The Boy on Top
Ah yes, I remember commuting into London by train; it used to take up an inordinate amount of my time every day before I finally left the country. Now I'm only a 20 minute bus-or-bike-ride away from work and in this country almost no-one commutes more than a few kilometres - or has to, thanks to the availability of (almost) affordable housing within spitting distance of anywhere where anyone might have to work. The Dutch, if they knew the commuting habits of Brits, would (rightly) think they were all completely barmy. It's no way to spend a day.
Too true, though I have known a few Dutch who daily commute from, for example, Utrect to Amsterdam or vice versa with times as bad as mine. Its a common curse of the modern world. Someday I'll switch to work closer to home. I keep trying, but then I get dragged back to central London. TB
It befuddles me. How a country like England, a kingdom like the United Kingdom can have such crap train service (expensive, late and dirty) while trains in Italy, Spain and France can run on time and not cost an arm and a leg. Nationalise. I agree.
Didn't the UK have great train service in the Good Old Days (whenever that was...)?
This doesn't solve the problem, but how about listening to a book on tape during the trip? One on meditation, perhaps? 
Yes and no. It all went wrong in the eighties when investment was withheld, then privatisation was done in a completely cack handed manor.
Oh, I always occupy myself when I'm on the train, its the delays before hand that make stress levels rise! TB
Now if I were BoT I'd probably spend the journey stuck to the laptop and cell phone, working....but then maybe he reads all his books? 
Can't you get a little pied-a-terre in London for Mon-Fri? I'd love to have a London hidey-hole to escape the demands of domestic life. But then I am not a very family oriented person.
Mornings I work on the train, evenings are time for books and the odd DVD on the laptop.
LL and I have discussed getting something small up in London. If I continue in this job long I probably will. Curiously I'm the one who fights it. I think it would become too easy to use during the week, to work even longer hours, and I would see LL and the kids even less than I do now. So, I've resisted to date. Better a long commute and some sense of family. TB
I agree. It seems so simple to me. I think it all went *really* downhill from the point they started calling passengers 'customers'.
Companies become money-haemorraging dodos when they take their eye off of their core business. If you are a railway company, your core business is conveying people about. Therefore, you should make sure that happens, to the best of your ability.
This involves communicating to them what is going on, and making their journey as pleasant and stress-free as possible.
I am in the 'nationalise again' camp, too.
For me its an argument about monopolies. They don't work in capatalism. Better to have controlled via other means, though there is risk there too. British Rail went wrong via Union Power putting the focus on staff, and the Treasury seeing it as a bank to withhold funds from to divert to other political priorities. TB
Nationalise? You must all be mad. Decades of underinvestment in national hands caused the problem in the first place.
Boy, if you're forced off the trains, have you considered a motorbike? Takes about half the time of a car into central london. A nice light mid-weight trailie, say a Transalp if they still exist.
Independent with non political ombudsman/regulator, self funded, or with untouchable reserved funding, and management and staff who are recompensed on thier abilility to make the trains run on time. Works else where, just failed here because the politicos couldn't help meddling and/or stealing the funding away.
I've often thought of a motorbike, but from inside a car I think London is very motorbike unfriendly. Half because of the way motorbikes ride, half because of the ill treatment drivers subject them too. I used to ride back in university, and miss it sometimes, but despite the time savings think it would be suicide in this country. TB
Motocross boots, decent Kevlar clothing, a tall visible bike, a police course in assertive riding.....worked for my husband for years.
"Untouchable reserved funding" ooooh no, a fan of hypothecation...
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