UK Working from Home because the Train is so Expensive

When Marissa Meyer of Yahoo! banned staff from "working from home" or as I call it "wanking from home" - I was in agreement. I don't think that a company can be agile - if people only connect via email. Also - for new people coming into an organisation - a strong - work form home culture - can be dispiriting - like "where the hell is everyone?!".

However - with the train fares into London going through the roof (and adding to inflation - by being capped above inflation!) - my view has softened.

Some poor suckers will shortly be paying 5 THOUSAND POUNDS - a year just to get to work (the average deposit required to buy a house in the South Island of New Zealand).

So I can understand - for them - coming in a few days a month seems reasonable.

Though - you do wonder - if the rail fares - are reducing the UK's competitiveness - by turning workers into isolated pods - connected only by legacy/expected work functions.

I believe excessive rail fares are reducing London's ability to innovate - and the cost to the economy is therefore astronomic!

Review: Pizza Express Harpenden

You know - that nothing much happens in Harpenden - when the refurbishment of Pizza Express was enough to make the front page of the local rag.

Anyway.

It's a lovely spot - so I went there for a bite to eat.

The Pizza was nice enough - though for some reason - I found the tomato base they use - too sweet for me - and the hotter (chilli) the Pizza you order - the more sugar is added (as if sugar will temper the fire?).

The other frustrating thing - is I can tell you - no Chef was responsible for that menu - nor an accountant.

It is the brilliant work of a statistician - full of "super size me options". It really should be up for a Nobel prize.

Anyway - it's an nice clean/generic place to eat in Harpenden - and is usually packed with kids - and their accessories - the parents. The waiting staff - though are aggressively tip hungry - same as most chains.

A lady with a Baby Stood up for me at London Bridge

A bit embarrassing.

There were no seats on the train to Harpenden tonight - except one possibly at the back of the carriage.

Just what appeared to be a lovely attractive lady - and possibly a seat to spare.

So I walk up - turns out she was busy strapping her baby to some sort of harness device. The baby full of smiles - unlike everyone else on First Capital Connect. She then stands up - and says she is getting off at the next stop.

So I end up with a seat and she ends up standing for a while - as the train ends up stuck.

How embarrassing I would have preferred to have stood until she got off.

4% Rise in Rail Fares is just Charity Folks

The poor Englishman has been brought up on the idea of perpetual charity. Every third of fourth shop on the famed High Street seems to be a charity store.

I've nothing against this - charity is backed into the psyche.

A PR Agency Transport advised secretary Patrick McLoughlin to say: ‘The taxpayer overall is contributing a lot and I am afraid that the passenger has to make his contribution. He does it as a taxpayer and as a passenger as well.’

Oh well if its for charity and lining up in a queue and its like war time stamps - then we all give in!

prices on first capital connect to go up suckers

The evening standard was a bit gloomy today. Basically train fares are set to increase.. bonuses to rail chiefs also on the up.

Note to self.. become a rail chief and rip people off.

There will be some bad press, some whining, but mostly the English will just take it in their gloomy stride. There is no parking in London, the london orbital resembles the rings of saturn.. round but very rocky and lumpy.

So there is no other choice!!! got to love the free market.

Shame on the evening standard for winding me up though!

St Alban's versus Harpenden

When I arrived in Harpenden (from New Zealand I'm afraid old chap) - I ended up sleeping on a friends floor on Cravells Road.

So - without a car - well I ended up staying here - and now I've bought - in the poor part of town Southdown.

However, with the "big smoke of St Albans" down the road - should I have bought there instead?

To be honest - the shops of Harpenden are full of buzz... a moneyed buzz... a spoilt "haven't we discovered the best place to live in England buzz".... St Albans... is a bit drab . A lick of paint... and some new shops and St Albans could be great!

Sometimes though in Harpenden - you do feel trapped by the loveliness of it all. People in Southdown are so dam pleasant - the housewives are so dam nice.

I've driven through St Albans three times - once in search of a second hand bed, I got lost - and the Police ended up pulling me over. On one of the streets I saw - some white trash - praying on the footpath - surrounded by rubbish - I'm sure over the road from him was a "tinny house".

St Albans does have something called a Verulamium.. essentially a park - with a small bleak water feature - I guess a water park (the Condo in Singapore I stayed at - had a bigger and nicer one. On a hot day - it is packed - kids - and huge fat Englishmen covered in tattoos.

So yeh... I prefer Harpenden.

All quiet on First Capital Connect

Well not too much drama this week.

Last week - though someone threw themselves in front of a train at London bridge. But apparently they didn't do a good job. The paramedics ran past me - onto platform three.

I get the train on platform 6. The train was only 5 minutes late - selfish I know. People were much lesss charitable on Twitter though - describing the situation unsympathetically and ended their tweet with a #c***

The only drama of today.... was a wet set in front of me. There was no way any of the men would sit on it. However a woman - not unlike Sarah Ferguson braved the wet seat and sat down at St Pancras.

Wet with what? I want to know - water, lemonade or worse?

She did have a lovely voice though - I wonder if she ended up with a wet bottom.

The suckers of St Alban's never get a seat on the train

The only solace I get from paying a ridiculous train fair from Harpenden - is that mostly I get a seat.

So I am happily reading my Metro - lost in a world of Government Propaganda (the recession is over - in fact - we are booming!! as opposed to last week - when the wheels were about to fall off) - when the train pulls up to St Albans.

What a sorry looking lot those St Albaner's are - I watch them - from the corner of my eye - scurrying about - as the train pulls in - desperately trying to position themselves - to be closest to the door - and therefore with the best chance of possibly getting that last cramped seat.

Invariably - the first through the door - is a barrel built woman - with an intense (and some would say evil stare).

I don't make eye contact - I don't want to share in someone's unseated plight.

Sometimes a skinny young corporate male - will be first - an "I'm going to be number one type". Uptight pricks that lot.

I don't care - and I don't pity them - have any of them ever complained about the "shit" train service they are getting.

Probably not.

So too bad - and don't take your frustration out on those fortunate to have seats!

First Capital Connect says fares are sky high because they are improving the Network

The train fair from Harpenden into London is enough to take your breath away. In fact - due to overcrowding on the train - I saw a lady faint the other day. A combination of extravagant trains fares plus the unseasonable heat.

I don't get the - "we're charging you a small fortune so we can improve the network" argument!? Once it has been finally been improved - the fares will come down... hilarious bunch of suckers the commuter.

Its only a 30 minute ride into London - so for me - don't worry about improving the network - just make it cheaper and more efficient please.

Why bother improving something - if improving it - makes it more expensive.

Does anyone actually complain about the fares - I thought Poms were famous for whinging.

Perhaps everyone is too tired and gray to complain?

As an example of how ridiculous the fares are - lets compare to a much longer and less populated train route... Wellington to Waikanae  (New Zealand) a month is:

$291.60 NZD or 145 pounds - the trip takes an hour.

COMPARED TO:

326 pounds....

MORE THAN DOUBLE!

What happened to economies of scale?

The reality is - its a nasty stealth tax - but no-one complains here... they have given up.

So - I would be very happy to pay 145 pounds and stand (like all the poor suckers who get on at St Albans do anyway!).

Next stop is middle age Harpenden

The first thing you notice about the commute from and to Harpenden - is the graying middle age-ness of it all.

Not complaining - but eye candy (of the female variety) makes for a more interesting journey.

Also - there is something about - welcome to Harpenden - you have arrived at middle age - welcome to the hill - which you are about to start tumbling down.

Even the First Capital Connect staff at Harpenden are middle-age. A nice bunch though.

At the last work drinks.... I caught the 1am train home.

It was wall to wall drunken middle-age males - all semi comatose - some snoring - some chortling in their sleep. I was one of them.