On Time? It's a Miracle!

I got to work before 9am this morning I nearly fainted. I also told someone who I've seen habitually using oyster between KCM and CTK for a couple of months about the season ticket that I got on Sunday. She was very pleased.

The Man with Two Gold Cards

After some fiendishly complicated maths and the introduction of the new rip off zonal fares I finally decided to get a KX Thameslink to City Thameslink season ticket. This is £384 for the year, rather cheaper than the Cambridge to London one, but not as good pence per mile. I know I should have got it before the new year, but at least the rise was regulated.

Getting Cambridge station to sell me one was fun. I must have repeated "I don't want a Travelcard at least five times, and had to use the complicated maths to fend off the "Isn't Oyster cheaper?" argument. At least the thing works the gates at King's Cross Thameslink, until my coat demagnetises it. The ticket office at City Thameslink has a habit of selling malfunctioning tickets.

For your pleasure/agony/indifference, the maths follows.

I typically travel between KCM and CTK five days a week.

Using Oyster both ways = £1.50 * 2 * 5 = £15
Gold card dicount in the evening = (£1.50 + (0.66 * £1.80)) * 5 = £13.50
Seven Day Season = £9.60 = 3.6 days with paper faff (Most seasons work out at at least 4 if not 5)
Annual ticket = £384 = 40 weeks.

The end result is that the season ticket is better value even if I don't use it once a week (in practice this happens about once every three weeks), and provided that I use it for at least 40 weeks. Given that I have to get to work somehow this shouldn't be a problem, unless I get spirited to New York again for more than a couple of weeks. In that case though I'd be having far too much fun with the corporate amex to notice.

I also avoid the dangers of forgetting to touch out (not having done so yet is a miracle) and running out of cash for the ticket machines. Take your oyster card, and shove ...

Mortgage Minefield

Well it seems that I can afford to buy a house in Cambridge, but anyone who works there in a similar job to mine might be out of luck.

Actually getting a mortgage appears to be some sort of horrid death by numbers, with lower usually being better. I must be in contact with at least four advisers by now, but finding one without at least ten hidden agendas is proving difficult. I may have found one at last today, but will reserve judgement until I actually meet him.

Amongst his advice (which makes sense when you think about it) is to never let the estate agent know anything too detailed of a financial nature, as otherwise you instantly lose all haggling power. On the other hand you have to give them at least a vague figure as I'm after a 2 bed terrace and not Cherry Hinton Hall (although I'm sure that would be a nice place to live).

Halifax managed to send me to the wrong branch for an appointment, but luckily getting to the right one involved only a few phone calls and a stroll along Cannon Street. Their numbers weren't too great, but were better than some.

Oh, and I actually need to find a house.

Hello and Goodbye 442s

Well that new year thing happened, so one of my resolutions is to actually use this thing occasionally.

I went on my first and last 442 bash last Saturday. First class was very nice, it's a pity that you can't get real compartments anywhere else now. They'd be so useful for keeping screaming children at bay, and certainly worth the money. However I used the Gold Card upgrade mechanism (which has gone from £3 to £5. Curses!). However the thermostat for the heating/air con seemed to be purely for show, and instead controlled by a random number generator.

Weymouth was full of rain and nothing else of note.

I found the lounge area by the buffet particularly interesting. I suppose that's another thing we'll never see again as at least twice as many people could be forced into the space. It had obviously been neglected going by the seats practically collapsing and the tables not being capable of supporting anything in an upright position.

Oh, and I got to stick my head out of the window a bit. That was fun.

On returning to London I discovered that Cambridge ticket office had managed so sell me a Zones 1-2 travelcard with a young person's railcard discount. This is rather different to the Zones 1-6 travelcard with Gold Card discount that I requested. I blame the dodgy new bluetooth headset microphone system, not the ticket clerk. It was like talking over a tin can telephone. I'll send the offending ticket to One if I remember.