Irritations
of London
London as a city to live in is regarded as full of many
virtues. For those of us who live here there is the problem of transport.
It is truly said that In London everybody has two jobs. Your
job and the second job is getting to and from your job. This is one of the
biggest headaches as everybody has to face this. One level we speak of
transport. London's public transport is in many ways antiquated and many parts
of the city have old streets that have passed their usefulness. Public
transport cannot run on the buses that have to make their way through narrow
streets. The moment there are roadblocks are the traffic delays
unbelievable. If one side of the lane is
blocked then traffic piles up in every direction: cars, buses, taxis and about anything you
care to mention. All sit in impotent rage in the traffic as it begins to take
ages to get anywhere.
The surest way to get anywhere fast is on the metro known as
the “tube”. This however is often subject to delays as well caused by such
things as engineering works and signaling problems. It is also more expensive
to use than the buses. Trains serve certain stations particularly for those who
have to commute as property has got so expensive in London that many people are
forced to live outside the city. Trains are packed and usually there are not
enough to meet the demand for places so most people are used to standing on
their way to work. This also happens on the tube in the morning rush hour where
there is often standing room only and at certain stations it is impossible to
board the trains as people are already packed like sardines.
Well some might say the solution is to use a car. Well that
has its problems as well as in Central London at least there is a great problem
of finding anywhere to park it. Parking is at a premium and many people end up
facing the parking wardens paid to enforce parking rules. This is one of the
most horrible jobs in the city and means taking an awful lot of abuse from the
people who have been ticketed. The other problem is that to drive in central
London it is necessary to pay a congestion charge. This was set up several
years ago to ease traffic congestion. Something has to be done would be the
view of many people here and prior to that gridlock was unbelievable.
Of course the other alternative is to cycle to wok. However
that is potentially suicidal! Accidents are frequent and busy intersections
abound with flowers placed there by friends and family of cyclists killed in
accidents where lorry drivers do not see them. There is little provision for
cycling lanes so many times cyclist ride on pavements thereby endangering
pedestrians.
The other way of course, of walking is not an option for most
people as they live great distances from their place of work. One of the
problems that causes this is the property bubble in London. As the city
authorities have promoted the city as a place to live, more and more people
have been forced out of the city centres being unable to afford the property
prices. In many cases buyers from abroad have made it impossible for ordinary
people to live in the city. So for many Londoners it is a difficult struggle to
get to and from work each day, many people having to spend one, two, three
hours travelling each way.
This of course impacts on family life and work-life balance
to a large degree meaning that levels of stress in the city are quite high.
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