The SouthEastern ticket inspectors are breeding!

Yesterday I talked around the subject of ticket inspectors and today there has been a serious development. When I got to Waterloo East this morning there were not 8 of these satan spawn, but 12!!!

..yes 12 ticket inspectors!

12 people paid with our money, to take cursory glances at peoples tickets and penalise those stupid enough to admit they didn't have time to buy one on the train or before they traveled. And this is the crux of my point: Ticket Inspectors don't catch the real fare evaders, they catch people too naive to realise that being honest when you have been running behind will only get you a penalty fare. I have an annual season ticket and I can assure you that nobody, ever, not even on-train guards have ever looked at it properly.

So back to these 12 ticket inspectors. The numbers got me thinking: 8 yesterday, 12 today. If we take into a factor of 1.5 per day, how long before there are more ticket inspectors at Waterloo East than "customers"?

Morning Journey: Ontime!
Evening Journey: Ontime!

What do you call a group of ticket inspectors?

Morning Journey: 7 minutes early for work!

Evening Journey: 20 minutes late. Grrrrr

I have a question today that I have asked myself many times over the last few weeks:

Why are there so many ticket inspectors at Waterloo East?

These guys stand in their thuggish groups, constricting the exits and entrances of what is already a very congested walkway and get paid for not looking very well at people tickets and scanning their oyster cards! I notice they catch the odd fair dodger so I can understand having a couple of these people moping about if completely necessary (personally I'd sack them all) but this morning there were 8 of them...

yes... 8 of them!

With the economy being as it is, how the heck can this immense waste of money in the form of wages be at all justified? Are these train companies making so much money from their excessively increased fares and subsidies that they can employ so many people just for the hell of it? Employ people who don't even do their job properly?

These ticket inspectors do nothing but piss off 99% of commuters. What is wrong with installing a few ticket machines? I dare not even think what these people are paid, I bet that too would make me sick!

This rant got me thinking about another question:

What do you call a group of ticket inspectors?

I couldn't find anything conclusive online but after a bit of searching I find this site about groups of things.

There are quite a few contenders:

A cackle of train inspectors? (Normally applied to hyenas)
A pack of train inspectors? (Mules)
A bloat of train inspectors? (Hippopotamuses)
A pounce of train inspectors? (Cats)

...my personal favourite is a skulk of train inspectors!

How some things change

Morning Journey: On Time

This morning I had a meeting on Tottenham Court Road and got the train into Charing Cross, which I haven't done for about a year. It was interesting walking up Charing Cross Road and seeing the visible changes. I noticed that the crypt entrance for St Martin-in-the-fields had finally been finished and it was stunning: All glass and polished stone. What with the credit crunch I had expected to see some familiar places closed down (Murder One look to have gone totally online now) but it was nice to see some old favourites like the Quinto bookshop putting up a fight and still there.

It was also interesting to see the Crossrail development at Tottenham Court Road is really gathering pace, many of the local shops on the Charing Cross side of the junction have moved premises or closed down due to the necessary requirements of the transport upgrade.

Unfortunately this looks like we have may have seen the last of the best kebab shop in central London. I have many happy memories of this place from my younger days.

Bye Bye Dionysus. :(

Evening Journey: Late home, AGAIN!

Normally I moan as South Eastern for their typically rubbish train service but this time it is South West trains who made me late. I was imprisoned on the train for 15 minutes whilst the signalman had a piss or something... Well the announcer said that is was because they were waiting for a platform to become available but we all know that is bollocks, right?

Fellow Commuters Can Be Annoying

Morning Journey: 7 minutes early for work. Yey! If only it as like this everyday

Evening Journey: 30 mins late home. No bedtime story with my son :(

Why the fuck are people so rude and inconsiderate? I was queuing up to get on the train in my normal spot, and as per usual the same middle age grumps push in front of everybody, then proceed to take the first free seats going: While the rest of us stand twiddling our thumbs these doughnuts are taking forever to get settled.

To these selfish prats I say: Have some bloody common sense and respect.

Any intelligent person would move to the centre of the carriage so everybody can get a seat at the same time without having to be thrown about a moving train! ..

I like to sit next to people like this and sniff all the way home, just to piss them off.

Delays, primates, and bowler hat day

Morning Journey: 38 minutes late for work. grrrr.

Journey was delayed by a broken down freight train at Hildenborough *sigh*. Why the heck a freight train would decide to visit Hildenbough is anybodies guess, but then I suppose it is a slightly better prospect than Tonbridge.

Sat next to a man with very big arms who I estimate was taking up about 1/10 of my seat space. I didn't say anything (apart from in my head where I gave him what for) and now I have a sore back from seating at a 5 degree angle. Big Arms Man was watching something on his iPhone, but he was quite secretive... suspiciously so....

...Watching. Porn. Definitely.

A fellow commuter was grumbling with his friend about the delay and said that we were entitled to free tea and coffee because the delay was over 30mins. I could hear a few ears prick at the thought of this free liquid sustinance but....

.... like true Brits none of us said anything as the trolley chap trundled past.

Not sure if people know but it is bowler hat day. Sounds cool but they didn't do it at Waterloo as it's only a "City" thing. Stupid Bankers.

However there was something out of the ordinary as I made my frantic dash for the train at Waterloo. An orange monkey with a collection bucket. On closer inspection is was somebody (I can't be specific on gender) in a monkey suit collecting for the Sumatran Orangutan Society. I Almost handed over some pennies... but the eyes behind the manky monkey suit scared me off *shivers*

Evening Journey: On time!

Got home in time to read my son a Thomas the Tanke Engine story... with all the voices too. Ringo, eat your heart out.