Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TheBoy]

too near to Barton

Apparently, according to one of our members from a while back who lived there, its called Lower Beckley

[TheBoy]

For others not familiar with the suburbs of Oxford, even the buses refuse to go through Barton

[Sir Tigger KC]

So judging by the comments the lane in question is in poor condition. 

I guess it's cheaper and easier to close it and make a big song and dance about improving access to the countryside for walkers and bicyclists yada yada, than to resurface it and maintain it properly.     

[TheBoy]

So judging by the comments the lane in question is in poor condition. 

I guess it's cheaper and easier to close it and make a big song and dance about improving access to the countryside for walkers and bicyclists yada yada, than to resurface it and maintain it properly.     

That's not how Oxford works.

They will ban vehicles, then spend millions resurfacing it, then declare it an utter success when a single cyclist chooses to use it on a single dry day....

[TheBoy]

But then it is a very Leftie council. Cars are for right wing thugs.

[YZ250]

So judging by the comments the lane in question is in poor condition. 
………..

It’s a narrow country lane with no road edgings. As it’s narrow, vehicles pull on to the verge to pass another vehicle so hence the road edge breaks away and it gets muddy. Plus, it’s mostly farm gateways down there so tractors and the like take up the whole road and get it muddy. For the sake of going an extra half a mile up the road, you can come out around two hundred metres farther up on the same road without getting muddy.     They’ll have to fit retractable bollards as there are a couple of houses on that road.   

[TheBoy]

Although both companies regularly appear on my shit list, never have they appeared on the same day for being truly moronic.

HS2's diversions. On Monday rush hour. Diverting to a road they have closed. Idiots.


Chiltern Railways.  No power at Bicester North station since Friday, not expected to return for "weeks". So had to jump on train, explain to the ticket checking geezer why I have no ticket - fortunately there were enough of us on the train from that station for him to believe me - and buy a ticket at Marylebone....

As you can imagine, quite a queue at Marylebone at the ticket office. So the first retard couldn't sell me one because I needed a travelcard.

Queue up again, the second retard sold me the wrong ticket. Queue up a 3rd time to get a refund on the wrong ticket - that takes several days to process - and purchase the right one.

Back at Bicester, get in a bunfight with the station manager and the doris over how to buy a ticket for carparking.  None of the options they listed actually worked, much like the powerless ticket machines....

[TheBoy]

I believe Chiltern are being nationalised this year.  We know that will mean the service gets worse, and ticket prices will increase, and the taxpayer will have to cough up more.....


....but can the service get any worse?



Oh, yes, and this morning's trains were one of Chiltern's new (to them, still 2nd hand) Explorer trains, brought in with much fanfare in Feb this year to aid reliability and make journeys more comfortable....    ...obviously it was running late.  As for comfort, due to less seats per carriage and one carriage reserved for 1st class, I've yet to actually ever get a seat, so can't really comment.

[Raeturbo]

Holy shit! I’m so glad I live in my lovely green valley👍

[Sir Tigger KC]

Although both companies regularly appear on my shit list, never have they appeared on the same day for being truly moronic.

HS2's diversions. On Monday rush hour. Diverting to a road they have closed. Idiots.


Chiltern Railways. No power at Bicester North station since Friday, not expected to return for "weeks". So had to jump on train, explain to the ticket checking geezer why I have no ticket - fortunately there were enough of us on the train from that station for him to believe me - and buy a ticket at Marylebone....

As you can imagine, quite a queue at Marylebone at the ticket office. So the first retard couldn't sell me one because I needed a travelcard.

Queue up again, the second retard sold me the wrong ticket. Queue up a 3rd time to get a refund on the wrong ticket - that takes several days to process - and purchase the right one.

Back at Bicester, get in a bunfight with the station manager and the doris over how to buy a ticket for carparking.  None of the options they listed actually worked, much like the powerless ticket machines....

There's these things called 'apps' these days.     

You should try them, as you could have done all that from the comfort of your armchair.   

[tunnie]

I believe Chiltern are being nationalised this year.  We know that will mean the service gets worse, and ticket prices will increase, and the taxpayer will have to cough up more.....


....but can the service get any worse?



Oh, yes, and this morning's trains were one of Chiltern's new (to them, still 2nd hand) Explorer trains, brought in with much fanfare in Feb this year to aid reliability and make journeys more comfortable....    ...obviously it was running late.  As for comfort, due to less seats per carriage and one carriage reserved for 1st class, I've yet to actually ever get a seat, so can't really comment.

Sad to see Chiltern at this state, I really rated them 2007-2009 era.

Have you considered driving to Reading and then Elizabeth Line?

[Viral_Jim]

It pains me to admit it, but the odd few times I've been to the capital in the past few years I've gone on the quick train from Birmingham International - whatever the service is that used to be Virgin - Avanti maybe....  and they've been excellent. Fast, on time (to within a couple of minutes) and seats available. It would probably still be cheaper to drive and park but the train was genuinely more convenient.

Not much use to you though I guess as it stops only at Coventry, Northampton and one more horrible place near London I can't remember. 

[TheBoy]

There's these things called 'apps' these days.     

You should try them, as you could have done all that from the comfort of your armchair.   

No (usable) receipt for expenses.

[TheBoy]

I believe Chiltern are being nationalised this year.  We know that will mean the service gets worse, and ticket prices will increase, and the taxpayer will have to cough up more.....


....but can the service get any worse?



Oh, yes, and this morning's trains were one of Chiltern's new (to them, still 2nd hand) Explorer trains, brought in with much fanfare in Feb this year to aid reliability and make journeys more comfortable....    ...obviously it was running late.  As for comfort, due to less seats per carriage and one carriage reserved for 1st class, I've yet to actually ever get a seat, so can't really comment.

Sad to see Chiltern at this state, I really rated them 2007-2009 era.

Have you considered driving to Reading and then Elizabeth Line?

Its a shit show, partly Chiltern's fault, still using utterly shagged rolling stock that came from British Rail before privatisation, and partly Network Rail's fault to actively slow down the existing routes to make HS2 look somehow viable.  Fastest train from Bicester North to Marylebone is just under an hour, they stopped the 32m services.


Not sure why I would drive to Reading?  May as well just drive into London - the only shitty bits are the sequence of traffic lights around your old neck of the woods, and the first 800yrds of the Marylebone Road as you come off the Marylebone Flyover.  It's an hour to Reading, probably 2hrs to get into the centre in rush hour.  It's an hour to the North Circ.  So going to Reading doesn't really make much sense.

Parking in London isn't that bad, especially compared to parking charges at Chiltern stations, although quite a few have tiered pricing based on age/emissions .

[TheBoy]

It pains me to admit it, but the odd few times I've been to the capital in the past few years I've gone on the quick train from Birmingham International - whatever the service is that used to be Virgin - Avanti maybe....  and they've been excellent. Fast, on time (to within a couple of minutes) and seats available. It would probably still be cheaper to drive and park but the train was genuinely more convenient.

Not much use to you though I guess as it stops only at Coventry, Northampton and one more horrible place near London I can't remember.

Yeah, the office is in central Brum, most of the sites I look after are central Londonium, so I occasionally jump on WCML, as the hourly express is 1h2m - although Euston isn't well connected to the tube network.  Avanti do cancel a lot of trains at short notice though.

Seats can be a problem London bound morning rush hour, and their seat booking system seems to allow double booking.  I can pick up WCML in MK, which I used to do all the time when the office was in Bletchley, due usually don't as crossing V4 in MK in the morning rush takes forever.