28/07/2017 - Tech's Reaching For The Stars, Day 1
Trip title refers to S Club 7's Reach, and I must mention now I will be referring to S Club 7 in future trip reports a few times...S Club 7 is a bit before the times of the younger forum members, they were a group from the early 2000s and usually feature on people's 'cheesy tunes' playlists. It came up on karaoke during my recent dabble in NormLand, and I won't lie to you all I had a fantastic time [let's hope the video of me singing doesn't become widespread... - Ed] with my workmates. That was just the cure for some tough times I needed, and those who are worried I'm about to turn Norm on you all will be shocked to learn that...actually no that's not going to happen don't worry, I cannot do that!
Quite, that's what this mini London bash is about, getting Tech back to being Tech. No, not the grumpy so and so I've been for a good while. No, it's high time I found the balance between being a basher and having a feel-good life. Not easy as I'm sure most of you will know already [and the youngsters certainly will in the coming years - Ed], but at last I was getting on a right royal red pen fest. "High time too Tech!" I can hear you all screaming at your mobile devices, laptops and PCs! Obviously this was a limited amount of time to go bashing, but in the same style as 5AM Tech I would be out on the first train of the day, no wasting of time was permitted!
Work was endured first, after which I was RA to the station for what promised to be a good time, especially with a very real lack of bashing in most of August ahead...150105 kicked off the event for the run to the Bat Cave [seriously, will I ever tire of calling it that? - Ed], naturally with the song of the trip title fully in my head and played a few times! I was in for a treat later as I had booked 390 action to London, which I thoroughly enjoy. Hard to believe looking back to my 2011 ALR that I didn't enjoy 390s 6 and a bit years ago!
In the morning I had downloaded a pedometer app to track my walking, in a bid to track what distances I cover both in general and on a bash. I'd set a goal to cover 5 miles while in London, will I beat that? Find out at the end of Day 2! I ended up only managing a measly 5.4 miles all day on Day 1 before getting on the 150, disgraceful but circumstances didn't allow more than that. I sourced a medium mocha [not Americano Tech? Shocking! - Ed] from Pumpkin after picking up some tickets, then settled in for the 55 mile journey. My commuting log was finally updated not long before Worcester, during which time I discovered I recently cleared two buses in my local fleet for 4,000 miles. The biggest mileage in that lot is still a long way ahead, on a huge 17,736.8 miles! My very delayed lunch was formed of a meal deal from Morrisons, which I'm now thinking twice about as the chicken and bacon sandwich was very unhealthy in terms of salt. A whopping 32% of the GDA! Certainly I'll be looking more carefully at these things in future!
After arrival at the Bat Cave, a change into civilian clothes [I'd travelled up in my work clothes - Ed] was mandatory and I was on the phone to Blindtraveller for the duration of my visit to the city. I then joined 390042 for the run to London, plugging in the phone rapidly as that pedometer app drains the battery hard during a full day! After the slow crawl through the Midlands, I was eventually off my stomping grounds, which I class as ending around Rugby/Northampton in the east, and the high speed portion of the run to London was finally in play. Time then for some of my HST Thrash Tunes, which included Brisk & Ham's Angel Eyes and their Rock Da Party. I fail to remember the artist who did Connection/Sonic on Bonkers 9, but that was in the mix too.
The tilt near the M1 is always good, but the full tilt through Wolverton is always better. After crawling through MKC [BOO! - Ed] it was back to flying for a while but we must be following something as the high speed running doesn't last long. Down to about 60mph at Cheddington!
I had an unexpected score for sight as I passed Wembley EUFOC though, as 66769 was there and it finally got a tick next to it. 5 more GBRf 66s to see then the enormous class will be cleared for sight. It's taken a little under 14 years to do so currently, I wonder when the last one will fall!
Arrival into London was finally at 2059, just 2 down, and I was originally going to walk to Euston Square. However the rain put me off, and I headed to the Northern line. Dud 51653 and winner for everything 51524 took me on a leap to Warren Street, followed soon after by double winners 51658+51724 to Goodge Street. Two pairs of duds were flagged before joining double winners for everything 51644+51722 to Leicester Square. I still can't believe I went 3 days less than a month without getting a winner! I made tracks for the Piccadilly line next, expecting a reasonable service down here. Umm, no, I was forgetting this is the Piccadilly, service levels were shocking! After at least 5 minutes of waiting on a very busy platform, I managed to squeeze onto a very busy train. With the next one at least 9 minutes behind, there was no way I was waiting any longer!
I couldn't even tell at that point if I was on a winner or not, but after checking once in the room I discovered I had had winner for everything 174 and dud 125 for the trek to Gloucester Road. That was a long 12 minute journey and I am no longer caring if I ever get my last 78 sets on that line! Eventually I made it outside and it was still raining, but onwards I had to go. I got lost trying to find the South Kensington easyHotel [much closer to Earls Court than either Gloucester Road or South Kensington! - Ed] but eventually arrived after more than 15 minutes finding it.
I had a standard room, a couple of square metres bigger than the small room in these easyHotel outlets. I had Lower Ground 1, which after eventually finding it due to very poor signage gave me the discovery of very poor signal but at least I had room to move in this room, unlike the small room in Earls Court and Victoria. Even so, if this had been my first easyHotel I wouldn't have been impressed.
So that was Day 1, 6 winners and 425 left to get on LU. Not the best start to a bash, granted, but I've had worse and I looked forward to the 0430 alarm!
28/07/2017 - Tech's Reaching For The Stars, Day 2
0430 and after an intense 5 and a bit hours sleep I was up and getting ready. The shower was not very good, in that it took ages to get some hot water flowing and there wasn't much of a flow anyway. Eventually I headed back to Gloucester Road station, discovering where I had gone wrong and I was there in just over 5 minutes. Zones 1-4 Travelcard purchased, I flagged one pair but was soon to my surprise on double winners 21473+21474 for a trip to Paddington. The goal here was to get breakfast, as after eating very little whatsoever all day on Day 1 my stomach was screaming at me! Coffee would also be more than welcome at this point!
I know you're all going to tutting and wagging your fingers at me now, but as BK was shut I had little choice for breakfast. McDonalds would have to do! It was a better bacon roll meal here than the one I had in Edinburgh way back in January at least, and my stomach was happy with the £3.89 spent on the bacon roll, hash brown and large coffee. A scout around Paddington resulted in finding no required Turbos but I did see the NMT which was long absent from my viewage. Eventually the doors were unlocked on double winners 387146+387148, which were taken to Ealing Broadway and had breakfast finished off en-route. I was glad I did the journey more so once we passed North Pole, as I scored 800001 and 800002 for sight! I had options here but upon discovery of a winning 92er I went for it vice Turbo hunting.
Dud 91253 with double winners 92206+92102 and dud 91165 took me to White City, 111 92ers to go! Triple duds 91251+92440+92254 led winner 91083 for the trip to Shepherd's Bush, and already it's warm!
I had planned some moves on the DLR, although whether I will actually get over there is another thing entirely! Double duds 91113+92108 led winner 92014 with dud 91179 on the rear for the Bus Stop Bash to Holland Park. Incredibly, I had winner for everything 91161, winner 92240, winner for everything 92124 and dud 91035 for my leap to Queensway. Three scores in one move on the Central line is getting rather uncommon!
Double duds 91145+92234 led winner for everything 92448 with dud 91095 on the back to Lancaster Gate. Onwards to Marble Arch I went with dud 91273, winner for everything 92132 and double duds 92164+91245. Dud 91141 led double winners for everything 92092+92082 with dud 91301 on the rear to Bond Street, change here for the Jubilee line. I had hoped to get to an even 100 requirements on the Central line before I changed lines, but 102 left to get and 11 winners in 30 minutes is not bad. Dud 96040 led winner 96029 for the leap to Baker Street, and of course the 96er noise was very welcome! Winner for everything 96024 led dud 96069 for the leap to St. John's Wood, a favourite station for me on LU, and I took advantage of easy access to the southbound platform.
Just as well, as double winners for everything 96007+96044 produced shortly afterwards to take me back to town, alighting at the Park of Green [nicking expressions from Kite! - Ed]. There was no complaints whatsoever about this pairing for me, as it contained my last odd-numbered 96er for sight, with now just 2 more even-numbered 96ers to see. Winner 96110 and dud 96035 took me back up the line to Bond Street, I couldn't turn down a winner! After flagging a few duds, it was down to dud 96071 and winner 96088 to take me towards the DLR. I got the "Am I Missing Winners?" feeling as I went through Green Park again, so bailed at Westminster. A few minutes later, after increasing my walkage since I stepped on the platform at Gloucester Road [admittedly I'd failed to start it from the hotel, and not every single step has been logged - Ed] by some walking along the platform a bit, I joined winner 96077 and dud 96094 to Waterloo.
By now I'd been on the bash for about 2.5 hours and needed a short break to go and get coffee. Time was flying away already, but breaks are important to keep the brain firing on all cylinders. Those keeping note will have noticed I'd already done very well by this point, and now only 15 96ers remain to be scored! After sourcing my coffee from McDonalds, I made the trek to the Drain, a line I rarely end up on. The first pair were dud, happily as it was a bit busy, and that was the only logged pair so I was guarenteed a pair of winners next! Or, umm, not. I didn't realise I'd already had 65503+65504, so I had got on double duds instead, epic fail! This is why I had stopped for coffee, which I had just started as I boarded, as my brain clearly wasn't working, but I believe I needed platform 7 at Bank, and as I joined double winners for everything [and I did double check this time! - Ed] 65508+65507 back to Waterloo I believe I've now scored the Drain in the westbound direction too.
Of course, I wasn't originally intending on doing this as the reason for going to Bank had been to access the DLR. However, this obviously had to wait a little longer! By this point I had revised my target to 3 miles of walking while in London, and as of 0817 I had registered 1.2 miles so things were looking good. If I'd hit Start from easyHotel it would have been better of course! Up and over to the other side, which I conquered in 2 minutes and in plenty of time before my pair came back from the sidings, although in the evening peak that's probably not so easy to do. Double winners for everything 65509+65510 were along a few minutes later, and my coffee was now inside me so the brain was no longer like a mis-firing engine. I waited a few minutes before leaving the platforms, just in case, and it paid off...
Double winners 65502+65501 produced on the next Waterloo run, and those paying attention will realise that out of the 10 sets used on the Drain, I've now cleared all of them! My second LU line for 100% Cleared, happy days! I was going to return to Bank, however the overcrowding was so bad I gave up, and fought my way back out and headed to the mainline platforms via the peak time subway instead.
Winner 455742 was found with dud 455906 which I took to Vauxhall, as some 456s were seen going into Waterloo. Eventually these produced, however I had minimal luck as it was dud 455733 and dud 456013 up front with winner 456011 on the back for the leap to Clapham Junction. I did score two 707s for sight as well as my penultimate 458/5 for sight as a result so good times. Eventually my next move is found with dud 458516 and winner 458528 to Richmond, gaining 7% charge into my phone thanks to the declassified First Class section on 458516.
It was noted that Puccinos is also on platform 1, and I LOVE Puccinos so couldn't turn down the opportunity to get a hellfire coffee. My luck was still only partly in here, as my onward move to winner shack St Margarets was in the hands of winner 455913 with dud 455919. After a walkabout, I joined double duds 455874+455850 back to Richmond, waiting for a fast train to overtake. My original choice of move was the District line, however with the next one being dud, I decided to check on the next semi-fast to Waterloo. Just as well, as I joined dud 458504 and winner for everything 458511 to Clapham Junction. The 458s are cleared for sight once again! Once at Clapham Junction off a very busy train, I ended up on winner 378224 to West Brompton for some S7 hunting. Having seen one pair of winners head to Wimbledon, I waited for it and obviously anything else first.
Double winners 21358+21357 eventually rolled in for a leap to Earls Court, and I took a pew while I waited for more. Time was fast running out, the first 5 hours went so fast I blinked and they were done! After a fair few minutes, I was bored of festering and put some tunes on! After 25 minutes I thought I'd mis-read the number, but after 34 minutes of waiting at Earls Court double winners 21531+21532 eventually showed up for a leap to everyone's favourite S7 hunting spot, South Kensington. 9 minutes there and I joined double winners 21309+21310 to Sloane Square. For those curious, despite not having the app in use at various points I was up to 2.4 miles, and don't forget this is just when I remembered to have it on! Pacing platforms waiting for winners has helped a bit of course.
14 minutes of festering got me double winners 21347+21348, this time for a longer run to Westminster. I think you can guess what I came here for...By now it was around 1145, and 6 hours after my light [compared to what I could have devoured! - Ed] breakfast I was definitely hungry and fast running out of time to do much. If you guessed the new Costa on the eastbound platform for my reason to visit, then you were certainly wrong! Obviously I've come down for some more 96er thrash and hopefully winners. After some more pacing and waiting for a score, I landed winner 96002 and dud 96091 to Green Park. More pacing, unsurprisingly, as I checked both north and southbound lines, then I joined winner 96112 and dud 96111 for a final bit of racket to Baker Street. Once up at ground level again, the first S8 pair was dud and I had a fair bit of a wait on my hands. Shortly before boarding the last train of London I hit 3 miles!
Sadly the final move [to allow for a lunch break - Ed] fell to double duds 21112+21111. Hey ho you can't win them all! No bacon sandwiches in Sainsburys, which was gutting and I came away with a 4 pack of hash browns off the hot food counter and a pack of doughnuts, not forgetting the big bottle of water. After getting a large Ritazza coffee in, I joined 350107 which has now joined the League of Super Duds.
The transfer of notes to the notebook took a while, and the moves book update was started and left to be finished later on, as patience was wearing a little thin with an annoying headache. The doughnuts got devoured after Rugby, and it has to be said the busy morning was catching up with me! Arrival was 3 down into the Bat Cave, and after dealing with things like observations and more, I got a Pret coffee and joined 170504+153334 for the final move of the day.
It's been a good day, with the highlight being the clearance of the Waterloo & City line for sure. I'm now down to just 389 LU sets to get, which considering that was more than doubled earlier this year I'm very happy with that. 36 LU winners in one day, a line cleared 100%, a class cleared for sight and good progress in general, definitely worth the expenditure! Once the train quietened down, the moves book got some work done on it. Not much else to say there really, although that fresh air really did help earlier, as did the Pret coffee. I did however feeling the desire to have a nice pint once back in Hereford to celebrate an excellent day. After arriving in Hereford, an ATM run was made for various things then I popped into Yates for that pint. Sadly it was even more disappointing than the bad Norwegian brews I had recently, and that's saying something!
Nevertheless, it got consumed and I then got the bus home. An excellent trip and an awesome end to July. Now bring on Prague in a little over 2 weeks when the bashing will resume! Oh yes, and for anyone wondering, by the time I reached Euston's Sainsburys I had hit 3.25 miles. If I'd had the app on even more I would have easily cleared 4 miles before leaving London!
