And now for a rant...

Public transportation -- even when it's good it's bad.

In early 2009 TfL (Transport for London) announced that they were going to make a change to the circle line, it wasn't going to go in a circle anymore and it was going to enable more frequent trains on both the circle line and the Hammersmith and city (shitty) line.  This all sounded great.

Fast forward to present day...

New lines have been implemented, and apparently 1 train every 10 minutes is considered good service.  This morning I got to Earls Court station, where I normally change for a different branch of the district line, to hear an announcement saying there would be a long delay for my train and they recommended continuing on to the next station to catch a circle line train which was running good service.  So I dutifully listened to the announcer and got back on the train I'd just gotten off and proceeded to the next station...

Upon arrival at Glouchester Road, I hear an announcement that the next train will arrive at 8:20am, time now, 8:10 -- how was I any further ahead going to this station.  I still ended up standing on a train platform for 10mins and now I'm further from work rather than closer to it...

So the lesson here...ignore all announcements made at tube stations unless they indicate life threatening circumstances.  The so called 'control centres' have no better idea than you or I when a train will actually arrive, it's all a bit of a surprise.

The one thing I would say about a small transport vs a large transport network -- if there's 3 lines and they say it's running -- a train will come -- if there's 15 lines and they say it's running -- you've got a 50/50 chance that anyone has any idea what they're talking about.

Rant end.

2010!

It's been pointed out to me by several people (you know who you are) that I am crap at keeping my blog updated. So I will endeavor to improve.

So what's been going on recently you ask?

Glen and I were in Australia for just shy of 3 weeks. We did a bit of travelling around and then to Canberra for Xmas with Glen's family.

First off -- having been back in London for 3 weeks, I'm ready to go back to the warmth (so we've booked a short trip to Dubai next month :-))

Flights were okay - we flew via Singapore (nice airport) and Darwin (surprise!) didn't know about this stop... But finally arrived in Cairns 2 days later. Of course the first thing I insisted on was a dip in the hotel pool to try and stretch out the muscles... then down for a 'short nap'... Glen doesn't understand what a 'short nap' is and I forgot to set an alarm... so 3 hours later we started our explorations...

Jetlag ensured early morning starts - we toured the Atherton table lands - I peered in vain through a platpus viewing platform for at least 5 min before I realized we'd have to sit there for a day before we saw anything! Went to the crater lakes national park, these are lakes that have formed in the craters of 2 extinct volcanoes. The water was crystal clear and they were only about 20ft deep. I should have gone swimming...

We explored Cairns and G showed me his old school and the house he lived in... and of course a bit more swimming in the hotel pool (and napping on the loungers).

Another day we took a steam train from Cairns up to Kuranda, a quaint village with markets... gorgeous scenery and really cool being on a rickety old train :-)  In Kuranda we went to a butterfly observatory, which was absolutely full to the roof with butterflies! And the kept swooping and diving very close -- I was not a happy camper :-s

After Cairns we flew in a 14 seater plane to Dunk Island, one of the barrier reef islands.  The resort was lovely, and as we'll likely never do it again so worth the money :-)  Here's picture of the lovely pool... Of course we had to do a few other things other than lie by the pool...

So we tried archery...which was fun -- but not something I'm likely to try again.  We went jet skiing all the way round the island, the ocean side has massive swells which I wasn't too worried about until the guide mentioned that we were in a bull and tiger shark breeding ground!  But we survived to head out to the great barrier reef and snorkeling -- what an amazing experience.  I've never seen anything like it in my life, will definitely have to go back!

After Dunk Island we flew to Sydney, explored the city and went to the zoo.  Here's a view of the city from the zoo.

And finally to Canberra and Glen's family for Xmas.  Which was lovely, Glen's family celebrate on xmas eve as it's a German tradition.  And on xmas day we went to see Glen's Grandma and have a nice xmas lunch with her....

I hope everyone had a lovely xmas and New Years and we'll see you all in 2010!

2008?!?

The last time I posted a comment! :-0