Tube strike

Londoners had to endure a 48-hour tube strike this week. Not good when you consider some 3 million people travel by tube here every day. But all-in-all, everyone coped quite well. You certainly saw a LOT more cyclists, walkers, skaters, buses and taxis on the road than normal. And even the ferries along The Thames were carrying around 8,000 commuters PER HOUR, opposed to the normal 1,000 per day. I think in the end only 100,000 were unable to get to work. Although it did cost the city's economy about £100 million.

To make the situation even worse, England was playing in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday. Quite a few people couldn't even get there, and those who did had a real struggle since the best way to get to Wembley is by tube. As many as 70,000 supporters had to travel by car, even though there is already a lack of parking in the area.

The real kick in the stomach was that the strike was party over salaries (as usual), despite the fact that tube drivers average around £40,000 per year (about £10,000 a year more than nurses), plus they only work a 35-hour week and get 43 days' annual leave, not to mention FREE staff travel for themselves and their spouses. Tough life, heh? Personally, I hope people fight back by refusing to travel by tube. Think of how much more pleasure they'll get (not to mention EXERCISE) by walking or cycling instead. Easy for me to say, since I don't have to travel by tube every day. Thank God.