Train Life: Chapter 9

So far, our Train Life has focussed on the cast of fellow commuters. But we all know there is much more to the daily commute to that. Oh so much more to delight - no, let's be realistic - so much more to annoy you!

In my case, one of the biggest frustration is when they cancel trains. It feels like my train is cancelled on a fairly regular basis, for a variety of reasons, some of which seem more understandable than others. Here are just some of the actual reasons Scotrail has given over the years for cancellations on my line:

• signalling issues
• congestion on the line
• train fault
• shortage of train crew
• broken down train in front of this one
• damage to overhead wires
• electricity failure
• slippery rails
• lack of available train units/carriages
• dangerous conditions due to wind
• dangerous conditions due to snow 
• dangerous conditions due to high temperatures
• flooding
• late running engineering work
• trespassers on the line
• passenger taken ill on the train ahead
• power failure
• unscheduled maintenance
• cow on the line (so much for all of those people who tell me I don't live in the countryside).

There were more, but I think that gives an indication of what we're dealing with. In fact, I'm sure you've heard even more than that. Basically, it gives about a three week window when weather conditions make it possible to run trains without cancellations. My train is more picky than Goldilocks - no, today is too wet, too windy, too snowy, too hot!

And of course, when they cancel, you'll only get compensation if you're delayed 30 minutes or more. So you could be delayed 29 minutes each way, every day for a working week and get nothing - that's 290 minutes, or just under 5 hours. Thankfully, that doesn't really happen but I have had more than one week when I was delayed 6 or 7 journeys out of 10. And when any single delay is under an hour, I get under £2 in compensation for that journey. It really feels more like an insult than any sort of compensation. You couldn't even get a decent coffee for that.

So as an experiment, I'm going to keep track of my trains over the next month to calculate the amount of delays and cancellations. Watch out for updates on that!

Why do people do that?

Today, I bring you a list of those things that confuse me. Ok some frustrate me more than confuse, but I thought I'd include them here too. Answers on a postcard, please! (What's the 21st century phrase for that? DM me the buzz?)

1. Why does my dentist ask me questions when she has a tongue clamp and a mirror in my mouth?

2. Why do people run up escalators when there is a perfectly good and often empty staircase right next to the escalator?

3. Why is a 'wise man' someone to be admired but a 'wise guy' isn't someone you'd want around?

4. Why do people say 'Needless to say' and then say it anyway?

5. Why do they make the contestants on Masterchef open the door to the judges' dining room themselves while they're carrying plates of food? Can't someone else help?

6. Why do people come on to an empty train or bus apart from one occupied seat, and choose to sit right behind that person? (It's herd instinct, I know, but it's still annoying.)

7. Why do people say 'I could care less' and not understand they're saying the very opposite of what they're trying to say? If there is possibility (I could) for you to care less, then it means that right now you do in fact actually care. The proper usage is 'I couldn't care less' - that is you care so little, there is no way for you care less.

8. Why do companies call me, and then ask me to prove who I am? Um you called me. Also, why do they make me prove who I am when I'm trying to pay a bill? If they have lots of people trying to give them money to pay my bill, I say let'em, I have no problem with that.

9. Why do people stand and wait for a bus and moan how long it takes, but only when it arrives then suddenly decide to start looking for change/their bus pass?

10. Why do you feel a weird compulsion to do the opposite of what someone says? 'Don't touch, it's hot.' 'Sh, it's a library'. 'Don't look now.'

11. Why do we say, 'You can't have your cake and eat it too'?  Why on earth would I want a cake that I can't eat? There would no point in that at all! (Again, I know what it actually means, but it sounds odd.)

12. The Kardashians.

Train Life: Chapter 8

Well, hello there - get comfy and I'll update you on the latest in Train Life, and a couple more of our cast of characters.

We'll start with the type I call The Inseparables. Obviously, these come in a twin pack, sometimes a couple, sometimes just two friends. They'll sit together on the train, chatting away. So far, so normal. The odd behaviour comes when they get off the train. They'll step out of the door next to each other, not behind each other. I'm sure that would work out fine on a midday quiet train, but on a busy commuter train it means the people they pass inevitably get hit by their bags, or squashed into the wall. The insistence on togetherness continues as they join the queue for the ticket gates (meaning you can often mistake them for the Commitmentphobes, as it's not clear which queue at least one of them is on). It carries on as they go up the escalator. The 'stand on the right' signs mean nothing to them. They stand together, taking up the full width of the escalator, meaning no one can get past them. They round off their performance with their goodbye dance in the station, when the crowds are milling round and the Inseparables suddenly stop and stand still, forcing the crowd to part and go round them. It's lovely that they still have so much to say to each other after the 45 minute train ride. Trains and crowds can't part them - that's real friendship/love!

Next, meet the Space Invaders. You've guessed by their name what this lot do. They cannot confine themselves to a seat, and behave with the assurance that the train belongs to them and the existence of other people is optional - they will happily ignore bunches of people standing in the doorway and aisles as they take up the maximum amount of space possible. I do wonder if they are alien overlords and so have an unerring belief that pesky humans don't count!

Anyway, I present to you the evidence, m'lud.

Exhibit 1: this young lady insisted on a seat for her bags, despite the fact that people were standing. She had a further bag which had been on the seat opposite these bags, and which I firmly asked her to move so I could sit down. She put it on the floor in front of my feet. Her lack of consideration extended further as her legs were crossed at a diagonal angle, pointing outwards as she swung them back and forth, meaning she kicked my leg every minute or so. There was someone next to me on the outside of my row, so I couldn't move out of the way.  However, Space Invader that she is, she must have been too busy getting commands from the Master Spaceship on that alien technology masquerading as a phone, to notice the impact she was having on everyone else. Poor soul, I do hope they come back to take her home soon.

Exhibit 2: this male sat on the outside of a double seat row (leaving the inside seat occupied by his rucksack). No issue as it was quieter and no one was standing. However, he then proceeded to put his disgusting trainer on the seat. After this he then put his other shoe on the next seat, not only manspreading over a grand total of 4 seats, but leaving huge dirty marks on the seats.

Is this the Space Invader leaving a mark on the territory as a secret code signal to his fellow aliens? I guess I will never know.  Well, unless one of the Space Invaders decides to reveal their true form to me.... if I disappear, you'll know it was the Space Invaders!

Till next time!

Making it mine: Notebook makeover

On Friday lunchtime, I decided to leave the office, and go for a little walk. Good decision. I somehow found myself in the aisles of Paperchase. Bad decision! I left the store with a heavy bag and a lighter purse, having bought all the notebooks and stickers!

One particular notebook I bought because I loved the tabbed interior paper design and the narrow lines (I'm not fond of the wide rule).However,  I wasn't so keen on the bright yellow retro cover though - cute, but doesn't really fit with my aesthetic. But I decided to go ahead and pick it up anyway. This is how it was when I bought it:

So I decided to do a mini makeover in she creates it style.

First I covered it with some marble contact paper, back and front:

Much better already, and the original black binding looks much more stylish! I then added my current vision board to the inside:

I thought the cover could do with some subtle pops of colour, so I added a label and stickers:

And I didn't want the back cover to be blank, so I added a motivational quote to it:

To finish off I added an elastic book band to keep the book neat when I'm not using it:

I love how this turned out. Just enough of my personality to make it feel mine, and still keeping all the practical features that made me want to buy it.

So if you see something that you like, but it's not quite perfect - remember, you can always make it better and more you!

Train life: Chapter 7

Happy New Week, and Happy New Train life blog post!

Today I want to introduce you to one more of the of the characters I've encountered in my daily travels.

Meet the Commitmentphobes. No, I'm not talking about their relationship status, but about their ability to commit to any move. So they look in one carriage, maybe even put one foot in it, then seem to decide against it and back out, lucky to not knock down those behind them like bowling pins! It's the same for choosing a seat. They'll glance round, sit down, fidget then get up and move two rows down the opposite side. So far, so unobtrusive really.

However, the Commitmentphobe's most annoying attributes come to light in the station. A whole train's worth of people has disembarked,and they're all keen to get out of the station as quickly as possible. I get in to the lower level of Glasgow Central station, meaning we all have to go up stairs and then through the automated ticket barriers to get out. There are generally two or three ticket barriers operational, so we all pick a queue, join it and wait our turn. Not fun, but straightforward enough. The Commitmentphobe doesn't see it like this. While everyone else clearly joins one queue or another, they instead will hover in a position between two queues, ready to make a last minute dash to which ever one moves more quickly. If you're behind them, you're stuck, because you don't want the people behind you to think you're the problem, but you can't move to be clearly in one queue or another as they're blocking your way.

The Commitmentphobe is one of my least favourite people on the commute, because the annoyance at the station, the last leg in the morning journey, makes me frustrated just as I'm starting my day. Suppressing the inner scream of 'just choose an fn queue' is NOT the morning mantra I should be chanting in my head to bring a good day!

It's always NYC for me

Like many people, I grew up with the streets and sights of New York as the backdrop to my favourite tv shows and movies. Ever since I saw Bruno and the gang from Fame dance round that yellow taxi, I made it one of my life's goals to visit New York.

I first visited in 2011 with my then 14 year old daughter and we had such fun touring the city, visiting the attractions, eating all the US food we'd seen on screen. It was amazing, and everything I'd always hoped it would be.

That one visit was in no way enough, so since then I've returned with a friend, with my daughter again, and on my own. And it's still not enough. 

So what's the thing that keeps bringing me back? It's hard to say. Yes, I love the shops. Yes, the attractions are fabulous. Yes, the food is out of this world. But New York is so much more than the sum of its parts, and it's the feeling that NYC gives me, that makes me go back. I've never felt so alive yet also so content and so at home than when I'm there.

I have lots of favourite destinations - Central Park, DUMBO at Brooklyn, West Village, SoHo, the riverfront, the High Line, all the parks, Boerum Hill, any Bath & Bodyworks, Target or Michaels store  - and each time I go, I find another place to add to the list.

Last visit, I went to Prospect Park for the first time (to experience Smorgasburg) and I'm keen to go back and explore that more. That trip I also got to tread the steps of one of my ancestors who emigrated to New York and made their home and life in the streets of Gowanus and Boerum Hill, and that made me so happy. I feel like I'm a Brooklyn Girl. I'd love to be a sophisticated Upper East girl, but I'm so not. Brooklyn is where I'm happiest, where I feel I can be me.

So next time anyone asks me about holiday plans, they shouldn't be surprised to learn I'm always thinking of when I can get back 'home' to New York!