Southern Trains - Another Great Week

...well, two weeks actually...Every *single* day for the last two weeks the train in the morning has been delayed, by now you would have thought they might have decided to set off a little bit earlier, or change the name of the train to the 07:18 instead of the 07:12 (or something)...of course, as soon as we get out of pattern the delays compound and by the time we get into London Bridge we are (on average) fifteen or twenty minutes late arriving...last Thursday things got even better, as I stood (already running late) on platform one, awaiting my Lewisham service and watched in disbelief as not one, but two Lewisham trains popped up onto the boards, only to vanish - without a single announcement - without a train actually arriving at the station, and then just to put the cherry on the top, when I got to the DLR there was a broken down train blocking one of the platforms and about 200 people impatiently waiting...that night there were 51 minute delays out of London Bridge in the direction of home...

Winter (you know, a bit of wind and rain, or a bit of ice) *shouldn't* be coming as a surprise, it happens each and every year...although neither is it a surprise (unfortunately) that we inevitably hit the annual descent into dismal service by the hopelessly under-prepared idiots who (I stifle my manic laughter as I say) "run" the railways...

Still, at least it gives me a chance to wander around with the camera... >;P

Redhill Bus station upgrade 435/100

What a pain...Redhill bus station is *closed*, and instead of grouping all the stops sensibly along Marketfield way, the bus company, in it's wisdom, have littered them all over town, which means for me (a pretty average London commuter), we have a bit of a problem.

If I leave the office on time, enjoy the crush across town from Canary Wharf on the tube (takes about 20 minutes) to a major London railway station (London Bridge in my case) run and jump onto the first train I can (around 1800hrs+) I usually get into Redhill in just enough time to dash across the road and make the 435 at 1835hrs (assuming it hasn't left early, as it often does) if it's running a bit late, so much the better...

Annoyingly (believe it or not) 1835hrs is also the time that is deemed by Metrobus to be the sensible moment to *end* peak services (despite the crowds of people standing at the bus station, and despite the fact that this is the earliest possible time a London Commuter can *get* back to Redhill from London), the 430/435 service stops (for 55 minutes) and then an hourly service starts (running at twenty past the hour). Not *normally* a problem, as I can just pick up the 100 bus at 1900hrs (still a 25 minute wait, and I have to walk for 15 extra minutes at the other end) but not the end of the world, and if I'm *really* lucky a stray 430 or 435 will trundle up seriously late (as happens occasionally)...

This puts me in the unhappy position of loosing any luxury of choice, loosing any chance of catching a lucky late runner, and loosing any chance of catching my normal bus, as the bus stop for the 430\435 is now all the way up Princess way. As if to rub my nose in the resultant Metrobus mess, each day I *now* emerge from the railway station (if the bus is on time) to watch it sitting in the traffic jam by the roundabout (it's out of the question to open the doors and let me on, of course)...the 100 stop is way down in Marketfield way, roughly ten minutes walk from the 430\435 stop (and on the other side of the extremely busy road)...

My only solution? To walk all the way to the stop up the Brighton road, where the 100, the 430 and the 435 manage to co-habit perfectly successfully. I just wonder, if this is the happy case at *that* stop, why on *earth* can't they manage to do so at one of the prior spots (i.e. actually *in* Redhill town centre) within sprinting distance of the station?

Pointless idiocy. No wonder most people run for the Reigate *train* and the queue at the taxi rank has doubled.

The bus station is going to be closed until May. I'm expecting something absolutely incredible to materialise.