South West Trains
Valentine's Day this year, I have been out for a very nice time in London and we're heading back out to my house in the suburbs. We board a train at Waterloo taking us in the right direction and sit down. The departures board states simply that the train is going to the right place and stopping at my station. Fine.

The ticket inspector bloke had already been along, checked our tickets (which state clearly where we're getting off) and wandered off seeming happy enough. About 10 seconds before we pull into our station he announces over the tannoy that the train is two coaches too long for the next station and passengers in the last two carriages should move up the train to alight. Guess where we are sitting? That's right! The final carriage, in fact in the last row of seats.

Well we moved as fast as we could, struggling between the misaligned seats and through those stupidly slow automatic connecting doors, arriving at the first accessible door to the outside world as the guard stood next to it is pushing the button to set the train off. He won't stop it for us, instead preferring to lecture me on the importance of checking the length of the train before boarding (and ignoring my protestations that he KNEW we'd be getting off here as he'd checked my ticket).

The next station up the line is only 2 minutes away by train though. Or 20 minutes walk. In the cold. Through a dodgy estate. How romantic.
( naeonlite, Mon 16 May 2005, 17:53, Reply)