I’ve been lucky enough to have just spent another few days down in London, this time meeting up with several bloggy friends, experiencing a street art tour, Crystal Palace Park and slowly working my way round the awesome bakeries that the city has to offer (which of course, was breakfast). It was only a few days after The Bloke and I got back from his 50th birthday Wicked and Harry Potter extravaganza, and it felt like I had just about unpacked before I had to pack again so I could get a train back down south at ridiculous o’clock.
Generally (aside from the rather upset woman who lost her sh*t when I asked her to turn her music down earlier in the year) I like train travel, and I always like people-watching on the tube: the families on an exciting first visit to the museums, a John Hurt doppelgänger in a woollen bright electric blue suit, the man who had had a banana feast for breakfast and draped the banana skins over his legs and the woman who was humming along to her playlist at a high pitched squeal were the highlights of this weekend’s travel. I’m not a fan of large crowds, especially when everyone is going in different directions, but over the years have developed a fairly reliable system where I avoid getting trapped in the middle of a whole bunch of people with no escape.
I was bracing myself for it to be busy, but NOTHING, however, prepared me for the utter insanity of this morning.
I had been staying with my friend in East Croydon, and instead of having to rush and cut our time short over the weekend I decided to book my train to Birmingham on Monday morning after the rush hour had finished. However, yesterday I realised that this meant I would have to get a train from East Croydon to Victoria during the main commute.
Clever me.
It was only a short trip, probably lasting about 20 minutes in total, but it’s 20 minutes I never want to experience again. After being pushed, poked and had bags smacked into my limbs I was getting a bit anxious, but when a woman started slurping through an egg sandwich in my ear and screaming down the phone it almost tipped me over the edge. The slurping went on seemingly forever, and I was so grateful that I hadn’t had my own breakfast by that point or it would have come back up to be shared with the feet of the other passengers…
I arrived at Victoria feeling completely frazzled, desperate to get outside and in total awe of those who go through this twice a day, at least five days a week. I disagree with the reputation that Londoners have for being blunt, cold and rude – I’ve had loads of conversations with really interesting people whenever I’ve been there – but if that’s what they have to face every morning I can certainly understand why some of them may be a bit grumpy!
Londoners: I salute you!
Suzie Speaks 
Yup … Commute from hell!!!
It. Was. Awful.
I couldn’t do it!!!
yep sounds like a normal day but really overground commutes are chicken feed compared to say London Bridge to Canary Wharf at 8.15 am on the Jubilee line. Those images you see of Japanese commute trains with guards pushing people in are sane compared to that… Not sure I approve of you being a mile from me and not saying though….!!
I was a mile from you? Now you tell me! yeah, those images of the Japanese were exactly what I had in my head as I was getting on the train!
note to self: walk everywhere if I must commute during rush hour in London. Oof. You have my sympathies.
I think the walking bit is impossible if you’re staying a distance away from your destination as it would take hours, but it’s definitely worth avoiding until at least after 9am
LOL. Thank you
It makes me glad I drive to work on my own every morning! I quite enjoy people watching on train journeys, but sometimes they’re just a nightmare.
I generally like the trains and they’re great for people watching but when it’s like that I get really stressed haha! The driving to work isn’t much better here but it’s certainly better sitting in your own car haha!
You’ve had a couple of bad experiences on the train – but I understand just how maddening a daily commute like that would be!
Definitely – and to then have to go and battle more crowds and then actually start work is just unreal…
I can’t imagine listening to someone slurp an egg sandwich, let along the smell.
I was certainly glad that I hadn’t had my breakfast by that point haha!
I spent a year in London thirty years ago and loved it. However, I could not cope with the mad crowds now.
Ooh where did you stay? Yeah, it’s definitely much busier now than even five years ago!
I lived near Lambeth North tube station. It was terrific for theatre outings, eating out and commuting to college in Surrey. 🌼
I bet! I love the theatre outings there!
The business is one of the things that really puts me off visiting London. All the crowds and noise and smells like the egg sandwich slurping eating is just not my cup of tea at all. you can see why commuters get annoyed!
Definitely! I don’t know how they do it every day!
I’ve had to do it twice and I’m with you, it’s awful and no one should have to put up with it let alone pay for it.
Haha! Don’t even get me started on the train prices, although I usually stay in zones 1 and 2 so the travel costs aren’t bad for just a few days
Even so it’s still hard to justify
Totally!
Big mistake to travel in the rush hour, glad you survived it. Can’t believe that millions of people do it everyday.
Me neither – getting up on a cold Monday morning is bad enough but it would be so much worse if that journey was ahead of me every day!