First Essay Complete

It’s been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently. Work has got a bit busier and has occupied my working time (quite rightly!)

The good news is that one of my four essays for my Diploma in Commuting is now complete. One down and three to go. This first essay was actually the easiest. This is why I have completed it so quickly and with only a tiny bit of discomfort.

Congratulations to me!

Late getting home

I finish work at 5.00pm. I didn’t get home until quarter to eight last night. As a result of the wind, the trains were well and truly buggered up. Last night at the train station was an example of how to operate crowd management. Trains kept terminating at the station that would otherwise carry on, and more and more people were being filtered onto the platform, all waiting for one train. Then we all got on that one train. Jammed in like beans and stuff.

I don’t know how, but I succeeded in getting a seat.

Then the train conductor announced that it wasn’t going where everyone thought it was going. So loads of people got off with a lot of huffing and puffing. I remained on the train as it was still going to where I needed.

Then the train conductor changed his mind, so everyone got on again. People who had lost seats by getting off were not pleased.

And then, the conductor changed his mind AGAIN and this time there was swearing from passengers.

The whole time, I just sat there with my head in my book trying to distance myself from the entire situation. For once, it is not South West trains’ fault for trees breaking all over the place. I’d rather get home late than be involved in a derailment. So I settled into Two Lives and that was that for the next 2.25 hours.

South West Trains Website buggered

What an annoyance - how am I meant to tell what time I'm going to get home ?!

Grrrrrr

Blowin' in the Wind

I think High Winds are exciting yet scary. There’s something quite humbling about being nearly blown off your feet by something so powerful. It makes you realise how small and little we are in comparison to Mother Nature. I quite enjoy listening to powerful winds from the safety and comfort of an indoor place.

On the other hand, high winds can be extremely frightening and dangerous. You only have to look at the headlines on the breakfast news to realise the tragedy that high winds can evoke.

On the train this morning, there was a tree that had fallen over the track. It hadn’t fallen in a way that meant we couldn’t pass, though. The train driver braked sharply (as sharp as you can brake with a train which doesn’t do anything quickly) but then made the decision to barge through the tree with his big train. It worked, but the tree knocked against the side of the entire train as the train passed. It was a bit like when you go past low-hanging trees when you are sitting on the top deck of a double-decker bus. Bang bang knock crack – right on the window by your face.

The sea goes mad when it is windy. It crashes right against the walls of the coast and sprays sea water all over the place. It’s very exciting, but today they have closed off the road that runs parallel to the sea for fear of flooding. Plus, I am told that salt water is no good for a car’s bodywork.

I hope everyone is coping well with the wind today!

A Diploma in Commuting

I have a fresh train challenge. I am going to endeavour to write four essays in six months. Now, that might not sound like too bad a challenge. That’s what university students up and down the country are doing whilst also maintaining their daily lie-in. However, my challenge is to do these four essays on top of full-time work and 2 hours of commuting a day.

Why?

Like many industries, mine has a ‘Diploma’ qualification that takes three or so years to achieve. I have completed years one and two. I then moved jobs and moved down to the bottom of the country (only bottom in geography, not in quality of location!) and swiftly forgot all about the third year as I grappled with the new politics and procedures of my new work place.

New year resolution was to get back on track with this qualification. I then found out that the awarding body are now phasing out this qualification for a different one which is pretty much the same except for the title. This means that if I do not complete the final stage (4 assignments) before June 2007, I lose the work already started and have to re-qualify.

How ridiculous is this?!

However, I have always been someone who strives to work to deadlines. There is nothing like a speedily approaching closing date to get your butt into action.

And so, I have commenced what I call ‘Operation Commuter’. The essence of this plan is to complete as much work on my four essays as possible while travelling on the train. I have two hours a day where I sit there doing nothing much except read, sleep and think. Therefore, if I use this time productively, I could get myself a Diploma in no time at all.

So, I started this week. It’s hard. People keep on sitting next to me so I have to reshuffle my bags and extra papers and place them under my seat. I try to concentrate but I keep wanting to sleep (especially on the evening journey). I am most productive in the morning before hoards of people get on at a stop on my journey. I have written about 4 or so pages (handwritten of course) which seems a good start. However, it’s been years and years since I attempted to write an essay by good old fashioned pen and paper methods. At university I would do the whole thing on a computer – right from first thoughts all the way through to completed document. It makes editing much easier. Already my papers are full of scribbles and crossings out. It’s messy.

Once I’m happy with what I have written down on paper, I am going to attempt to put all of it into work on my little handheld thing. A slightly lengthy process as there is no keyboard as such, but at least it means I don’t have to do it at home.

Well, I’ll keep you posted as to when I give up with this process and just take it all home with me!

Football Fans

Football fans. Why do they consistently match the formulaic representation of hooligan football fans when they get together? They are, in all probability, all regular, well-balanced individuals with a steady family life and a good job in the real world. Once they convene in a group though, they just turn into monsters. There seems to be something quite primeval about a troupe of men together in honour of eleven men kicking a ball around. I was blessed to encounter a pack of football fans on the train on the way home last night. When they stepped into the carriage they were swiftly followed by the stench of stale beer on their breath. There is nothing worse than smelling beer from another’s breath, especially in confined quarters.

They are even worse than the teenagers for yelling and bawling at each other. Yet another group who fail to understand that it is not necessary to shout at each other when just sitting opposite one another.

Can’t you tell I’m trying to sleep!?

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Another week commences.
What is it about Mondays during the winter that is so substantially dismal?
This morning I was even more befuddled than normal when the alarm went off. I truly thought it was Sunday morning and I felt enormously bad-tempered that the radio had switched itself on at the weekend.
And then I remembered.

I have noticed that, since the return to work in January and the onset of various engineering works and problems with the trains, that there are colossal numbers of South West Trains staff patrolling the platform of the station where I board the train. There are literally swarms of them in coats and high-visibility jackets. They just stand around in groups of three or four, chatting amongst themselves and generally taking up a lot of space on the platform. I can’t quite grasp why there are so many. Are they members of staff who have been displaced from other stations where there is only a bus service? But what is their function? They don’t talk to customers. There are just a couple checking tickets, and sadly the free-tea man has disappeared. The rest seem to be wasting time for no apparent reason, having a laugh with their hands in their pockets. Perhaps it is for show – ‘look we know the service is rubbish for those of you who have the misfortune to step onto one our 1970s replacement bus services, but there are loads of staff about to help you get on the bus and to answer any questions.’ Yeah, loads of staff. Too many staff !!

Have you noticed how the replacement bus services now have South West Trains branding on them? They recognise that they need to use them so often that they have taken the decision to actually invest in some and paint them red and yellow and whatever other colours are in the branding. Good thinking there. But not very reassuring for lowly passengers like me.

On another point, I read an article today about how trains are the new work place. Apparently you can adjust the work/life balance by working on the train instead of/as well as in the office. This can save the amount of time you spend at work. Nevermind the issues of privacy and teenagers hurling abuse at each other, and people peering over your shoulder (I always do this when someone sits next to me with a laptop. I’m just nosy, but I might learn something interesting. Plus I like to see what people do for a living and stuff like that. I also like to see what books people are reading, and then I feel especially smug if I have already read that one.)

So, perhaps I should use the little handheld thing more often? Or I could just sleep.