I have been reading lots of posts about South West Trains and quite a few people seem to have a downer on them about the desiros and prices etc. From personal relatively substantial experience I have never had a problem with them and to date have not found: an unhelpful member of staff, a dirty train, i've had to stand on any but the most peak of peak services and only then it was because it was getting on at the last stop before Waterloo, a train more than 3 mins late or sadly, a friendly commuter.
A good game some of you may like to try is 'Train Seat Clearance: The Commuter Freak' sitting in a bay of 4 or 6 seats which has only one seat spare for you and seeing how many people you can get to move by being friendly and talking a little too much to people on their way to work in London. I have managed to get all five people from a bay i sat in to move on a busy train in a little under an hour with noone replacing them after seeing me with a big goofy grin on my face and a friendly "oh there is space to sit here if you like, the people who were here went to the toilet but don't seem to have come back." I have only had success on SWT and FCC with this tho.
Its great fun if you're in 'one of those moods.' Two tools are essential a rucksack and a book to use to strike up conversation. The rucksack scrabble around in to find your dog eared copy of a cult novel like hitchikers guide then proceed to talk at the person next you about the relative merits of this particualr book over another of its similar rivals.
A good game some of you may like to try is 'Train Seat Clearance: The Commuter Freak' sitting in a bay of 4 or 6 seats which has only one seat spare for you and seeing how many people you can get to move by being friendly and talking a little too much to people on their way to work in London. I have managed to get all five people from a bay i sat in to move on a busy train in a little under an hour with noone replacing them after seeing me with a big goofy grin on my face and a friendly "oh there is space to sit here if you like, the people who were here went to the toilet but don't seem to have come back." I have only had success on SWT and FCC with this tho.
Its great fun if you're in 'one of those moods.' Two tools are essential a rucksack and a book to use to strike up conversation. The rucksack scrabble around in to find your dog eared copy of a cult novel like hitchikers guide then proceed to talk at the person next you about the relative merits of this particualr book over another of its similar rivals.