Make your body accustomed to 3 - 4 deg C during winters
I feel very uncomfortable when the heating is switched "ON" in the train carriage. This winter when we had snow in December and early January, I made my body and my skin accustomed to the warm 3 deg C or 4 deg C temperatures inside the train carriage. Suddenly when I find the heating is switched "ON" in the carriage, I feel like I am in a sauna. I don't want to get all sweaty and sticky when I reach office. I would rather die of frost bite in the train than have the heating switch "ON".
Build relationship with the train drivers
I get very bugged when the train reaches Liverpool Street on time. You see it is a nice 1 hrs 10 minute journey every day from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street. But the driver understands that it is not enough for me to have a nap. And so we finish the journey every day in 1 hr 30 minutes or so. The driver always has reasons to tell to the other passengers
- this train will be delayed as we have dew drops on the track, the tracks are slippery
- the other driver didn't unlock the coupling
- the train doors are locked, please wait inside
- signalling problems
- overrunning weekend engineering works throughout the week
- (because one of my passengers wants to have a long nap)
The train drivers help me take a longer nap on the train journey. But when the train does reach on time, which is once every 2 weeks, my boss asks me "why so early?".
Lose some weight if you want to get in the underground
I generally don’t need to take the underground train in London but if I am working out of Canary Wharf office (which I did a lot last year) I make sure I plan it months in advance. The underground is very crowded every morning (between 8 AM to 9:30 AM) and when I do have to take an underground, I start losing weight months before the journey. This helps me squeeze in the 3-4 inches of space available on the overcrowded carriage on the Northern Line. And yes “mind the gap”.
I can also lose weight by
- Walking up 300 stars - Escalators works on the Bank station will go on till July 2012 and start again in September 2012.
- Walking more on the Bank station - Lifts will not work during peak hours on the Bank station, so please take the longest route, to exit the station.
- Walking a bit more - Take the longest route to reach the Northern line when I reach the King’s Cross station from Cambridge.
Be ready to pay just an extra 6 % every year
Now that I have made my body accustomed to near freezing point temperate in the carriage and to the long train journeys, how about showing some gratitude for the extra comfort? So from 1st of January 2011, I decided to pay 6% more than what I paid the whole of last year. Well they haven’t left me with any choice; I love the journey so much that I want to show my appreciation by paying a little extra every day.
And stop complaining about the weather!
