OK, so I left work at 5pm, because I thought 2 hours and 15 minutes would be enough to travel to the end of the world. Or the end of the tube map rather, I needed to go to Uxbridge which is the end of the Piccadilly Line, there were the trains drive of the map and disappear in the land beyond. From there the Tardis would be waiting for me, and I would be flown to Pinewood Studios where I would attend the TV recordings of the Weakest Link. the Dr. Who special. With David (The Doctor) Tennant.
That was my plan.
Now I could write a long rant about why I did not make it. Why the journey from South Croydon to Balham, and tubing from there to Uxbridge simply took more than 2 hours and 15 minutes. How they couldn’t decide if the Piccadilly train waiting for me was going to Heathrow (not my direction) or Rayners Lane (close to my direction). It went to Heathrow and I lost even more valuable time. When passing Park Royal station it was 7.15pm. I had to be there at the studios at 7.15pm. Park Royal was 11 stations from Uxbridge, and Uxbridge was 15 minutes by taxi from the Pinewood Studios. I wasn’t stressed, I thought that if David would like me to be there in time, he would have send the Tardis. However the Tardis was nowhere to be seen, and so I missed it. (If this had been the travel to Bill’s performance in NY I would have exploded, but it wasn’t so no need to make a big thing out of it).
I could have left the train in Park Royal, and take the train back into the city but I didn’t. There were 2 reasons for that.
1. I was close to Rayners Lane. I had never been to Rayners Lane station before. And you can’t write a poem about a man from Rayners Lane without actually having been there at some point, so I hopped off in Rayners Lane. I looked around for a while, but he wasn’t there. From there I began my journey home.
2. For some reason I ended up with a new mobile phone (long and boring story but Easymobile is closing down, I guess they weren’t so easy after all). Enhanced with a spicey Casino Royale (mmm it never stops now does it) theme there is something for the eye, and even better, in my ear there was the chocolate voice (of course he is there too, and the only reason why Daniel hasn’t been replaced yet it because I haven’t had the time) saying
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
(He is still there for you if you want him in your ear too)
And I thought: he is so right. I am going to enjoy this journey. The 5 hours I spent in the tube today back and forth to Rayners Lane – I love tubing. The train was nearly empty, I had good stuff in my ear and my pen wrote another piece of the script puzzle in my notebook while slowly returning to London.
No, don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years.
Just to be annoying now there’s nothing you can do about it, I would have thought South Croydon to East Croydon to Victoria would have been a better initial train journey.
Transport for London’s Journey Planner (http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/) also thinks so. It also reckons from Victoria, you go to Green Park, change for the Jubilee Line, go two stops northbound to Baker Street, and then get the Metropolitan Line to Uxbridge.
Man, I’m annoying.
No you are not annoying, I am a sentimental fool.
I can give you some reasons why I took this route:
1. I hate East Croydon station. soo busy always. I normally cool off after a busy day at the office in the quietness on the absolutely underrated but nicely quiet South Croydon station.
2. Taking the tube from Victoria around the time I could have been there is torture. They have been closing down access to the tube several times the last weeks because it was overcrowded. I try to avoid that as much as possible. Normally the quickest way into central London for me is South Croydon – Balham – northern line to Leicester Square. (And today I thought that the Piccadilly Line from there was a smart move – which it wasn’t).
3. I had the problem that my Oystercard only covered 5 zones, while Uxbridge is in zone 6. I had to buy a ticket for an extra zone, and could only imagine how long the queues on Victoria were going to be. In Balham it went fast.
But yes you are absolutely right about the Metropolitan line, I missed that one. I just blindly went for the route where I had to change lines as few times as possible. Well you know the result of that genius idea. Next time I’ll have to check the journeyplanner :-)
But really I wasn’t angry or disappointed about missing this. This is how things sometimes go in life. You can’t have it all.
I see your points. Yeah, the tube would have been a bit crushed at that point. Travelling across London is very do-able, but not so much during rush hour.
It’s cool you’re philosophical.
Good luck with your new phone :)
I live in Uxbridge!
I never use the picadilly line. It is a nightmare and a horror.
I use the metropolitan line instead.
Love, mike.