I shouldn't be surprised...
Nov. 23rd, 2021 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
That it is very gloomy at half-past three on a cloudy November afternoon, and yet as so often I am. And resentful. Though at least the cold snap has improved my sleep, if not my heating bill. Going into the office one morning a week still feels like a slog and I'm far less efficient in the following afternoon, but at least it is warm. The trees, which looked lovely at the weekend visiting
antisoppist, are now increasing denuded of leaves, and this weekend's combination of hold and wind will probably finish them off. Winter draws on, as my father would say. Which turns out to be a song... Here's Gracie Fields.
They don't make 'em like that any more.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
They don't make 'em like that any more.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-24 09:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-24 10:04 pm (UTC)I have also identified the worst possible reincarnation for Emperor Xiao Xuan - trapped attempting to book Christmas train tickets in the UK. It has taken me the better part of two evenings and I nearly gave up and flew home, except the last couple of times I did that it was even worse! It would be utter hell for a man who probably hasn't wiped his own arse in 30 years.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-25 06:40 am (UTC)We're spoiled rotten here in Austria, where we not only have an extremely functional rail service that's dead easy to book, we also now have (since the end of October) a Magic Ticket which for a mere €1000 a year (payable in monthly installments at no extra cost, cheaper for those under 25) allows you free travel on all public transport, including EC and IC trains. You don't have to book at all but there is an app that lets you reserve seats for €3 a pop if you want. However, I share your frustration as Tashi and I are hoping to make a flying visit to the UK next month to be with my mother for her 80th birthday and figuring out how to get hold of some kind of transport ticket that will let us get the bus from the airport to her house has been an exercise in stress, frustration and extreme expense. Today I go to the bank to see if we can use our cashpoint cards as contactless card on the LT travel system (in which case I will have to reactivate mine as I had the contactlessness switched off), but if that doesn't work, it looks as if we will have to pay well over a hundred quid for pre-loaded visitor Oyster cards. Why would a country that earns so much from tourism make it so hard for tourists to get around?? I suppose for the same reason they make it hard for their own citizens to book train tickets - sheer incompetence and greed.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-25 09:08 pm (UTC)It's great that hopefully you'll be able to get over to see your mother (and let's face it, the chance of the UK government instituting a lockdown right now is zero), but I'm sorry you're having issues sorting out the local transport. "Sheer incompetence and greed" pretty much covers it, I'm afraid. Would just getting a 1-day travelcard on arrival be an option?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-26 06:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-26 09:17 pm (UTC)That is absolutely insane. But I am glad that you are all over 18 and have found a solution.