Bored

On my last night shift and I am so bored. No contractors, finsihed all my paperwork and reports for the week. Have to try and get my sleeping cycle back to normal by tomorrow when I get home at about 08:00 as I have more chemotherapy at Hammersmith hospital.

Back to work

I resumed to full duties about 4 months ago after being given the all clear by our occupational health department. Sometimes, I don't think I was fully ready to resume full duties due to how easily tired I get by never mind. I am on night shifts this week, my first nights for nearly 2 years as I normally swap them with a colleague who prefers nights but he is out of the country so I'm stuck with them. Loads of contractors on site pestering me every 5 minutes for keys, water, directions and various other annoying things ;) My next hospital visit for more chemo is on Monday so hopefully all will go well.

CNS Therapy

Four days into the cranial radiotherapy, 8 doses to go. Also on weekly intrathecal chemotherapy wherein they inject cytarabin into my spine. Unfortunately, the cytarabin causes me lots of nausea and vomiting. Nothing much else happening aside from having some kind of panic attack in my local Tescos but the staff there looked after me until I calmed down so kudos to them.

Admitted again

Came into hospital last Monday for a full blood count and to get me dressing changed on my cannula. After getting the results the nurse asked me to wait and speak to the doctor. I had a feeling what they were going to say so I phoned my wife and asked her to prepare a bag of the usual clothes, undergarments and toiletries. They removed ny PICC line cannula yesterday so I will have to have a new one put in before my next round of chemotherapy. Once I am discharged I have a short break from treatment until the 28th when I have to endure 12 days of cranial radiotherapy and four sessions of intra-thecal chemotherapy into my spine.

outpatient

Hopefully I have finished the inpatient part of my treatment and should now be all outpatient chemotherapy barring any unforseen complications.  I have an appointment with my consultant in about 10 days followed by four consecutive days of cytarabin, three rest days then another four consecutive days of cytarabin.

I think after that they are considering performing a week of cranial radiotherapy.

Busy Week

Have a full schedule next week.
Monday - work.
Tuesday - appointment at my works occupational health department for a risk assessment.
Wednesday - work and dental appointment,
Thursday - chemotherapy treatment.
Friday - physiotherapy assessment at Charing Cross hospital with NCS & EMG test.

Back to work

I started work yesterday resuming to light duties, just doing about 3 hours a day, 4-5 days a week initially and then gradually increasing the hours.  For the next couple of weeks I will be involved with Olympic and Paralympic planning and operational issues and passing on the relevant information to my colleagues.

To be honest, I don't think I am ready to start work again as I still have loads of chemo to go and still get episodes of sickness and weakness, but as my kind and considerate HR department stopped my SSP, I didn't have much choice :(

Another infection

Started work on Wednesday which was good.  After work I had to go the the hospital to have a GCSF injection as I am once again neutropenic.

Whilst in the hospital I started spiking a temperature above 39 so I have been admitted again.  It turns out I have parainfluenza so I have been put on another course of antibiotics and also a nebuliser three times a day.

Back again

Had to be readmitted as an emergency again on Friday morning.  I was spiking temperatures at home of 38.7 so after speaking to NHS direct they advised me to get to A&E sharpish.  After they took bloods I was also neutropenic again and had a CRP of +70.

I have been put on another course of antibiotics to hopefully get rid of the infection.  Chemo has been delayed again but as my blood counts are a little higher today they may start the chemo tomorrow.

Chemo delayed

Went to hospital yesterday for my next batch of chemo but they have decided to delay it until next Tuesday as my blood counts were too low.  They installed a fresh PICC line and performed a bone marrow biopsy though.  I have to return later today also for 2 units of blood to help get my blood counts back up for next week.

In the evening my legs gave way again and I fell on my cheek.  Lovely bruise developing.

Things gone awry

Health wise I am in a pretty bad state.  What I assume to have bene caused by long-term use of high dose steroids has pretty much destroyed all the muscle strength in my legs.  My legs keep giving way, it takes me five minutes to get out of bed and I am only to walk a few steps at the time with the aid of a crutch.  The symptoms came in within days so it's a huge shock to the system.

I am due back on Monday to have a new PICC line inserted and to receive 10 lots of chemotherapy over five days.  As well as to have another bone marrow biopsy.

Ouch

Yesterday was a fairly intensive one. In the morning the doctors were preparing to discharge me and to return on Monday. However, they then decided that I had to have my Hickman Line removed as that is more than likely the cause of my infection, and that I should be kept inside.

Normally it is a quite easy procedure and takes about 20 minutes. In my case however it took nearly 90 minutes as it had been in for sometime and it was rather attached to my body. Loads of blood over the bed and lots of discomfit.

Later on the doctor had to return to insert a cannula so I can continue to receive my antibiotics whilst I am still here. The cannula managed to leak during the night so a wee bit more blood splashed around for ones amusement.

They said they are going to insert a new Hickman Line early next week so I can continue to receive my chemotherapy as the chemo drugs are not suitable to be administered via a cannula due to their toxicity.

Emergency admission

Been spending a fair bit of time travelling back and forth to the hospital over the past few days. Yesterday, they decided to admit be as an emergency due to very high temperature, completely

neutropenic and a very probable chest and urine infection.

Bad sickness

Been having to take loads of anti-sickness meds recently due to constant feeling of nausea and vomiting. I am currently on 3 different anti-emetics: cyclizine, ondansetron and also domperidone. Neither of which seem to be having the desired effect, rather just seem to cause more side effects.

Consolidation 1

Back in Hammersmith hospital - ward D7 for consolidation treatment part one which should be 5 days of intensive chemotherapy followed by once weekly chemotherapy for 4 weeks.

BMB

Had my umpteenth bone marrow biopsy today after seeing my consultant. More painful than the previous ones so spending the rest of the day resting.

Have to be re-admitted again on Sunday for the next stage of chemotherapy which should only be for about a week as an in-patient and then return once a week for four weeks for more chemotherapy.

Almost there

Coming to the end of the third cycle of chemotherapy. Had a few complications one of which necessitated a day trip to Western Eye Hospital where they said that the most probable cause of my eye problem was leukaemia cells pushing my eyeball down. Thankfully, it seems that wasn't the case. The doctors aren't sure what the problem was but it has healed up so no worries there. I also had some kind of reaction to one of the chemotherapy drugs called L'asparaginase which is injected into your butt. Very painful injection and I had difficulty walking and getting around for a few days but that problem is getting better.

Now it seems the doctors are just monitoring my blood etc and I hope to be going home for a couple of weeks in the not too distant future.

Round Three

Been back in hospital for round three of the chemotherapy treatment. I had another bone marrow biopsy a week last Monday and the doctors are happy with the results and it looks clear of cancer cells.

The chemotherapy drug they are using this time round is a drug called Methotrexate at a very high dosage. Before, during and for at least 72 hours afterwards they also give me loads of fluid via the drip, at least 6 litres a day to help flush out the Methotrexate so plenty visits to the loo. The urine is checked for it's acidity and the PH level in order to prevent any damage to my kidneys. They also take extra blood samples every day and send them off to Great Ormond Street Hospital for testing the level of Methotrexate in my system.

Once the levels of the drug have reduced adequately then they will give me the next dose and it all starts again.

Unfortunately, my elder sibling who got himself tested to be a potential bone marrow donor isn't a close enough match so at the moment the doctors are seeing how the chemotherapy goes before they start to look for potential non-related donors on the global database as they say the risks outweigh the benefits.

Last day of chemo

Today should be the last day of chemotherapy for this particular phase, so once my blood counts go back up (especially the white blood count and Neutrophines) I will by the grace of God be allowed to go home to prepare for the next phase of chemotherapy which is called intensifiction which just by the name alone sounds quite daunting.

I will also have to wait for my temperature to come down and stay down, it spiked at 40.1 last night although this was during receiving blood. I hope to have a word with the hospital admin today as everything they have given me either fluids or blood products such as blood, platelets or plasma it has always been very very late so you are constantly getting disturbed during the night which is of course not exactly conducive to rest and relaxation which is just as important in getting better as all the drugs and testing etc.

Neutropenic

My blood counts have been dropping gradually day by day. My red blood counts keep dropping below 8.0 so they keep giving me blood. My platelets keep dropping below 50 so they have to give me platelets and the Neutrophils within the White blood cells have dropped below 0.5 so I am now Neutropenic. I have to wear a mask if I leave the room and not because I might scare people :) and I am on a 'clean' diet so no take aways, no soft cheese, no raw vegetables or salad etc etc.


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Location:Du Cane Rd,,United Kingdom

Infection

The doctors think I have an infection as my temperature which is taken about every 2 hours has so far reached 37.9. To combat this I am now hooked up to the hated IV pump machine thingy and getting some penicillin.
The chemotherapy drugs are still taking a toll on me. Haven't eaten anything since Tuesday afternoon so they are considering feeding me intravenously throughout the night.
Other than the Mrs who has been great, nobody has bothered to visit me from my family, friends or colleagues so feeling pretty unloved and unwanted.


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Location:Du Cane Rd,,United Kingdom

Blood

They had to give me a couple of units of A- last night as my haemaglobin level had dropped below 8.0. So thanks to my anonymous donor of blood especially as A- is quite rare. Apparently only 7% of people in the UK are of this blood type.

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Location:Du Cane Rd,London,United Kingdom

Adverse Side effects

One of the chemo drugs that I am on this time round is called Cytarabine. I receive this for four consecutive days and then three days off and then it starts again. Unfortunately, this drug really takes a toll on me. I haven't eaten for two days, been vomiting and feeling really weak and lethargic.

To help combat the nausea they are also giving me four different ant-emetic drugs, one of which makes you feel very very dizzy, unbalanced and sleepy, so at least I had a decent nights sleep.

Saline drip

Half-way through the first of two saline drips. Each one takes 6 hours so I will have to spend 12 hours connected to the IV pump.


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Location:Du Cane Rd,,United Kingdom

Noisy night

The patient in an opposite bed for some strange reason has had an alarm clock going off every 15 minutes for the past hour. The nurse has had to come in each time, rouse the patient and tell him to turn it off. Unfortunately it keeps going off so the nurse has now confiscated the alarm and told him he will return it in the morning as it is disturbing everyone else. The same patient was also told off for having his TV on too loud and not using headphones. It's like being back at school.


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Location:Du Cane Rd,London,United Kingdom

Stage 2

After been released from the hospital ward for the past 10 days I have been re-admitted yesterday for the second induction phase of the chemotherapy treatment. I am in a different ward to last time and so far this ward (D7) seems to be more organised and regimental but less friendly. I had to sign a waver upon arrival with regards to my personal belongings which I didn't have to do in the Weston Ward. There are numerous signs up in this ward saying that one is not allowed to enter this room or that room at certain times etc, again something that wasn't present in the Weston Ward.

The Weston Ward also had laundry facilities so I was able to wash and dry my own clothes, whereas on D7 they don't have that option so the Mrs will have to take my dirty clothes home and wash them for me.

The first chemotherapy for stage 2 induction I have been told will be administered later on today as well as my second intra-thecal dose of chemo. After my first IT chemotherapy I had really bad headaches for a week so hopefully that won't happen this time. Also suffering from what they call Peripheral Neuropathy which is basically numbness and pins and needles in my fingertips. Makes it a bit awkward to type, hold a pen, do up buttons etc, but this is a common side effect from the chemotherapy drugs.

I am still in a bay room so have to listen to my neighbours snore etc. Although they have said I should be transferred to a side room soon.

Plasma

Couple of units if plasma as my coagulation is a bit low.


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Back again

Another long hiatus again.

Very little has happened at work since last time or at least nothing interesting enough to bore you with.

Outside of work though things have changed, I was diagnosed last month with Adult Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and I am about 3 weeks into the first stage of chemotherapy treatment. My work are leaving me alone at the moment and haven't demanded that I leave the hospital to attend an interview or anything yet, so hopefully they will leave me to concentrate on getting better and in the long term getting back to work.

Assaulted

Managed to get assaulted last Thursday. A very inebriated man decided to go for a walk down the track so I ended up wrestling with him trying to drag him back onto the platform. So after potentially saving his life he again assaults me and racially abused me before legging it prior to BTP arrival. Ending up finishing work 2 hours later than usual driving around in the back of a police car looking for the man and giving a statement to the police.


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Change of scenery

After nearly 10 years as a reserve supervisor I have finally been offered a rostered position on another group. Will be transferring in a couple of weeks. Hope the staff morale is higher as it is really low on my current group.


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Strike 2

Decided to come to work for this strike. Don't particularly agree with the strike anyway. Not too many staff booked on and a very limited train service operating from my station. Sone staff will continue to make themselves very unpopular by working overtime on strike days though.
Had to get a DSM to cover my meal break or the station would have had to close for 30 minutes.


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Dyed notes

We got a memo a few days ago to warn us about some stained £20 notes being tendered, presumably from a bank job or something similar. Well at least three of our group stations were targeted tonight with the alleged perpetrators buying a ticket from the ticket machine and then getting a refund. Thankfully a fellow eagle eyed supervisor got suspicious and called BTP. I think at least one of whom was caught. Aged about 12-13 as well so nothing will probably happen.


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Serves them right

Cycling home after work this afternoon. A woman in a Volvo estate was so engrossed in her mobile phone conversation she failed to notice the police motorbike rider behind her, nor did she appear to notice the traffic light was red as she sailed through it. The police rider hit his sirens and pulled her over. She was so shocked at this she tried hiding her mobile by throwing it on the floor of her car.

Tell the time on ones iPhone or Mac

http://www.bijint.com/en/

Racism

Had to deal with a very angry young Somali man last week. He initially jumped over the gates to enter the station, and when approached by staff started shouting and using very very abusive language with many utterances of the F-word. I was called on the radio to assist. When I approached the young man, he was still swearing, so I tried to calm him down as he was causing quite a disturbance. We managed to get him to leave the platform when he mumbled something in Somali. I asked him in his own language 'Excuse me, what did you say?' When he heard that he became even more angry and started shouting that it wasn't allowed for me as a white man to speak his language and this just proved that I was a racist as it was illegal for me to speak his language. In the end we had to get police assistance and he was carted off in handcuffs.

Stupid drivers

On my ride into work tonight I had 5 near misses in a 50 minute ride. All caused by drivers having hand held mobile phones glued to their bloody ears. Is the law on this ever enforced?


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Wet ride

Took a ride to St Albans yesterday, lovely ride on the way there. Nice weather, courteous passes by car drivers, a few nods and hello's from other roadies. Not so on the way back. 5 minutes after I set off for the return journey, the rain started, and started and started. For the whole ride back it rained non-stop, really heavy rain with a bit of thunder and lightening for good measure. I was completely soaked when I got back. Still enjoyed it though. :)

Busy day

Was expecting a quiet day today as I was supposed to be on a spare duty. Got into work and was told about an earlier derailment of an engineering train so the Piccadilly line was suspended. Spent the first 4 hours of my duty on the platform assisting my staff in detraining trains and explaining to hundreds of customers alternate routes to their destinations. This would have been easier if people took of their headphones. I was then about to commence my meal break when we were informed about a one under at a neighbouring station so I went down to the next station to assist. Unfortunately the person was pronounced extinct and it took a while for the ERU and the police to hand the track back to us.


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CDP

It's that time of year again where we have to renew our operational licences. So for the next 3 days I will be doing classroom based training. On a side note I was visited by the puncture fairy thus morning so had to take the tube.


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Location:Cranbourn St,London,United Kingdom

I'm rich

Received my first cheque installment this morning for a bloke who tried to stab me with a wine bottle about 23 months ago. Now what shall I buy myself with this windfall?


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Currently Reading

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Same contractors back again

The same gang I had to contend with last night are back :( At the moment they are stinking my office out with the smell of greasy food.


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Finally gone

The gang of self opinionated Neanderthals have finally left and I have the office to myself for 4 minutes before I open the station. Tried to make myself some toast and they've somehow managed to break the toaster. Grrr!!!!!!


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Rude staff

One of the last trains was running late and seemed to be stuck at another station. I phoned the line controller to ask if there was a problem and he told me that there were two engineering trains before it. I then asked how long before it is due to leave as it was now 20 minutes late. Controller snapped back saying I've told you where it is so work it out for yourself and then hung up on me. :(


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Nights again

On my first night of five and I have a gang of contractors working in my office. They don't seem to care about the disruption and annoyance they are causing. They are having very heated arguments about football, constantly swearing and shouting. I am unable to do anything. Can't read, eat anything, can't leave the office and can't even drink tea as they have completely taken over the office and mess room.


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Lovely Ride Today

My last day off for a week so took advantage of the sunshine and went for a nice long ride. Started in Heathrow, cycled to Bracknell, had a rest, cycled to Hammersmith to report my lost staff pass :( then cycled back to Heathrow via Barnes & Richmond. Ah well back to work tomorrow.

Uxbridge customer

Customer complaining that he had to wait 6 minutes for a train to uxbridge. His argument was that because there are no flights all the heathrow trains should be diverted to uxbridge so he can get home quicker.


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Double Shift

Supposed to be my long weekend but I was asked to work one of my rest days today and am now doing two consecutive shifts. I started at 06:30 and will finish at 23:00. Today seems to be a day for one unders. We have had incidents on the Victoria, Central and Metropolitan lines.
Ah well. Only 5 and a half hours to go.


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No flights

Now all flights to and from the UK are suspended.


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Fire alert

Just to exacerbate the problem we are now suspended Acton to Heathrow because of a fire alert at Northfields. Nothing to do with volcanic ash though.


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Volcanic Ash

Due to airpsace restrictions, in accordance with international regulations as a result of the on-going volcanic activity in Iceland, we anticipate that all flights in and out of heathrow airport will be suspended from 1200 today. Therefore, we strongly advise passengers intending to fly from this time not to travel to the airport today. We will provide further updates as we get more information from air traffic provider NATS


It's already affected our staffing levels for tomorrow as one of my staff is stranded in Los Angeles.


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Power failure

Not at work but in my local tescos. All the lights went off and we have to wait 15 minutes for the tills to reset.


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Signal failure

Just to make things worse for our customers we have just had a signal failure, performed a wrong direction movement and had to implement station control. We had no trains at all for over 25 minutes.


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Tired

Finished my nights yesterday morning and I am now on early shifts. My body clock is very confused. Lots of engineering works taking place at my station so lots if confused passengers.


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Long Long time

It has sadly been almost three years since I last posted. Nothing much as changed, I am still a station supervisor in the same location, still fighting the battle of the bulge. Lost 4 stones, last stone doesn't want to budge :( Still cycling though so hopefully the rest of the weight will go soon.

I am on nights this week at a very quiet station, had about 15 contractors last night checking all the station OPO cameras and mirrors. Just over 75 minutes to go and then a 45 minute cycle ride home.

Another nutter.

I was in the ticket office this morning when the CSA informed me of a regular fare evader double gating. I then went onto to west bound platform to deal with him. Initially he tried ignoring me, then tried the old chesnut "no English" etc, then he started shouting at me in Polish, I know a little Polish including one curse word "Kurve" which I coudln't resist saying to him, he then started saying I was gay, and I was Elton John and an arse bandit. Amazing how the only English he knows is this. Eventually he got bored and left the station whilst continuing to berate me in Polish. The CSA also happened to be Polish so she translated some of what he said which was "If it wasn't for the Poles, then Trafalgar Square would be called Hitler Square, and it was the Polish army that won the war for Britain, ergo he should get free travel"

Whatever next??

Flooding

We had to close part of out station for a short time today due to the flash floods, which caused a fair bit of flooding on the station which also had the lovely odour of sewage. Whilst dealing with our problem, it seemed like every couple of minutes another announcement came over our BBMS (Breakdown Broadcast Message Service) saying that yet another station had had to close due to flooding.

Moral Dilemma

Thankfully I wasn't on duty when this happened, but what would you have done:

A few days ago, a mobility impaired passenger arrived on a train with one of those electric buggy/scooters. Unfortunately they were unable to get off the train with the buggy due to the gap, and our staff were unable to lift them off. Police and Fire Brigade wouldn't lift them off either. The line controller decided to empty the train of every other passenger and try reversing the train into the adjacent platform and let them disembark there. The customer refused to try this. In the end they took the train out of customer service, took the empty train with the mobility impaired customer back to where they started and then LUL paid for a black cab to take them to their destination which I imagine cost a fair packet. Now I don't want to seem callous but shouldn't some of the onus be on the customer to check before they travel to ensure they are able to exit etc. All of the other passengers on the original train were delayed and inconvenienced. A perfectly good train was removed from customer service, and also the additional expense of paying the taxi fare.

Close call

Any drivers reading this please take note that when overtaking a cyclist, although it may cause a delay of a few seconds, then please give more than a few inches space.

Happy Birthday Northern Line

For all you geeky trainspotters, the Northern Line will be 100 years old next month, and to celebrate LUL will be having two days of activities.

On the 23 June, Staff, friends & families are invited to an open day at Golders Green depot for a guided tour. There will also be ice creams, face painting & an oppurtunity for visitors to have their photos taken in a drivers cab.

On the 24 June, LUL will be putting an original 1938 stock train back into passenger service for 3 trips.

The first 2 trips are open to staff, customers and will cost £20 each which will include a commemorative book worth £10 on the history of the Charing X, Euston & Hampstead Railway £10.

The 3rd trip is only for staff and is free :P

If anyone (non staff) is interested, either contact LUL at the usual number or send a cheque payable to London Underground, Support Manager Northern Line, 4th Floor, 20 Cranbourne Street, London, WC2H 7RQ and specify which train ride you would like to reserve a place on:

1st ride is at 11:00 am, 2nd ride is 14:30 and each ride will last around 2 hours starting at Golders Green - Charing X - Mill Hill East - Kennington - Golders Green. Also remember to enclose a SAE with your payment.

Ticket Office Part 2

We got another memo from the RMT confirming and detailing the ticket office closures and reductions. The following ticket offices will be closing:

Barkingside, Becontree, Boston Manor, Buckhirst Hill, Cannon St, Canons Park, Chesham, Chiswick Park, Chorleywood, Croxley, Debden, East Putney, Fairlop, Hornchurch, Goldhawk Rd, Ickenham, Latimer Rd, Mansion House, Mill Hill East, Moor Park, North Ealing, North Harrow, Northwood Hills, Park Royal, Perivale, Ravenscourt Park, Regents Park, Royal Oak, Ruislip, Ruislip Gdns, South Ruislip, Sudbury Hill, Temple, Totteridge & Wealdstone, Upney, West Acton, West Finchley, West Harrow, West Ruislip & Wimbledon Park.

In addition, LUL propose to close Canary Wharf (east), Seven Sisters (b), Southwark (west) & Waterloo (International).

Also the following will close on either Saturdays, Sundays or both:

Oxford Circus (Argyll St), Hainault, Wanstead, Waterloo (shell), Mornington Crescent, Goodge St, Alperton, South Harrow, Sudbury Town, Barbican, Moorgate (main), Shepherds Bush (H&C), Westbourne Park, Dagenham East, Dagenham Heathway, Elm Park, Bow Rd, Bromley by Bow, Baker St (Met), Euston Sq, Great Portland St, Eastcote, Hillingdon, Northwick Park, Ruislip Manor, Chalfont & Latimer, Northwood, Pinner, Rickmansworth & Watford.

And the list continues with ticket offices with reduced opening hours:

Lambeth North, Warwick Ave, Epping, Loughton, South Woodford, Woodford, Waterloo (shell), Dollis Hill, Mornington Crescent, Tufnell Park, High Barnet, Kennington, Bow Rd, Hainault, Redbridge, Snaresbrook, Wanstead, Woodside Park, South Harrow, Cockfosters, Westbourne Park, Dagenham East, Hillingdon, Ruislip Manor, Northwood, Pinner, Rickmansworth & Watford.

Lost Property

Had two customers enter my office at the same today, and both of whom had lost their bags. Normally when I receive an item of lost property I inspect the bags, phones etc. very carefully for any possible contact numbers of the possible owner so they can be reunited with their property.

These two though were something different. The first man, had already travelled on a number of lines, and didn't have any idea as to what line his bag may have been on. Short of calling about 90 odd stations, I wasn't able to help him that much other than give him a lost property form and to inform the various line controllers to prevent any security alerts. The second individual had his head so far up his own rear I ended up escorting him out of my office. I asked him what the destination of the train on which he had travelled and he replied "the next stop" I informed him that our trains don't terminate at this station, and I needed more information to narrow down the search, he then started shouting, telling me to phone the f@@@ing stations, stop the service and find his bag. I asked him to stop swearing and he then proceeded to call me a cock and a quaver(??), as his diatribe continued to increase I had to make him leave the office empty handed.

btw, does anyone know what he meant by calling me a quaver??

Ticket Office

We got a memo from the RMT today stating that LUL is planning to close around 40 ticket offices on the network and to also reduce the opening hours of many others. There won't be any staff redundancies although many staff will be displaced from their current places of work. These closures will probably start to take place from early 2008. So those of you who still renew your tickets/oysters at the ticket offices then prepare for much longer queues at those that will still be open.

Almost home time

Only 1 hour to go before my relief is due in. I got soaked last night on the way home as I had left my waterproof clothing at home. I am fully prepared tonight as it is still chucking it down.

Control your dog, then control yourself.

I took the train into work last night for the first time in months, and was disgusted to see some lout letting his pit-bull type dog defecate on the platform edge on my local station. When he got onto the train he then started to beat the dog with it's own leash. I phone BTP, but they didn't seem too interested and the lout then got off a few stations along.

Google analytics

Just had a browse through my google analytics that shows be how people found the site and where they are from etc.

I've had one visitor from Guadalajara in Mexico, so hi if you are reading this.

Also a few people have found there way to the site via google search terms like last trains or oystercards, so I will post a link to the TFL info to assist these people.

I am on my last night shift for the week and what a busy night it has been what with all the contractors etc, 57 in total tonight.

"I saw a mouse" Where?

Not really on the stairs, but in my office at work. I have been trying to catch the little blighter on my camera phone for the past few days just to prove to Initial (Rentakill) that I wasn't seeing things as they always seem not to believe us.

Taken of late again

Unfortunately my colleague took me off late this morning by half an hour. It isn't a great amount of time, but on our group with the exception of one station, we ALL come in half an hour before the official start time, so although we are working the same number of hours, we get to leave half an hour earlier and thereby miss the rush. So instead of working an 8 hour duty I have worked for 9 hours; I won't even get paid the extra hour as it isn't official. Normally if one is taken off late, then the colleague in question would have the decency to first let you know in advance and also to arrange to make up the time, but this particular colleague is annual leave from tomorrow, so I don't even know when I will get the chance to get the time back as I am not based at his station.

Busy Night

So far I have 83 contractors working on my station tonight, and they sure are a pain with their constant interruptions, asking for keys, and room locations etc.

I've also been playing with my new phone, a Nokia N95. It has GPS but for some reason I can't get it to work (no signal).

Any Nokia experts out there?

Nights again :(

My duties for the rest of the week have been changed AGAIN, and I have been given nights for the next 3 shifts. I had to do 3 night shifts at short notice last week, and I have also got my normal allocation of nights next week, so that means I have been given nights 3 weeks in a row instead of the normal once per month.

This has really pee'd me off, I had plans to go out before work on Saturday with some friends as I haven't 'socialised' for over a year, what with work and other commitments, but this will have to be cancelled as I will be sleeping during the day. I don't why I bother to even attempt a social life. There are other reserve supervisors, but it only seems to be me that gets all the crappy shifts.

Strange complaint

Just had some lady in complaining about one of the local NCP run car parks. She claimed that she had lost her purse which contained her car park pass and the car park were making her pay the full days rate for a lost ticket, as is their policy and is also signed as you drive in. I still haven't worked out as to why she felt it necessary to bring the complaint to me. We aren't even in the same building. Ah well, only 3 hours 30 minutes to go.

30 April 2007

Pretty quiet shift yesterday, to help pass the time we tried playing tennis with one of our regular ticket touts/beggars. Whenever he showed his face in one part of the station, he sent him packing, only for him to turn up in a different part of the station, who then sent him back etc etc. By the end of the shift the score was 30-30.

Had a lovely cycle ride home, the weather was perfect for cycling with a nice tail wind. Also noticed 3 tube carriages on the back of 3 flat-bed trailers going down the Great West Road, I think they were H&C cars. Always seems a bit surreal seeing tube cars on a public road.

Silent Night

For the first time this week, I haven't any contractors waiting to book on with me (yet). Station is closed to the public and as I am feeling peckish, I am going for my usual night time cycle ride and grab myself something to eat whilst I am out.

PRP

We got the sad news today that we didn't reach our CSS (Customer Satisfaction Survey) targets for last year so we won't be getting our bonus payments of £250 each.

I don't think this is actually very fair as the main reason we didn't reach our targets was down to Metromess screwing up with the rail de-stressing last year. Not exactly something that is within our control as station staff.

Staff shortage

We seem to be running out of staff on our group recently. We have a few vacancies anyway and now a couple of supervisors are off sick. I had to do a double shift yesterday and then resume after 12 hours rest. In 3 days I have worked over 42 hours, whereas normally it would be only 24 hours over the 3 days. Should get some nice overtime though, unless the dreaded taxman takes most of it.

Oyster watches

Not sure if anyone has even noticed these yet, but about 100 of us have been issued with a Swatch watch which has our staff pass built into it. At the moment it is only a trial until the beginning of June, but if the trial is successful then they will become a part of our uniform issue.

They are a bit inconvenient though IMO, as the oyster readers on buses and on the tube are on different sides, and I do seem to getting slightly more error code 94 (unreadable) when using it.

Apologies

Major apologies for the lack of service for the past few months. I sort of got bored, and basically couldn't be bothered.

Not much has happened, I have bought a house in Egypt, I am still on the same group and the same grade (station supervisor) and still trying to lose weight by cyling everywhere.

I will try and blog a bit more often than before :)

Selfish Driver

On my way in to work some schmuck obviously thought it to be a good idea to block the cycle lane and force all the cyclist onto a very busy dual-carriage way.

Ride Home

Thames Water were doing there usual bit to help save water by having a massive burst main in West London. The main street was completely gridlocked with one or two cars even floating in the water. All the buses were also stuck.

Drivers eye view

Here's a very short clip taken from the cab of a tube train. It's not very long though:

Sick as a Parrot

Thankfully I am very rarely ill, and even rarer do I vomit. Not so last night, I woke up around 03:00am with really bad stomach cramps, and after about 20 minutes or so, had the misfortune to be sick.

I assume it was something that I ate. All I ate yesterday was some grilled cod fillet, weight-watchers bread and 2 bananas. I'm not feeling too bad at the moment, just a little light-headed, so unless I am ill again, I will be cycling to work in about 2 hours.

Trouble seems to follow me

I was working my rest day yesterday as one of the smaller stations on the group. The last time I worked at this particular station was about 6 weeks ago, when I had the unpleasant meeting with a young woman who thought the world revolved around her (her exact words), she refused to purchase a ticket, verbally abused and threatened me, and basically acted like the spoilt brat she was brought up to be.

Lucky me, she was back again last night with one of her equally chav-like friends. Her friend touched in with her Oyster only for Queen Chav to double gate. As it was so blatant I called her back from the gateline, only to be ignored. I then followed her to the stairs and told her to come back and purchase a ticket. Obviously she didn't want to do that, so she started verbally abusing me, threatening me, etc etc. Eventually she realised I wasn't going to back down (I threatened to stop the train until the BTP arrived) and she returned to the gate line and exited the station. As she did so, she turned around and threw her full bottle of water all over me. Whilst technically that was an assault, with the heat it was very refreshing so I thanked her; much to her disgust.

test video

Had to go to the opposite side of London today to collect some goodies that I got from ebay. If this works I may post some more vids, perhaps some from a drivers eye view.

Anyway 10 points to anyone can guess where this is.

Health checks

I had a blood test last week with my local GP, and the results came back yesterday. Apparently my cholesterol level is a little raised with a reading of 5.13, I also have low blood pressure with an average reading of 100/60. This seems a bit confusing as I don't drink, I don't smoke, I do at least 20 or so miles a day cycling (today I did 41), I eat very little red meat, maybe once a month, and I haven't eaten take away food for about 5 weeks. I am a little overweight (about 8 kg) though, which I am trying to lose.

Any health conscious people out there able to give me some advice and what may be causing these readings.

Part 2

It started raining on my way to work this morning and I get completely and utterly drenched. I had water in my shoes and my Ipod headphones stopped working. Anyway, I managed to get changed and put the kettle on before we had our first problems. After yesterdays service I was hoping for an easy day, but it wasn't to be. The Picc. was suspended from Rayners Lane to Uxbridge because of signal failure and the District was suspended from Parsons Green to Wimbledon, also because of signal failure. Thankfully, the suspensions didn't cause too many problems. At 10:25 I was about to commence my break when the phone rang, and the LIA (Line information asst) gave us the news that they were preparing to suspend the entire District line and we had to detrain any trains in the area so they could run empty to the depot's. The line had a complete loss of radio communication and for safety reasons they have to suspend the whole line as the District don't have the staff necessary to double-staff the train cabs. The idea of a meal-break was obviously out the window. I then head down to one of the platforms and assists the CSA's and to give information to train operators and also to customers. Eventually the all clear came through with extremely severe delays to the whole line. Another 30 minutes overtime claimed as no chance of a break again.

Two days in row part 1

I got into work yesterday about 06:10 and the night turn supervisor wasn't in the office, and the office was being baby-sat by a CSA. On of our trains was stuck in the sidings and then the signals went down. I quickly put my bike away and got changed so my colleague could go home. Eventually we get that sorted out, so then the priority lay in getting the kettle on for the morning boost of caffeine. After about 40 minutes or so, I am about to head to the DSM's office for my 6 monthly P&D (performance & Development) interview, when the other supervisor calls me on the radio to inform me that Acton Town had lost complete signal control and that everything in or out of Acton was suspended. I remain on the platform and start to detrain whatever trains were in the area, and start assisting customers with their alternative routes. Loads & loads of complaints but not too much abuse for once. I felt sorry for the Heathrow customers who either had to take 2 buses or change at Paddington and get the Heathrow Connect which were accepting our tickets at the time. Eventually the powers that be decided to put in a free special taxi for heather customers from another station which did alleviate some of the pressure. I was unable to get a break, so I had to claim 30 minutes overtime instead.

Verbal assaults & threats

Unfortunately, because of engineering work, we have no service this weekend on the lines where I work. We do try to let the customers know well in advance by displaying posters at least a week in advance, it has been in the Metro newspaper everyday etc etc. Quite a substantial amount of our lovely customers either completely ignored the aforementioned information, or forgot. So they turn up at the station and normally one of two things happens:

1) They walk straight past the scaffolding, ladders, tools, the scores of contractors, posters and staff and go onto the platforms to await their trains.

2) They happen to notice all of the above, and utter various expletives to themselves and come and politely ask for and politely receive the information they require.

We also have a third category of people, who may initially do either of the above, then come and swear at our staff, threaten us and take it too personally as if LUL are only doing this engineering work to annoy them.

Just today whilst assisting on the gatelines and directing people to the replacement bus services etc, I have been threatened with a pitbull terrier, threatened to being stabbed and gutted, called a racist and too many verbal assaults and insults to count. I have a long 12 hours duty tomorrow, and I am not expecting to have any other staff, as my managers have neglected to cover the other duties. If that is the case, then I will be providing my service from the safety of the ticket office.

Spoilsports

Normally I have very limited access to external internet sites at work as they are generally blocked by the firewall, websense. Not, usually a problem as I know how to get round it. One of the sites we can get though is BBC. Although I am not a major football fan, I try and follow the results of the world cup matches and maybe one or two of the England games, however the IT department has decided to disable the activex controls on the system and we are therefore unable to listen to the BBC radio commentary or watch the streaming live matches that the beeb is broadcasting on its site.

I was able to catch the first half of England lacklustre performance today by listening to the screams of the fans in the pub next door to the station.

Cycling

I have managed to cycle every day to work for the last 2 weeks except for yesterday, because of the constant rain we have been getting. I was also thinking of complaining to my local council about the state of the cycle paths in the area, not that it will do any good. There are numerous pot holes, cars parked in them, broken glass all over the place, road works in the middle of the cycle path, and very uneven bumpy path where previous road works have taken place, and they obviously haven't taken care when resurfacing the path.

Ambient Music

We have a couple of stations on my group that have had ambient noise speakers installed to play classical music in the background. The idea behind this, is that some 'yoof' (with the exception of 3.1 et al) detest this kind of music and no longer loiter around the stations and cause trouble. Only trouble is that the two stations that are using it on my group don't really have a major problem with loitering youths. We do get the odd gang of them steaming through the station, but they don't generally hang around, they're in and out. Not sure if any other stations have the same scheme going, I think some stations on the East End of the District line have them also.

XDA'S

You may have seen some of the station staff using these recently, and some of my fellow bloggers have blogged about them. They provide real time information as to the whereabouts of the next trains, A-Z map of London, Journey Planner etc. Seems like a nice idea but half the time the staff can't get a signal or when they do then the page takes so long to load, then the information is no longer 'real-time'.

What is this?

Whilst on my cycle to work, I go through Chiswick roundabout and there is a strange structure near the B&Q. Anyone know what it is?

Currently Reading ...

Finished the last one, and just started this...

Spring Cleaning

Seeing as my colleague accidently deleted his old blog, I decided to amend his link, and add a couple of others that also link to my blog. If I have missed anyone, I do apologise, just give me an email and I'll sort you out.

Nice weather

Thought I'd take advantage of the nice sunny weather and my rest day by going for a cycle ride.

Left my house at 12:15 and got back at 15:15, so 3 hours riding aimlessy around. I'll probably regret it in the morning though.

Currently Reading...

I read about 5 or 6 books a month, normally on the way to work and back, and if I am lucky enough to get an uninterrupted meal break during it. I normally go for horror, sci-fi, and the occasional language book, but for a change I am trying something new, I'm about half way through and it's not too bad.

Only one more to go

Only one more night shift to go. Last night was the 3rd night in a row with the last trains more than half hour late. I do hope metronet pull their fingers out and get things back to 'normal'.

S.S.D.D.

Just getting ready for my penultimate night shift. Last night was another late finish, but thankfully, we didn't get many conractors. Had to deal with the usual drunken idiots at the weekend who for some reason find it rather amusing to hold trains, drop their belongings on the track and jump down to retrieve them, lean over the platform edge to urinate, defecate on the platforms, etc etc. Thank G-d the weekend is over.

Another late finish

Last night our last trains came through almost 45 minutes lates, due to what we were told at the time a SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger), when in actuality it was because of some drunken schmuck breaking the doors, and messing up the service.

Rant of the Day

I'm half way through my current week of nights, and one thing that contractors ALWAYS seem to do, is leave the boswick open whenever they leave the station. Not fully open, only about 8 inches or so, but for some reason, customers think this means the station is open and proceed to enter the station, climb over scaffolding, and go onto the platforms to wait for their non-existent trains. 20 minutes later they come back and complain that there are no trains. I probably spend about half an hour each and every night chasing customers out of the station.

Any contractors reading this: "Please close the gates on your way out!"