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Post by londonpostie on Feb 21, 2020 19:24:52 GMT
Excellent. Peter Cook could have written that.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 21, 2020 23:06:09 GMT
Be careful walking in Knightsbridge. My no go area of London now. Last time I was there two open drugs deals in front of me, fighting and a distant gun shot. Added to that it is now used as a race track. Very moody area at night Golly. I thought Knightsbridge was posh. It has Harrods!
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 24, 2020 1:16:54 GMT
Today's 3pm matinee was (amateur) Tom Sawyer at the King Alfred Phoenix Theatre in Golders Green. Very good it was too; a sell out but had unallocated bench-style seating. I made sure I was first in to the auditorium and grabbed the central front row aisle seat They struggled to fit everybody in, people had to move around so latecoming families could sit together and it started almost 15 minutes late.
I had been told a 5.15pm finish and had calculated that with the Circle Line suspended I needed an hour to get to Cadogan Hall for Zorro this evening but actually got out at 5.33 so knew it was going to be tight. I ran most of the way down the hill to Golders Green station, caught the tube at 5.42, changed from Northern to Victoria line at Warren Street which was quite a trek (probably should have switched at Euston), arrived Victoria 6.14, quarter way up the escalator it stopped suddenly, almost fell over, had to walk up about 100 steps to the top, then just missed a bus which I would otherwise have caught, bus I did catch then changed driver at Victoria Coach station.
Got off at Sloane Square 6.28 and walked into Cadogan at 6.30, as did Dawnstar, sat down at 6.32 and it started at 6.33. I've had a few close shaves but that one will take some beating.
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Post by londonmzfitz on Feb 24, 2020 13:44:52 GMT
Got a question, I'm planning on booking an overnight bus back to London after I see Back to the Future. I have a feeling not many people on here go on overnight buses but for me they're perfect, I can sleep and travel all in one go. I've not done much travel recently and see that booking specific seats on both National Express and Megabus seems to be a thing. So, on a random Tuesday night how full is the bus likely to be? Basically I have no problem sitting next to someone on a bus for hours on end but at night when I really want to sleep two seats makes a massive difference especially when you're not very tall and can sleep reasonably well lying on both seats. I can't imagine it'll be busy but anyone got better knowledge than me? If it's busy is there any advantage to booking one of the seats? Are you more or less likely to get someone next to you if you do that? I did this journey last year, a Wednesday night, with National Express from Manchester to London. I had two seats to myself, no reservation, as I think did all solo travellers. One way to almost certainly get two seats is to reserve one,it's then unlikely anyone will reserve the one next to you but when you get on you sit on the one you haven't reserved and leave the reservation notice on the other seat. Sneaky but should work unless the coach is fully booked. People with reserved seats don't board first. It's a two part journey with about 45 minutes break in Birmingham at Digbeth Coach station. You don't have to get off but most people did if only to avoid using the on-bus WC. The coach travels mainly on A roads with roundabouts, traffic lights etc.so lots of slowing down and stopping , plus all the calling points have to be announced and people get on/off at most. I found it harder to sleep than on motorway journeys. I think Megabus sticks more to motorways but has no equivalent break at Birmingham. Took the National Express on Saturday to Leicester to see Phantom of the Opera at The Curve (1st visit there). Pre-purchased a National Express Coach Card for the over 60's for £15, my trip there and back was £11.20. Gorgeous! Reserved the front seat behind the driver in both directions for £2 each way. Gorgeous!! Bloke behind me took up both seats by sitting on the aisle seat and putting his coat on the window seat. And spoke - loudly - on his phone for 90 minutes! At one point lying across the seats so his mouth was probably 6 inches from my ear. Couple of old ladies in my reserved seat on the return journey - there was quite a queue, full bus at 11.30 Sunday morning, and they'd taken off the Reserved label and chucked it ... oisted out by the Driver. Well worth the extra couple of quid as I don't travel well in the rear of coaches. The Ramada Encore is steps from The Curve, but I'd hesitate to recommend it for any other reason. Rooms aren't soundproof and the Hotel's covered outside area for coffee/smokers attracts the local yoofs who like to chatter into the early hours (I don't know if they were residents). Also a row between a young couple in the street had me bounding out of bed at 3.30am in case she needed help.
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Post by tysilio2 on Feb 24, 2020 13:55:05 GMT
I genuinely love this thread...and I barely use public transport for the theatre. Get all excited when a new post appears.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 25, 2020 17:01:12 GMT
Tonight I'm booked to see Pretty Woman at the Piccadilly theatre. £75 seat in row B stalls I'm on a train at Newport S.Wales which is being held here indefinitely due to a fatality near Swindon. Train should have left half an hour ago and was due to reach Paddington at 18.15 but train manager has warned of a very long delay. My son works in London and I've agreed with him to not catch his usual train home. I've had a string of close shaves on my travels in the last 12 months but I think this is where my luck runs out...
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 25, 2020 17:02:35 GMT
.... and my son gets an unexpected night at the theatre 😢
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2020 18:50:00 GMT
Were you trying to see a matinee in Wales & an evening show in London FrontroverPaul? If so that that was probably a bit overambitious! The furthest apart I think I've ever done in one day is Norwich & Cambridge or London & Cambridge.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 25, 2020 19:09:58 GMT
No I have a property in Wales and was there to check on it after all the flooding. My train was actually going to reach Paddington at 19.11 and I would have probably just made curtain up but they decided to terminate it at Reading and that's added 10 minutes to the journey so no chance now and will miss about 10 minutes but could have been worse.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2020 20:14:19 GMT
FrontroverPaul I would say that I wouldn't choose to go & visit a property on the other side of the country on a day I had theatre booked but as you seem to have theatre booked pretty much every day I guess it's tricky!
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Post by david on Feb 25, 2020 20:21:21 GMT
With Northern Rail / Fail's franchise coming to an end this week, I am hoping that there will be a more reliable service to Manchester so I can restart my Sunday visits to Hope Mil again.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 26, 2020 0:55:30 GMT
FrontroverPaul I would say that I wouldn't choose to go & visit a property on the other side of the country on a day I had theatre booked but as you seem to have theatre booked pretty much every day I guess it's tricky! I've been travelling by coach or train to Wales twice a month, staying overnight, for almost 10 years and regularly return via a London show. Whether I'm travelling from Cardiff or Newport, or from my main residence in Kent, I plan for about an hour's cushion between expected arrival at a London rail terminus or Victoria Coach Station and curtain up. Similarly I allow an hour for possible delays if I'm seeing a matinee in Bristol or Cardiff on the outward journey. That has got me to the show in time on all but three occasions over the years, though with a few close shaves. I should have had 75 minutes today between Paddington and the Piccadilly Theatre for a 15 minute journey but actually got there at 7.38 so that was a fourth fail but I didn't miss much. One consolation is that I can get the £15 train fare back under the delay repay scheme. It's a choice of either taking a calculated risk that an hour will be adequate for the final leg of the journey, or allowing so long that in most cases I have to hang around for ages near the theatre. I've had more delays already in 2020 than the whole of 2019 but I'm the eternal optimist and firmly believe that I've had my share of hold ups for 2020 already and the rest of the year will run like clockwork!
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 26, 2020 13:52:47 GMT
Before booking a train ticket, especially if it's a journey I've not made before, I'll try and remember to check recenttraintimes.co.uk. The website dates from the very earliest days of the internet, but as it's free to use, I can't complain!
Some railway delays, like the one above, can't be predicted, but others seem to be repeated day after day. Leeds to Nottingham, I'm looking at you.
(And if arrival time isn't important, it's quite useful to see which services are likely to be running 15 or more minutes late. Though obviously I wouldn't dream of playing the compensation system!)
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 26, 2020 19:51:21 GMT
It has certainly never occurred to me to deliberately try to get a likely to be delayed train!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2020 10:48:58 GMT
I am attempting to go to Coventry, for a final viewing of PPGW. It is not going well. The traffic getting to Cambridge station was terrible so I missed the train I needed to get to London & therefore will miss the connection at Euston for Coventry. As I was booked on a specifc Euston-Coventry train I've just had to buy another ticket, at the cost of £36, having already spent getting on for £60 on train tickets so this trip is going to cost me nearly £100.
ETA The next train to London has just left 6 mins late. If it gets any later en route then I'll miss another train at Euston & will be very tight for getting to the theatre for the 2pm start. (I'd intended to get to Coventry at 12.25pm so as to have time for a quick visit to the cathedral first but that's not going to happen now.)
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2020 11:13:54 GMT
Best of luck, Dawnstar. (I'd intended to get to Coventry at 12.25pm so as to have time for a quick visit to the cathedral first but that's not going to happen now.) One assumes that isn't a euphemism... It isn't! I like visiting cathedrals & have managed to combine theatregoing with cathedral visiting in a number of places in the last few years (Salisbury, Cardiff, Peterborough, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester). As I've never been to Coventry before I thought it'd be a good opportunity to tick another one off the list, but fate thought otherwise.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2020 12:27:21 GMT
LOL. I just had images of that theatre having the very best, most expansive and ornamental ladies facilities warranting an early arrival to admire was all . Look at it this way, Dawnstar, at least if Coventry is also covered in plastic sheets, you had a narrow escape, I guess. The fanciest loos I've seen recently were in fact in a cathedral, in Cadiz.
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 27, 2020 17:29:06 GMT
It has certainly never occurred to me to deliberately try to get a likely to be delayed train! Me neither, Dawnstar, but as the entire ticketing system is weighted in the TOCs favour, I can fully understand why some passengers do! 😉 Anyway, I hope your return from Coventry is somewhat smoother than your outward journey.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2020 18:05:23 GMT
Well, the train is running 5 mins late & someone else was sitting in my reserved seat when I got on so I had to wait until people got off at Rugby to be able to sit down, but other than that it's okay at the moment!
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Post by learfan on Feb 27, 2020 18:22:12 GMT
I am attempting to go to Coventry, for a final viewing of PPGW. It is not going well. The traffic getting to Cambridge station was terrible so I missed the train I needed to get to London & therefore will miss the connection at Euston for Coventry. As I was booked on a specifc Euston-Coventry train I've just had to buy another ticket, at the cost of £36, having already spent getting on for £60 on train tickets so this trip is going to cost me nearly £100. ETA The next train to London has just left 6 mins late. If it gets any later en route then I'll miss another train at Euston & will be very tight for getting to the theatre for the 2pm start. (I'd intended to get to Coventry at 12.25pm so as to have time for a quick visit to the cathedral first but that's not going to happen now.) There are direct trains from Cambridge to Birmingham NS that i imagine stop at Cov.
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Post by david on Feb 27, 2020 18:25:28 GMT
Best of luck, Dawnstar . One assumes that isn't a euphemism... It isn't! I like visiting cathedrals & have managed to combine theatregoing with cathedral visiting in a number of places in the last few years (Salisbury, Cardiff, Peterborough, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester). As I've never been to Coventry before I thought it'd be a good opportunity to tick another one off the list, but fate thought otherwise. Having spent a year living in Coventry many years ago, I can assure you that the Cathedral and the ruins of its bombed out predecessor are the highlight of the city.
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Post by learfan on Feb 27, 2020 18:25:42 GMT
Beg pardon, they don't stop at Cov as it goes via Nuneaton but nevertheless the service is regular.
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 27, 2020 18:31:48 GMT
Were you sent, david, or did you go voluntarily? 🤣 I worked in Royal Leamington Spa for a while, and you're right!
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Post by david on Feb 27, 2020 18:38:05 GMT
Were you sent, david , or did you go voluntarily? 🤣 I worked in Royal Leamington Spa for a while, and you're right! I worked in Cov some 20yrs ago for a year as part of my Uni degree. I was at the HDRA (Henry Doubleday Association). Interesting year there. Best part was the cheap train tickets to London. Made of the most of the year by spending my weekends in London at the theatre. I must of finished the year poorer than when I arrived in the city. Great WE theatre memories though!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 27, 2020 18:52:04 GMT
Were you sent, david , or did you go voluntarily? 🤣 I worked in Royal Leamington Spa for a while, and you're right! I worked in Cov some 20yrs ago for a year as part of my Uni degree. I was at the HDRA (Henry Doubleday Association). Interesting year there. Best part was the cheap train tickets to London. Made of the most of the year by spending my weekends in London at the theatre. I must of finished the year poorer than when I arrived in the city. Great WE theatre memories though! david surely not! I thought you were only about 29!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2020 18:52:45 GMT
Beg pardon, they don't stop at Cov as it goes via Nuneaton but nevertheless the service is regular. I had a look at going via Nuneaton but there's only 1 train an hour & it was more expensive. The Cambridge-Birmingham train takes so long that it's about the same amount of time to go via London as it is to go direct! Having spent a year living in Coventry many years ago, I can assure you that the Cathedral and the ruins of its bombed out predecessor are the highlight of the city. From what I saw of Coventry today that isn't difficult! After another dash along Euston Road, in the opposite direction to this morning, I made my connection. I rather wish I hadn't as I'm crammed into a lobby with 9 other people, 2 folding bikes & 1 suitcase.
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Post by david on Feb 27, 2020 19:38:17 GMT
I worked in Cov some 20yrs ago for a year as part of my Uni degree. I was at the HDRA (Henry Doubleday Association). Interesting year there. Best part was the cheap train tickets to London. Made of the most of the year by spending my weekends in London at the theatre. I must of finished the year poorer than when I arrived in the city. Great WE theatre memories though! david surely not! I thought you were only about 29! BurlyBeaR Nobody believes I’m 40 - I’m in serious denial myself. I’m still a big kid at heart!
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Post by learfan on Feb 27, 2020 19:55:22 GMT
Beg pardon, they don't stop at Cov as it goes via Nuneaton but nevertheless the service is regular. I had a look at going via Nuneaton but there's only 1 train an hour & it was more expensive. The Cambridge-Birmingham train takes so long that it's about the same amount of time to go via London as it is to go direct! Having spent a year living in Coventry many years ago, I can assure you that the Cathedral and the ruins of its bombed out predecessor are the highlight of the city. From what I saw of Coventry today that isn't difficult! After another dash along Euston Road, in the opposite direction to this morning, I made my connection. I rather wish I hadn't as I'm crammed into a lobby with 9 other people, 2 folding bikes & 1 suitcase. Oh ok, Coventry is City of Culture next year, no i didnt believe it either!
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 28, 2020 10:34:36 GMT
Having joined in some of the criticism yesterday, I feel I must now come to Coventry's defence. Although change had already begun before World War II, it did have quite a lot of external help with the remodeling of the city centre.
It's easy for 'outsiders' to mock, but shouldn't we all try and be proud of the place we call home? One of the purposes of UK City of Culture is to change perceptions of places that don't have the best of reputations, and foster a sense of civic pride, which I think it did for Hull.
Okay, that's my serious bit done for 2020. Normal service will resume shortly! 🙂
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 28, 2020 11:23:24 GMT
My son spent three years at university in Cambridge and it's a great place to get to/from London but for destinations further north and west it's a pain.
While travelling between Cambridge and Coventry via London may seem a lot of extra miles it is, unfortunately the best and recommended route.
Otherwise you have to go via, and change at, either Ely or Stevenage to get almost anywhere.
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