Nails anyone?

The Rugby Union team that I support won the Guinness Premiership semi-final on Sunday. Saracens beat Northampton Away by 21 points to 19.

If I were someone who chewed my fingernails, then I would have none left. The game was a scintillating game of rugby that saw two evenly matched teams show off all that is good about the game. I got home with a bit of a sore throat.

Subsequent to the match, and following an incident eight days before at Leicester, Director of Rugby Brendan Venter has been handed a 14 week touchline ban by the RFU. This is to be appealed. The full Saracens statement may be read here. The club is appealing.

There was a second hearing in which Schalk Brits was reprimanded and warned as to his future conduct by a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel. This is good news - It is probably fair to say that Saracens go into the Final as second-favourites, so the fact that Brits is available to play is a relief. He has made a fantastic contribution to the Saracens since he arrived at the club and now has a week and a half to work with the team to finish preparations for the Final.

I shall now jump in the car to drive to Twickenham - I may have to consider staying over a week on Saturday, just in case a sherbert or two are required. Either that, or go the long way round by train. Weekday rush hour on the M25 followed by South West Trains or the Piccadilly Line (to be decided).... Yumm!

Come on you Sarries! Or should that be "way-a/Lay-o, Lay-o, Lay-o"?

Doom Monger

One of my work colleagues, who is of the 'the glass is half empty' type, said to me on Thursday that the London Underground was 'virtually shut' this weekend due to Engineering Work.

I sort of poo-pooed him and, as if to make a point, travelled along a bit of the Central Line yesterday morning - it was working fine.

Today is different.

At present, only the Northern, Victoria and Piccadilly Lines are operating a normal service. All other London Underground Lines are either (i) totally closed, (ii) partially closed or (iii) partially suspended.

This image above is here to mark the position for posterity, though the clickable widget to the right should show the live position.

Happy Easter!

Watch out if you are heading to North West London on the Underground this weekend

If you are in or are heading towards North West London this weekend, the chances are any underground journey will be disrupted.

The Metropolitan, Jubilee, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines are amongst those with part suspensions.

Visit the tfl website for more information (this link should always show the current position for planned weekend engineering works).

Escalators at Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is going through a major escalator refurbishment programme.

The latest phase has meant that it has been a slight inconvenience getting to or from the Bakerloo Line. However all escalators to/ from the Bakerloo are now running - they've now moved to one of the lower Piccadilly Line sets, which is likely to cause slightly more inconvenience at busy times. Progress.

Friday night - I'm expecting the worst

Holborn. Busy interchange station connecting the Central Line and the Piccadilly Line.

Five twenty on a Friday night.

The gate line is busy. The downward escalators are busy. The concourse at the bottom seems to have literally hundreds of people milling around.

Walk along the passageway towards the Eastbound Central Line Platform to catch a train to Liverpool Street. It takes a while. Everyone is walking with pigeon steps.

Walk down the steps. It's slow - I hear a train pull in and then away.

Onto the platform, turn right. Within seconds another train pulls in. Gird myself for the crush.

Doors open.. What? Less than half the seats are taken. Room for everyone to sit down. I must be hallucinating, or the train only started at Marble Arch. One of the two.

PR Fluff

Transport for London put out a Press Release yesterday titled "Customers benefit from new Piccadilly line timetable". What a load of Public Relations rubbish.

"The Piccadilly line is unique because it serves the heart of the West End's tourist and entertainment districts as well as Heathrow Airport."

• Yes..... and??? The Central Line is unique because it serves Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. The Circle Line is unique because it goes round in a circle (for now). The Victoria Line is unique because.........
  

"Changes were made to the timetable in 2008"

• So why put a press release out in the middle of 2009?
  

"In recent years, rising passenger numbers have meant that trains have to stop at stations for longer while extra customers get on and off trains, leading to an increasing level of late running and delay."

• Doesn't this happen on every line?

Talk about useless piffle. I could go on, but I won't.

Tube Strikes Suspended

The good news is that the RMT suspended it's strike action very late last night, so in theory that's that.

The bad news is that they left it so bloody late that, this morning, the same three lines are running (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly) on London Underground. Currently (07:00 am) there is no service running on any other line. Live travel updates are, as usual, available.

The whole way this industrial action has happened has really pissed me off. I expect tomorrow that I will wake up to find dinosaurs wandering around Hyde Park. I do not know anything about what was discussed at yesterday's negotiations between the parties concerned. However (and I am genuinely sorry if this annoys any of my regular readers), I think the RMT lives in the dark ages and their whole approach to industrial relations sucks.

Also, I note that the industrial action is 'suspended'. It's like a sword of Damocles hanging over London.

I shall now get back in my kennel, take a deep breath and then go to work. Grrrr.

Good morning!

Industrial Action on the London Underground

In case you have missed it, major industrial action is taking place on the London Underground at present.

Only three London Underground Lines are working: Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly (though the Piccadilly is a bit dodgy in West/ North West London).

All other London Underground Lines (including the Central Line) are suspended. The industrial Action is due to finish at 18:00 on Thursday 6th September, though a normal service is not expected to resume until Friday morning.

The Docklands Light Railway is unaffected and all National Rail Services are similarly NOT affected by the industrial action.

Real time information is available here, via the tfl website.