Big Weekend Competition

[Jono]

I've only been to London a handful of times, but after my work experience trip I managed to get a hang of the tubes, and don't have to worry about taxi costs. The service isn't perfect though, and I imagine there'll be times I'll get a taxi again, but can you master the tube?

[Mike]

Yep.

The deal is, the parents will take me to london, if i can got them around town.

I like the tube, has an atmosphere that i can't describe.

[KingTutsWWH]

I think the trick is to work out your route beforehand, as people on the tube tend to scuttle about like worker ants, and you can be trampled under foot if you pause for too long to look at the signs.

Most important is to know he colour of line, any changes and always the last station on the line (make sure it doesn't fork before your stop though).

Sounds obvious, but it helped me, especially as I am slightly short-sighted and was always half-asleep whilst using the underground.

It is also often much faster than getting a taxi.

Get an 'Oyster' card - much cheaper, and more convenient.

[Geezer7348]

Everytime I am in London I always have visions of myself getting on the wrong train taking me in the opposite direction in which I want to travel.

Thankfully I have never been alone whilst on the tube as I have always been with family so I havent had to try and master my way on my own.

[Lucinda]

People who don't know what they're doing are really annoying. Like people who stand on the escalator with all their luggage, completely blocking both sides of it. You stand on the right, so people can walk down the left! How hard can it be...

I generally know which lines to use to get where I want to go. I sometimes have problems on whether I want to go eastbound or westbound but the signs make it quite easy. I don't know which routes are best in rush hour though, or if the route I want to use isn't working (quite a common occurence) I don't know which is the next best option generally. I need my dad for that, he knows which is the best route everywhere, and has helped me get places on time in rush hour that I would never have got to on time myself.

[Geezer7348]

Like people who stand on the escalator with all their luggage, completely blocking both sides of it. You stand on the right, so people can walk down the left! How hard can it be...

That is one thing that really annoys me when I am in London is when people feel the need to have to walk down past everybody else who is waiting patiently to get to the top/bottom of the escalator. Is it just me that feels the urge to stick out a foot when somebody is walking past? :shock:

[Lucinda]

That is one thing that really annoys me when I am in London is when people feel the need to have to walk down past everybody else who is waiting patiently to get to the top/bottom of the escalator. Is it just me that feels the urge to stick out a foot when somebody is walking past? :shock:

Not everyone is a tourist, we don't all have the time to stand around looking at the same advert go past on the wall! In London, people are pretty busy. You'll also notice that no one talks to strangers on the tube unless they are begging or mad. It's just the way things are.

[sebdevlin]

I like the tube, has an atmosphere that i can't describe.

Its like mass indifference where no one wants to catch anyones eye hence the popularity of mp3 players on the tube

[KingTutsWWH]

Hate it when it rains though...

You get the gag-inducing odour of rarely washed/dry cleaned business suits slowly steaming in the heat of a badly ventilated overcrowded train.... bleugh.

[Jono]

What annoys me is how this is blatantly breaking the law when you have a whole carriage packed full of people. We're not turkeys. You shouldn't be allowed to do this sort of thing. Yet the government turn a blind eye as they make a lot of money from it.

[Geezer7348]

Next time you are in a hurry to catch a train and its fairly quiet here's a good quick way of managing down the escalator

[ame]

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[KingTutsWWH]

Very true Jono.

I saw a documentary about Japanese trains (maybe Clive James) years ago. There were actually staff employed at stations to crowbar the poor commuters into the metro, so the doors could somehow shut.

I watched in disbelief; but London was not so far off this during rush hour (ie at least 4 hours a day) when I lived there 9 years ago. Hate to think what it's like now.

Haha Geezer - wish I'd thought of that when I was late for work.

[Mike]

Haha, that video i genius!

[bolinbenny]

Most important is to know he colour of line,

That's the one thing I hate about the tube, am damn colour blind so they all look the same to me. That said it is really quite easy to use, but its still the best thing to find out where you're going first, changes etc.

[Jono]

She is the voice heard by millions of Tube travellers each day, warning them to “mind the gap”. But now a gap has opened in the career of Emma Clarke after she criticised the Underground system and spoofed her own announcements on the internet.

Tube bosses have said that they will not provide the voiceover artist with any more work. A Transport for London spokesman said: “London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Ms Clarke are experiencing severe delays.”

Ms Clarke, 36, from Altrincham, Cheshire, criticised the system in a newspaper interview after she produced spoof announcements on her website. She apparently said that while living in Highgate, North London, she used to take the Tube every day, but had refused to use it any longer because it was “dreadful”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2951173.ece

They can't get rid of her, her "mind the gap" announcements are what makes the Tube!

[Andy B]

In a word yes.

People who don't stand on the right should be shot as should people who walk slowly.

[sinister]

Last time I used the tube a gang of about twenty black kids came steaming through the train looking for people to rob. The grabbed some blokes mobile in the next carriage up, but came a bit unstuck when some football fans started fighting with them. I had already decided that if they tried to rob me I was going to grab hold of one of them and do as much serious damage to him as I could, and if possible put his head through a window. Fortunately for both them and me they absconded at Sudbury Town.

[Andy B]

That hardly ever happens normally though. Most of the time, the worst thing you have to put up with is some git on the platform asking everybody to move down when you're already packed in as tight as you can get.

Oh and tourists standing still trying to work out where to go...

Oh and people complaining that London is so unfriendly cos no one speaks to anyone.

And people who feel the need to stare at the map above their head for their entire journey and kids who give a running commentary on their journey so far and how many more stops to go.

[Jono]

The most awkward moment, thankfully, was some Scousers on the train worse for wear shouting "Who gives you Extra?" at a man that looked vaguely like Howard from the Halifax advert. Uncomfortable, but I feel happier knowing there's worse things that could happen.

[Andy B]

My worst tube moment was just after we'd got beaten in the rugby, I'd said goodbye to my mates and wsa listening to songs on my phone, got onto a carriage only to realise that I was the only person wearing an England top in a carriage full of S.A. rugby tops! 20 mins I had to endure their endless ribbing. - I did get a free "consolation" beer out of it though.

[Lucinda]

I've never seen gangs of people robbing on the Tube. I mean there's pickpocketing, but it seems a lot worse in Rome and Barcelona - within 5 minutes of arriving in Barcelona, 2 people had tried to pickpocket us and one nearly got my friend's passport. I think tourists stick out as targets. I see people begging, a guy once sang a song he's made up on the train to try to get money, it was quite a painful experience.

I have travelled on rush-hour Tubes and trains with a large bag, sometimes also with a sleeping bag. That's awkward, because there really isn't space and it p*sses people off, but I couldn't help it.

[tamba]

Next time you are in a hurry to catch a train and its fairly quiet here's a good quick way of managing down the escalator

I saw 2 blokes slide down on their arse's on the middle bit :shock: how they did not hurt theirselves on the lumpy bit's I will never know.

Was funny

[Chaos]

I went on the tube as a small child. It was ok. Mind you, my Nan pretty much held on to my jumper the whole time I had a tendency to get lost easily. I got lost in altough towers at 6, I got lost in Notre Dame, Paris...that was probably the worst 'incident'. Wandered off to look at something, turned around, thought I saw my aunt, ended up scarin' the crap out of some chinese lady for trying to hold her hand. To be fair, I was only 5/6 ish at the time :oops:

[Andy B]

Yay they've re-opened the late night victoria line service. Twas a bugger trying to get home after 10 otherwise.

[Jono]

Yay they've re-opened the late night victoria line service. Twas a bugger trying to get home after 10 otherwise.

These tube closures confuse me. It said on the Camden Town tube they close at 5.30 on a Sunday. I walked in and six and had no problem.