Friday, September 09, 2022

back when the trains were a thing

ow do


so far as i am aware it remains the case that the various configurations of train service suppliers are unified only in their proclivity to strike. i have not really followed the news so much in respect of this as one gets tired of hearing the same thing on repeat, look you see. mostly, or in short, right now you are most probably not going to get a train because of industrial action, whereas in days gone by you were really very unlikely to get a train because of a whole range of curious reasons. 

certainly, yes, i have indeed mentioned (complained, moaned, whined) about the state of trains in our nation, of how one suffers stress and anxiety at the prospect of even thinking of trying to use them for they just get cancelled, delayed or binned on a whim. my most recent comment was this, which probably didn't go down too well with some. oh dear, shame, never mind. 

anyway this post isn't intended to be a gripe as such, but no doubt will turn into one. if, indeed, it has not done so already with the above comments. more so a look back (rather than forward) to a reasonably recent trip down to that there london (innit). i have not been to london "proper" for a couple of months now, just areas that like to claim they are "london" for marketing purposes. why, beats me, but whatever, as you like. 


i cannot be entirely certain, but i am pretty sure all of these images (animated or otherwise) were taken down at piccadilly circus, which is one of my most favourite places and thus also one of my more preferred tube stations. actually, yeah, on the last picture you can sort of see clearly that this is indeed where i was. making this entire paragraph redundant, i suppose. oh. well, done now. 

this was a time, then, when there were no actual strikes on, and it was just the usual levels of delay one comes to expect and certainly experience with the marvels of the london underground system. it is a network brilliantly planned out and has every chance of being perfectly functional, if it were not for the penchant for staff to not turn up and the proclivity of unions to call strikes. a key consideration of all transport for london (tfl) staff appointments must be that anyone employed must really hate people and really, really f*****g hate london too, wishing to unleash misery on both. for an awful lot of money. 

every chance exists that at the time you are reading this the london (innit) underground is presently not working as intended. this could be out of strike action, or something wrong in general, such as the current state of the weather, or any reason at all they can think of. here, then, in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, is a tube train arriving at a tube station. kind of. 


quite happy with the snipped i caught there, really. well, reasonably happy, i suppose. indeed i did feel somewhat strange stood filming on a tube station platform, and was mindful of attracting suspicious if not funny looks. but hey, know what, i long ago discovered that down there in that london (innit) they look at all so, irrespective of what you may or may not do. 

what, exactly, was i doing down in "the" london to have been in a position to film this? i was in the area for verk purposes, but not at this time. no doubt i would have finished verk concerns for the day, and taken myself off down to piccadilly circus partially to admire the eros statute, possibly to procure postcards off of them weird tourist shops but mostly for some tea

very strange how things go, especially with verk. for vast chunks of the commencement of this calendar year it was almost as if i was actually living in the place. yes, thinking back, that probably is as horrific a thought as it would be a reality. the last few months, though, have seen me not head that way. well, not specifically. certainly nowhere near any tube stations, whether they were working or not. 


rather likely, i suspect, that one or two of you will (or shall) have spotted yes, indeed, a Spider Man poster on the go. from what i recall the motion picture had ceased being exhibited for quite some time prior (fewer?) to when i was there, but i suppose they don't rush to update adverts down there. what would be the point if the stations are all closed for strikes or what have you? 

no, i have no idea as to when i shall next be in london "proper", or  making use of any functional train service which happens to be running. probably not for another month (at time of writing) at the least, but one never knows. for now, then, well, hope this was a kind of gentle and in some instances fond reminder of what it was like when the tube and/or trains just did what they were supposed to. 





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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