Transport in London doesn’t work

Today has been a nightmare for travel on the London bus networks. I was waiting for the 94 bus in Regents Street for 45 minutes. 3 buses came but all were “Not In Service”. In the meantime, at least 10 other buses came bu like #453, #9, #88, #12, etc. So what caused this breakdown in the service?

Was the 94 route not in play today?

Were the 94 drivers on strike?

Did they not start the route on Regents Street or elsewhere?

If this route was not working today, they need a system to tell the numerous people waiting for this bus. Put a notice on the passing 94 buses which were not taking passengers but give the people some information. I know that the management at TFL are glorified civil servants and have no sense of customer service nor profitability, so nothing will ever be done about these issues.

So I wasted a big chunk of a work day waiting for a non – existent bus. If this were the tube, I would be eligible for a refund but is the policy the same for the buses. I am going to fill in a complaint/ refund form for this and see what the outcome is.

In case you need to make a claim, pick up a form at any Tube Station. There is also an online form now on their site too. www.tfl.gov.uk

Am also going to send this to Boris via twitter and see if I get any sort of response. London is a great place to live but the public transport system is the most expensive and out of date service ever.

Review: On the Waterfront, Theatre Royal Haymarket

I went to see this last week when it first opened. In short, it was really enjoyable.On the Waterfront is an adaptation of the famous legendary movie, made famous by Marlon Brando’s amazing performance.

This stage version is directed and acted by Steven Berkoff. The production was completely different from any other shows I have seen recently. The cast are the most interesting collection of stage actors I have seen on a London stage as they have such characters etched on their faces.

In most of the scenes, the actors are moving in slow motion to the background of great music throughout. The cast play mutliple roles and switch over quite convincingly. My favourite scene is when the cast line up as a bunch of pigeons ina copp. THat is the most ingenious and hilarious scene I have seen in ages.

The acting by the lead is really strong and the whole cast has to be commended for a fantastic performance. A must see.

Booking to 27 April 2009

Theatre Royal Haymarket
Haymarket
London
SW1Y 4HT

Blizzard shuts London down

It started snowing quite heavily on Sunday night in London, very unusual for February. Monday morning dawns and London is blanketed with about a foot of snow.

As we don’t normally get much snow in London, the infrastructure is not set up to deal with snow so the transport system completely died. Today, there were very few tubes running, no trains, no buses. Heathrow running on long delays and Terminal 5 closed for most the day.We also saw major delays at other airports in London leaving lots of passengers stranded. (Most passengers will not get much compensation for this unless their travel insurance covers it.)

As most people did not have to work today, 6 million Londoners were left to play in the snow. Here are some scenes from around London.

Howies London Sample Sale

Howies has teamed up with some great brands – People Tree, THTC, Tera Plana, Komodo, Vega and Hug to hold a sample sale on London’s Brick Lane this weekend!

They will be bringing plenty of jeans, t-shirts, jackets and jumpers and merino along, including some rare samples that never made it to sale and one-off t-shirt prints from our printshop, as well as the usual collection of stuff with dodgy zips and missing buttons.

sThe sample sale will run from Thursday to Sunday and will be held in the Dray Walk Gallery on Brick Lane in London:

The sale will be open from

6pm til 9pm on Thursday 27th Nov
10am til 8pm on Friday 28th Nov
11am til 7pm on Saturday 29th Nov
and 11am til 5pm on Sunday 30th Nov

The Dray Walk Gallery is at this address:

Dray Walk Gallery
Dray Walk
The Old Truman Brewery
Off 91 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QL

Drop by and check it out!