h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bossel's Adventures

Back from the meet

Arrived very early at the bus stop of the A6 service from Golders Green to Stansted Airport. To be precise: arrived at 13:45 and began waiting for a bus. Brochure says there'll be busses every twenty minutes, next one will be there at 13:55. The tour takes about 60 minutes and the flight departure is at 17:35.

13:55 : no bus
14:15 : no bus. hmmm...
14:35 : no bus...
14:55 : no bus...
15:00 : went to the booking office, asked for a A6 service phone number. No such thing. Officer phoned up someone and replies: there'll be a bus in 10 minutes.

Background info:
The A6 busses start at Victoria station and pick up travellers at 9 stations before finally heading for Stansted. But, once a bus is full, it'll skip all remaining stations and drive through directly. Don't expect that this information was printed anywhere.

15:10 : someone else goes to the booking office and returns with the information that there'll be an empty bus in 10 minutes. A-haa.
15:15 : no bus. Adrenaline level rises.
15:30 : time to take a taxi
15:31 : a bus is coming. Empty, destination Stansted!
15:32 : luggage stowed, entered as the first passenger.
15:50 : finally, after loading luggage, selling tickets, answering questions etc, the bus leaves for Stansted
16:55 : arriving at S.
17:15 : after jumping queues (apologies to everyone) at the checkin and screening stations, yours truly arrives at the gate and is ready to board the plane. Phew!

smooth flight follows

20:55 (German time now) : entering MVV S-Bahn line 8 from Munich Airport to Munich Central Station (HBF).
21:40 : train enters HBF, after having spent a total of 15 surplus minutes just standing somewhere on and between stations. Adrenaline level reaches precarious levels.
21:45 : Due to repair works, there's no S-Bahn between HBF and Marienplatz on weekends. This is a known fact, has been announced long enough before (see also addendum to A506594), there are busses and trams provided to take over. Busses are announced as going at intervals of 10 minutes.
22:00 : bus leaves HBF after just another extra 5 minutes.
22:15 : at Marienplatz. Prior experience tells that walking from HBF to Marienplatz takes 10 minutes.
22:28 : Arriving down under at the U-Bahn platform. A train arrives (not the destination of yours truly)
22:32 : the train is still there.
22:35 : the train is still there, emitting a hissing noise from somewhere in the undercarriage. Driver leaves cabin and starts examinating.



22:38 : now let's see what taxi services are like today.

22:50 : at home! Need a !
22:51 : the craftsmen (who revamped the bathroom over the weekend) have taken out the fuse for the fridge too

ahem.

This much for today, and this much for the future of the relationship between Bossel and public transport in general, and the A6 bus line in particular.

Sorry it was such a messup. Still, you got home in the end. Do you know, I never did ask you about your night in Victoria station that time. The memories of my night there were so strong, even 30 years later, that I got quite carried away and never let you finish your sentence.

As for London trips these days.......Maybe we can go together by car in the summer and share costs.

I have shares in P&O which mean I can travel the ferry at half price.

Am still reading up everybody's comments on the meet and looking at photos . Excuse me .... must dash .... see you around.

'craftsmen'?
Fuse?
Refrigerator!

There must have been something around in the air at that time!

My friend (the one I had the message from) turns out to have been pushed in the road, needed eight stitches in his forehead, bruised his chest and cut both his hands Someone had tried to push past him and use his ticket at the tube station and he'd not let him. The man must have followed him out onto the streets and then pushed him, so that he fell onto the road and the kerb. Nasty.

TC, that night in Victoria Station wasn't worth much remembering. It was just long, loud, uncomfortable and a bad idea in the first place.

Going by car ... I'm not sure if that's a good thing to do. I guess it would take some 12+ hours through holiday traffic (brrrr) without the opportunity of taking a nap in between (well, unless we get a whole car full of people )


tonsil, I guess that would be 'mechanics' and 'fuze/circuit breaker' to you

ZSF, that's frightening!

I never thought there was such a thing as 'ticket hijacking'. I made it home with only some bruises to my nerves and now I must say I should be very happy. Hope his better now!

Thanks Bossel.

Yes, it was frightening. He could have been pushed under a car (or worse still, a bus!). No, he's not really better yet. His eye has closed and he is still quite shaken. I think the cuts are beginning to heal, though.

Funnily enough, I told someone at work about it and she said that the exact same thing happened to a woman a couple of days before. Someone pushed behind her, she turned to him and said something (something apologetic, I think because she thought it was an accident) and he hit her in the stomach with his briefcase. He left her in floods of tears, clutching her stomach. Tube rage?

Tough travel, indeed, Bossel. I never had that much trouble with the Munich trains

(awful story with pushing other people - some people are just too "#¤&#&/&%&!)

And I thought it was inconsiderate
of the 'craftsmen' to turn your fridge off!
Though pales in the face of the pushing incidents.

What were they supposed to be fixing?

Tonsil, yes, it was inconsiderate of them. They put new tilings on the walls and therefore had to take off the boilers & stuff. This would have required taking out *2* fuses, but not *all* of them


ZSF, realising that there are 'CCTV in operation' signs spread everywhere throughout London, do they tried to find those criminals using the recordings? I mean, that's what the CCTV are meant to be for, aren't they?

hmmm...

I guess their skills were 'focused'...

Hope you haven't paid them yet. What was lost?



Hmmm....
and what medium is the CCTV data recorded on?
We still have a problem with store owners who have never changed the tape in their recorders... and in some cases the Police are chagrined to find that the tape broke long ago and the little cameras were merrily recording ....

Another public-transport-hater.



Just wondered why you changed your name?

Hi AGB

my name change... simple thing: I've been to Milano for a week and I thought it was just appropriate to put something Italian-ish around my name

As to the Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) appendix... just put DHMO into google and ye shall see. But don't take it overly seriously, after all it's Carnival time in Germany. As a hint, try to guess the chemical formula

H2O?
or O2H?

This post has been removed.

tonsil, your first suggestion is it



* wonders what that hidden message could have been *

Fanmail from some Flounder, I guess.
I know enough about moderation to last me a lunchtime.

Which reminds me, I'm playing with Realone radio.

Can you recommend a Yerman radio station?
Preferably something without a lot of what is laughingly referred to as "Pop" these days?

I'm listening to a Quebecois station at the moment.

I do have an idea about who that could have been. Well, surely wasn't on topic


As to radio in German... umm... my first guess was Deutsche Welle which supposedly provides shortwave news&music (not necessarily pop) all over the world. But all I can find is 404 pages and *internet* radio

here's a list but that's probably outdated: http://www.totse.com/en/media/radio_scanner_frequency_lists/anarc4.html

Deutsche Welle can be found on satellite TV but that sounds like an expensive affair

perhaps these guys know more? [email protected]

With Realplayer, "internet" radio is what I am stuck with.

Danke, anyway.