Tube Strike

It seemed to know that I was coming to London. I was not too happy of two days (more like a day 1/2) of Tube strike.

I managed to meet with my old work mate Angela at Liverpool St station. Then I arranged to meet my friend from Canada, DJ Mossman. Angela helped me to find the way to Notting Hill. We thought it only took two buses. That was a big mistake.

From Liverpool St, I caught a bus. however the bus was stuck in the traffic most of time. Because it was limited transports in London. So the bus gave up before Soho. He suggested to catch other bus behind. eventually I had never seen any.

So I walked toward to Hyde Park. there was human traffic as well. Hard to walk. I grew up in Japan. So I know bad traffic is. But this is something I have never seen before. People everywhere, and cars and buses stopped middle of traffic.

I managed to meet Moss after an hour of walking. Then I though “well how can I get back to accommodation in Dagenham (East London). First option was taking the same route with buses and train. At 9.30pm, buses were full of people and hard to get on. I thought fuck it, then started walking. I got to one of Over Ground train stations. Because I though that may have been a chance to get on. By the time, it was 10.30pm. It was not going straight to Dagenham (I had to change 3 times). I figured that trains would not be the option.

Meanwhile I kept walking. I met a lady who was there for work. She said that she had to pay £200 for taxi. But still she was walking to her hotel. And I saw buses with full of people. Everytime I saw people at bus stops, I asked the way to go to Liverpool st or get to East London. I even tried to catch taxi. No luck.

At that point, I knew I would not be able to go back. So I texted Angela to arrange I could stay her place for the night. It was lucky that I was able to stay hers, otherwise I would have slept on the street.

In short, I did not like Tube strike. And last picture tells you how I walked whole afternoon to night in London.