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?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Currently Reading

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!!!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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. :(


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

No flights

Now all flights to and from the UK are suspended.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.