) - the journey into London Bridge has been much the same as normal (just slightly narrower platforms to disembark - walking up the train instead of the platform skips the queue - so no big deal)...getting home again last night was another matter entirely though (I'm hoping this was just a blip, but last night no-one knew where to go - it was bedlam) -





I'm fairly sure I visited all the remaining platforms at least twice before I found a train heading in the direction I wanted...so things aren't quite sorted yet...see how we go tonight...welcome back to work, Fink! >:P

Woah, London Bridge...

...looking down from the News Building, all my normal platforms have completely GONE (zoom in)!  Wonder which one I need to use to get home tonight?  Oo-er...

Nappy Vending Machines...

...spotted in the wild (and in a gents loo too)!

So, two things must have happened (to add this to the usual clunky mix of boxes blocking the way to have a quick wee in the boys toilets) -

• The rusty old condom vending machine *almost* works (nice try - as it's still in the way it's obviously making money) but didn't (in the end) - "bear fruit"
• The breath-freshener/legal high/Horny Goat weed tablet vending machine works amazingly well (it's the same amount of pound coins as the condom one)...

However, from my point of view there is only one really important fact that is *certainly* true - and Babycare, this message is for you - £1.50 for two baby wipes doesn't really cut the mustard...are you trying to set Dads up?  The very next conversation is going to be - "Urm, well done for taking her to get changed, but you haven't done it very well have you??", "Fink - SHE SMELLS - did you clean her bottom properly?", "Oh just give her here"...

Argh! :P

So glad I don't get the bus any more...

...from London Bridge...it's heart breaking to have to join the back of a queue like that on a Monday morning!

Welcome to the News Building...

...(or "Return to Southwark!")...tried to get my head around a better journey into town today (now having absolutely no onward journey to worry about from London Bridge), discovered that my later train is an express train (and thus was full and standing - *groan*)...so that is still a work in progress...anyway, had a nice cup of tea in St Thomas Street waiting for my free breakfast time to arrive - as I was quite early -

- when I got there we were already being asked to gather our things ready for our induction(!), so I grabbed a slightly warm (but very tasty) bacon sandwich (and a glug of water), and then we were on our way to reception...

- and up in the lifts after we had been pass upgraded (there are 6 lifts serving the core of the building, all with no buttons inside, so you choose your destination before you get in and the lifts tell you which letter you want to join - same as the last office, actually) -

- as you can see, there isn't a huge amount of choice at the moment, most of the office is still a building site, after all...

Anyway, up on the 13th floor (which is almost finished) - we have lots and lots of hot desks -

- collaborative spaces -

- (of all sorts of shapes and sizes) -

- and beautiful new kitchens (intermittently topped up with fresh fruit and pastries) -

- and a (somehow rather familiar) lighting decoration above one of the newspaper carousels (thank goodness it isn't right in front of any of the desks, or they might be a bit unpopular with migraine sufferers)...!

All in all - Amazing so far!  Guess I'll post some of the views from the windows later on (when the sun comes out)...but the office itself is very swish and everything smells, well, new! ;)

St Dunstan in the East Garden

Wow...a year on and I'm *still* finding amazing little gems like this, strictly speaking this is in the City, not Wapping, as it's too far West, but it marks about the half-way point if I'm walking between Thomas More Square and London Bridge...wish I had stumbled across it before!

Rain, rain go away...

...I'm right up to here (indicating over the top of my head) with wet shoes (and we have our Cornwall holiday coming up very, very soon)!  Thomas is so excited, he asks me every morning "Are we going on holiday today, Daddy?"...and I have to answer "I really wish we were, but it won't be long!"... ;)

You would never know there was a tube strike...

...on today, would you? ;)

Pudding Lane Commute

Noticed the other day that (when I decide to walk over London Bridge to get to Wapping, instead of getting shuttle bus or tube) I tend to walk up Pudding Lane - quite by accident (!)...

...which is, of course, the site of the start of the Great Fire of London (way back in 1666), just shows, you really can't take more than about 50 steps in any direction in London without hitting some bit of interesting history... ;)

Of course, I *should* have been clued into this possibility by the enormous Monument...

- complete with *huge* signs telling the terrible tale (all over the base) that I pass -

- shortly before my swerve up Pudding Lane (which, I imagine, looks rather different today than when it was the home of Thomas Faryner's (slightly too combustible) Bakery...

I turn right up the little alley you can see about half way up the lane to continue my rush...now sniffing for signs of smoke as I go... ;)

Earlswood Station Open!

Wow, after all my moaning (mostly on Twitter) about Earlswood station ticket office being basically closed, we do actually have a new member of staff now - Hurrah...!  However, when I passed the door yesterday (quite late at night on my way home) I was surprised to see that it was *still* open hours after it should have been locked up...Just in case this was in error I pushed the query button on the platform and reported it (wouldn't want the coffee guy to turn up in the morning to a missing coffee tuk-tuk-thing)... ;)

Amazing sunrise in Earlswood...

...this morning, on my walk to the station...think it's going to be a sunny day today! :)

Damn...

...so there we all were yesterday (us commuters) moaning and groaning, finding (packed out) alternative services etc. - turns out the delays were (at least partially) caused by some poor 15 year old kid falling (completely accidentally) onto the track at Horley station and receiving a fatal electric shock...may have waited a bit more patiently if I'd known the circumstances...my thoughts are with the family... :(

London Bridge Platform 11

...was our final destination today (thanks to the ongoing improvement works at the station)...and oh boy is it narrow...I timed it, it took me seven minutes to get from my seat all the way to the ticket barrier (and this includes tutting, giving up waiting, getting back on the train at the next door and walking down the aisle in the middle instead - which surprisingly few other people did)...*very* annoying...hope this isn't our new normal platform! :(

Wow - NFC Fun!

I'd been wondering when I'd have a chance to play with the NFC on my HTC One...!  Turns out it was on the train on the way home the other day...and guess what?

It did *absolutely* NOTHING... ;p

Southwark at Twilight

Taken last night when I decided to walk it as the weather was nice (for a huge change)! ;)

Also found out yesterday that we are moving offices in the first week of June - ours will be the very first kit picked up and transported to "The Place" - and after that I really won't have much reason to return to Wapping (bar perhaps a few meetings as the rest of the staff slowly follow us pioneers over the river) nor take the stroll across the Thames via Tower Bridge - so actually not that many more "organic" opportunities to do this sort of thing await me, they will have to be deliberate excursions...I may as well make the most of it...! ;)

No waiting zones at East Croydon...

...spotted this the day before yesterday (while the train was inexplicably stopped at East Croydon) - I imagine it's something to do with all the building work going on but I'm at a bit of a loss as to explain why (or how they go about enforcing it)...these hashed areas are up and down the platform, accompanied by signs telling passengers that they are not to loiter in the marked spots...How odd!  I looked for quite a long time for any sort of reason why you wouldn't be allowed to do so but ended up just shaking my head in confusion...!

Lovely weather today in Wapping...

...really looking forward to my trip back to London Bridge...

Evidence of improvement at London Bridge!

Well, there we go, the trains haven't managed to run on time (those happy few that managed to start running at all without being cancelled), but at least at London Bridge there are some tiny signs of improvement (at least for those who have no idea where they are going - which may speed things up for the rest of us during rush hour - once we are *off* the delayed trains and back onto foot power) - here you can see the nice, new colour coded "Follow me" lines (like out of Ender's Game) to hand-hold folk to where they need to be without raising their eyes from the pavement (in order to notice all the existing signs on the walls)...

I can just feel the rail network coming together...with this and the confusing footprints they spray painted onto the escalators, things are sure to improve!

Earlswood Station Rain storm...

...it's just absolutely horrible at the moment (last couple of communting days exactly the same)...today the early train was completely cancelled thanks to flooding at Christ's hospital...this can't have been a surprise can it?  Could they not have started it from Horsham on this occasion?  What about tomorrow?

Horrible Weather this morning!

Thanking my lucky stars that I did the entire walk (listening to Larry Niven's RingWorld) in gentle drizzle, walked onto the platform at Earlswood (shaking the rain from my coat) and then -the above- happened...absolutely crazy, train was three minutes late into the station and then delayed by a further twenty at South Croydon due to a power failure...

I'm putting my assessment of the rail improvement works (that closed the entire line over Christmas) on hold for the time being...we'll see how things are after the weekend...fair is fair... ;)