A Very Long-Winded (True) Story

[Note: Everything this post describes is entirely true, no matter how unbelievable it sounds. Now on to the story.]

The story starts when I was wearing my socks last Tuesday morning. In doing so, I left my iPod on the shoe cabinet. I only realised that when we were 15 minutes away from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Luckily my sister would be coming to London Monday morning (ie today) and so I could get it from her. Good, or so I thought.

Then it was announced that the Tube staff were going on strike from Sunday evening to Monday evening. I thought I'd just take the bus to the airport then. My sis was arriving at 5.50am so that meant I had to get up at half-four, get on the N9, changing to the 482 at Hounslow West which managed to get me to Terminal 4 on time despite a massive (but random) traffic jam on the Great South West Road and the bus driver inexplicably reaching the airport, making a U-Turn back to Hatton Cross, then going back to the terminal via a side road. Anyways that was the easy bit.

The difficult part came when my sis asked me to help her get to Kings Cross station. Easy, I thought, Heathrow Connect to Paddington and then a 205. We got to Paddington quite easily and had breakfast. Then came the traumatising bit. We reached the bus stop outside the McDonalds on Praed Street. We waited about 15 mins - seeing multiple buses 27, 23, 159, 36 and 332, but not one 205. Then a Tfl volunteer person told us to go to the bus stop on Eastbourne Terrace to catch it as "by the time the 205 gets [here], it would be full". So off we went. On the way, I stopped to top up my sister's Oyster but was unable to do so because of the stupid ticket machine eating up my pound coin and not returning it when I pressed the Cancel button. (I managed to top it up later though). Anyways, at Eastbourne Terrace, it took ages for a 205 to come. When it did, it stopped right at the end of the road while literally about a hundred people ran towards it. We didn't manage to get there in time to squeeze on the bus (the giant luggage didn't help). We then decided to take a taxi to Kings Cross. No luck - the taxi queue at Paddington station was longer than the line at Splash Mountain in Disneyland. (And the taxis don't come nearly as often as those wooden log boats). So back to the bus stop we went. After waiting for another 20 minutes, I decided to go to the Harrow Road behind Paddington to catch the 18 to Euston, then hop onto another bus to Kings Cross. So dragging the giant bag with us, we trekked 10 minutes along the Grand Union Canal to the bus stop. The first 18 we saw didn't even bother opening its doors - it was so full. We then tried going to another bus stop on Warwick Avenue to catch the 46 which goes to Kings Cross. The first bus we saw also didn't stop as it was too full. After waiting 10 minutes in vain for the next bus, we then went along to Warwick Avenue tube, where I knew the Bakerloo line was running. We got off at Baker Street as I saw a sign at Paddington saying the Hammersmith and City Line was running from there. It was - but only to Hammersmith, not Kings Cross. We then got on the Jubilee Line to London Bridge, changing for the Northern. At Old Street station though, we got the bad news - the Kings Cross Northern Line platform was closed. We had to go to Euston to change to the Victoria Line to Kings Cross. So my sis bought her ticket and got on her train. Now all I had to do was get home.

The 10 at the bus stop opposite Kings Cross was totally full. So much for the bus. I then quickly went back to the Tube station and got on the Victoria Line to Victoria. On the District Line platforms, the indicator said the next two trains were to Ealing Broadway. But when the train arrived, it said Wimbledon on it. I was confused and didn't get on. The next train said Wimbledon as well. So I got on. And off at Earls Court, where an actual Ealing Broadway train was standing. And thank goodness for small miracles - West Ken station was open. So I finally managed to get back. My watch read 11.45 am. I had been up for 6 hours at this point. I really need an afternoon nap after all this.

District Line

I want to know - why does the District Line keep stopping inbetween or at stations for about 5 minutes each time??? It is so annoying! I guess it'll be too expensive to reconfigure the entire line, but having taken it two days in a row, it has been slightly irritating. Oh well. Rant over.

Soaked in London

It started raining in the morning and didn't let up the whole day. How depressing. It got even worse for me when, wanting to change my address, went to the bank but managed to forget my passport, meaning I wasted an hour of my life going back to get it. And I got charged an extra 1 pound 20 because I started my first bus journey before 9.30 and so didn't come under the cap. Things got less wet (but more cold) around lunchtime where I had an amazing lunch at the John Lewis cafe. It went back downhill when, after traversing nearly half of Oxford Street to find a Waterstone's so I could use my gift card only to find out their server was down and so the card couldn't be used. (On an unrelated note, why are there 2 Boots within 150m of each other near Bond Street station? It makes no sense!) And the rain started back again. Oh well. At least the train home wasn't overly crowded. So all in all, not a very good day to be going out then.

KL buses

I've just noticed, as I'm writing this. I've lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia my whole life and I've never even taken a public bus before. Sure, I've taken long distance express buses (mostly to Singapore... well, only to Singapore) but I've never sat on a RapidKL bus before. That's mostly because I've never had a need to go on one before. Only 1 bus service, the U7 serves my area and it only goes to Chow Kit, somewhere which I have no intention of going to and hopefully never end up in, just in case I get hypnotized by someone trying to rob me (apparently a true story, although I'm not too sure myself). And also, have you seen the jams the buses get stuck in? Everytime I'm driving on the Federal Highway, I see a poor bus stuck in a long line of vehicles, with the people on board looking totally bored and annoyed, with no way to get out. The thought makes me shudder. At least in the car I have radio. And a guaranteed seat.