Not Travelling on the DLR
I've been to London for the day - more specifically, Greenwich - and I'll tell you more about that later.
But, of course, this being Britain, and it being a Sunday, and there being a Y in the day, it was hard to get there as the Docklands Light Railway (or the DLR as we seasoned London-travellers call it) wasn't running.
They helpfully told me this when I had travelled from King's Cross to the Underground station called Bank. I was optimistically hoping to then take the DLR to the station called Cutty Sark, which is near where the famous ship of that name is to be found. Or isn't, currently. More of that later too.
A man in a yellow coat rushed up to me.
"You don't want to get the special bus from here, it'll be too crowded. Get the Jubilee line to London Bridge and then" - - - oh, who knows. But I followed his instructions, got to Canary Wharf and then got a bus to Island Gardens and then the tube to Cutty Sark. Good job I'd left plenty of time to get to the play.
Coming back, I got the special bus from Island Gardens again and it did an interesting tour of most of East London before stopping completely. At no point did the driver think to tell anyone where we were so there were lots of muttered questions going on amidst the confused travellers. I had checked that we were supposed to stop at Bank, but I wasn't certain that this was Bank, of course: it just appeared to be a bit of London street.
"Excuse me," I asked the bus driver, "where are we?"
He looked at me as though I had asked him which way was up.
"Bank, of course," he said.
"Well, I can't see it," I said. "Where is it?"
"Up there all the way to the traffic lights and turn left, of course," he said, in tones of one talking to a complete imbecile.
He could have added "and then walk so far down the road that you're convinced you're completely lost, and there it is."
But I suppose he's paid to drive the bus, and not to tell people where he's driving it to.
Although I didn't have to wait at all for the replacement bus, it nevertheless took me nearly two hours from Cutty Sark to Kings Cross. Again, it was a good job I'd booked a later train back.
There did seem to be a lot of foreign tourists in London. Perhaps they just go round and round and can never leave.
But, of course, this being Britain, and it being a Sunday, and there being a Y in the day, it was hard to get there as the Docklands Light Railway (or the DLR as we seasoned London-travellers call it) wasn't running.
They helpfully told me this when I had travelled from King's Cross to the Underground station called Bank. I was optimistically hoping to then take the DLR to the station called Cutty Sark, which is near where the famous ship of that name is to be found. Or isn't, currently. More of that later too.
A man in a yellow coat rushed up to me.
"You don't want to get the special bus from here, it'll be too crowded. Get the Jubilee line to London Bridge and then" - - - oh, who knows. But I followed his instructions, got to Canary Wharf and then got a bus to Island Gardens and then the tube to Cutty Sark. Good job I'd left plenty of time to get to the play.
Coming back, I got the special bus from Island Gardens again and it did an interesting tour of most of East London before stopping completely. At no point did the driver think to tell anyone where we were so there were lots of muttered questions going on amidst the confused travellers. I had checked that we were supposed to stop at Bank, but I wasn't certain that this was Bank, of course: it just appeared to be a bit of London street.
"Excuse me," I asked the bus driver, "where are we?"
He looked at me as though I had asked him which way was up.
"Bank, of course," he said.
"Well, I can't see it," I said. "Where is it?"
"Up there all the way to the traffic lights and turn left, of course," he said, in tones of one talking to a complete imbecile.
He could have added "and then walk so far down the road that you're convinced you're completely lost, and there it is."
But I suppose he's paid to drive the bus, and not to tell people where he's driving it to.
Although I didn't have to wait at all for the replacement bus, it nevertheless took me nearly two hours from Cutty Sark to Kings Cross. Again, it was a good job I'd booked a later train back.
There did seem to be a lot of foreign tourists in London. Perhaps they just go round and round and can never leave.
posted by Daphne at 10:46 pm
3 Comments:
Ever heard of a recent invention called "the taxi"? Almost as useful as an old person's zimmer frame.
Ohhhhhhhh you got to ride the special bus!
YP - a TAXI? When I'd already paid for a travelcard? I am a Yorkshirewoman - - nope, I wouldn't pay TWICE!
Debby - - yes, a whole new definition of "special"!
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