The Met Line Journal

The life and times of a small man called Min, his daily journey's from Rayners Lane to Farringdon.

This blog is an insight into the wonderful world of the Met Line, packed into chunky bites of random thoughts, the weird and the wonderful sites I see on my journey to and from work, and the odd comedy gag...

Read it and weep (with laughter)...

Friday, 20 January 2012

Friday 20th January 2012 - The Journey Home

18:11 Piccadilly - All stations to Uxbridge

Hello Friday people. Do do do doo foo...mostly coloured brown. Catchy rap last night huh. Well you were worth every penny of me commissioning Gary Barlow to write that ditty.

So I was singing our favourite song on the way to Farringdon station and a massive queue of peeps trying to get in. Big time problems with some fault at Algate, so no Met line. :-(

If that wasn't enough, on my 10 minute walk to Chancery Lane, thought I would flick through the headlines in the paper. "Oxford Street Flood Chaos" it said, with millions of pounds of damage after huge pipe explodes. Woah, so everything is happening (dramatic pause) as the Mayans predicted. On a brighter note, might not have to get anything for Preeti's birthday in December.

So here we are finally on the Pic line and what can I see...mostly people with suitcases going to Heathrow for a city break to Krakow.

Now that's a bargain I'm reading from today's advert 'London to New York £13 one way" Wowza Nowza! Are these deals exclusive to Pic line customers only. Maybe I can whisk Preeti away for a weekend there for next weeks 18th Anniversary present. Aah, hold on caller, just re-read the advert...it's just London to York. Oh well , a trip to Sakoni's and walk up and down Ealing Road will have to do....

As you well know, most days Preeti threatens to leave me. Last night, she said she is leaving me because I always relate everything to Batman. What a joker...

So, tomorrow, and with no mum to protect me...Preeti has said that I've got to do the weekly shop at Sainsburys. I don't know about you dear blog reader but I'm still not sure about using those self checkout terminals they have in there these days. I'm just not sure I could cope in front of all those people...if I found a lump whilst examining my bobbles...Ahem. Sorry bit rude, but it's after 7pm right.

We are at Acton Town. Two ladies are gassing about random things and not being very PC. As I tune in and out of their conversation I'm picking up "do you know that little black bloke who comes into the shop most days...did you know that blue Rolls Royce is his". The other lady is talking about her "Richards really enjoying Sidney..I did it when I was 21". Looking at this lady, that could have been when the country was first discovered...

Ok here's another line one of them just said "I've not got Children but I'd know how to deal with them"...man, hope they fix the Met line by Monday...my ears are bleeding.

Ooh, did you hear the sad news that Kodak has gone bankrupt. To be honest with you dear blog reader, I wasn't that surprised, he's always been a bit of a rubbish actor...

Right, let's leave it there. The good news about the Pic line is that when we get to Rayners, I won't have to do the 6ft jump down from the tube to the platform. Cloud..lining.

Have a lovely week and big Anniversary week next week so still need those suggestions. So far I only have a single rose from last week. Good job it's a plastic one otherwise it might have died by now...

Laters Taters,

From a small man who just watches Netflix these days.








Thursday, 19 January 2012

Thursday 19th January 2012 - The blog song home

In celebration of reaching 2,000 views of my blog. To the tune of coldplay's recent song - Paradise.

Popa... Popa... Popadom
Popa... Popa... Popadom

In the land of plenty
We make sure the Met line never runs empty

It makes us feel alive
From the time we leave zone 5

This new land we now call Desi
The passengers have technical skills like Lionel Messi


(chorus)

We are the Met line
15 miles into town
Most of the faces.... are coloured brown
Eating gatya and chevro
We are having nice dyro

Rayners, Wembley, Jalander City
Where the boys have tashes and the girls are called Preeti

7.15 and we demand our blog
Headline of the day and adverts to flog

Rain or snow, come what may
Kawks please tell us your thought of the day

2,000 views...makes you say "Wowza"
Jessie J - whose laughing nowza?

People watching to gadget advice
It's 'Punny yaar, it's very nice'

10,000 views and this man goes on tour
Provisional bookings from Harrow to Lahore

Thanks for your support
and the knives and forks

Lots of love
From a small man called Kawks

Popa... Popa... Popadom
Popa... Popa... Popadom

(have a great sleep ....fade to black)

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Wednesday 18th January 2012 - The Journey Home

18:28 Chesham Fast

So this afternoon I finally got to have a coffee with my work mate who has just come back from a 6 month project in North Korea." How was it buddy", I asked. To which he replied..."Well I couldn't complain..."

Boom! And we are off ladies and gentleman. I trust you all did your bit for the GDP of the land today and reading this with a cup of coco in one hand whilst watching a random episode of "insert random programme here".

Before I forget, I'm in trouble with Preeti as the jogging bottoms I brought from Costco on Sunday (see Mondays blog) and I promised to change into each evening have still not been taken out of the bag. So can someone text me in 36 mins to remind me to put them on. Ta.

Mum rang late last night saying all was well and luggage (including sellotaped labels) and dad had safely made it through Mumbai customs.

Let's do the headlines: "however busy you are, read to your children"...thanks David Cameron. Do you hear that Rajvi..tonight let's read auto express and perhaps tomorrow can I suggest "strategies to adopt whilst playing Battlefield 3 so you don't get shot within 3 seconds of the game starting"...

Page 13 has an interesting article about the met police spending nearly £17,000 in 55,000 calls to the speaking clock last year! Woah. I know what your thinking peeps. This blog is not only hugely entertaining and well worth the subscription fee but I'm really learning some good stuff here. My pleasure mam.

That last line was something that gets said to me a lot from random calls from customer services when they cold call you and coz of my high pitched voice always think I'm a woman. I can't be bothered explaining these days, and if anything I now make my voice go even higher so as not to embarrass them.

Oo oo, if you have watched Limitless (on sky movies at the mo), check it out. It's about what would happen if you could take a pill and harness the full power of your brain rather than the 20% they say we actually use. Can you imagine the quality of this blog if that happened. As an experiment, I've taken one of those airwaves (as it looked very similar to the drug the bloke took) to see if it is working on me. Let me know!

Thought of the day: USB sticks, 50/50 chance of putting it in the right way first time round. So why are we failing 90% of the time...

So the rule is still enforced by Preeti, that no iPhone's/iPads/iMacs/ etc to be used from 7pm to 10pm. And now with no mum to protect me...not sure if I can handle it. I'm going to suggest to Preeti if she wants to play a board game...as I hand her the ironing board....run into the toilet and have a quick game on RealRacing 2 HD...

I'm only playing with you guys, Preeti left me last night because apparently she reckons I've got OCD. No idea where she got that idea but I told her to shut the door five times on her way out...

Finally, the case of captain and that cruise ship is getting very interesting. Today's statement (through his lawyer) was "I'm not a murderer...some of my best friends are alive"

Right, that's your lot, this pill is wearing out..

Have a great sleep,

A small man with a high voice called Kawks.









Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Tuesday 17th January - The Journey Home

19:26 All stations to Uxbridge

Hello matey pips. Woah, that was a busy day! Just heading home and I bumped into a work colleague who I hadn't seen for ages. So by the time I've got round to blog duties, we are already at Baker Street.

No Evening Standard either. What I'm saying gang is that you may have to entertain yourselves today!

The tube is fairly busy (43% full) so lets look around...

The chap opposite me has done the classic fashion faux par and worn a yellow tie with blue dots on a white,pink and blue stripy shirt. My eyes..my eyes.
I will be seeing those bloody blue dots even when I look away now...

Parents flew to India this morning, and everything went to plan. Though by the time I took downstairs one of their suitcases, I appeared to have a rather large name tag and Sellotape covering on my shirt proclaiming I was 'Jayagauri Bhogaita'. Nice. Good work Dad. Those hours putting on the stickers last night has paid off big time. Still got a few interesting looks at work with my new name tag. They have gone for 2 months, so if viewer ratings for the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel and Deal or (just open the box you have and save us all some time) No Deal have gone down, you will now know why. Also Sellotape sellers in Rayners Lane will see a dramatic fall in profits this quarter.

Today's advert is for net flights. More than flights...for less is their tagline. It's not quite ticketstoindia.com is it!

I told dad to do the Bhogaita household justice and make sure he has a tomato juice with all those extra bits and bobs as well as a can of coke. It's the only time you order 2 drinks and drink them in quick succession and then also ask for Tea. I like the ritual of opening all the little sachets and seeing what Asian Vegetarian is going to look like. Looking at people's faces with their tongues out when the stewards pass out the pretzels/bag of random nuts is priceless. Everyone acts like they have nuggets of gold in them, and if your like me, will spend a good 10mins opening the packet. Which reminds me...anyone tried opening an Indian packet of crisps. You have more chance of opening a stall selling beef burgers there. I normally resort to handing the packet to Preeti to rip apart using her teeth...

The other bit which always makes me chuckle, whilst I'm having this random rant is..so you happily spend 8hrs 36mins on the flight to India and the absolute moment that the engine taxis to the terminal, everyone goes dolally! Must turn on phone and try and be discrete (not) and standup and shuffle about and get off the plane. Sit down people, save your blood pressure. This is usually where I show off and demonstrate that I can stand fully upright and still be under the luggage compartments. Result!
Is it me or does everyone also have a look at what's going on in the business class bit as you get off and notice that they are very messy and never detangle their headphones. Shucks!

Right, final thought of the day: Thank goodness for WeBuyAnyShip.com

Have a great one,

A small man called Kawks.





Monday, 16 January 2012

Monday 16th January 2012 - The journey home

18:05 Semi fast to Watford

Well hello there! I trust you all had lovely weekends and a good Monday.

Yesterday, we took mum and dad to a variety of places. Starting in Costco Watford (brought a Nike tracksuit Small Size, a bag of potatoes and some dishwasher tablets), then onto the Hare Krishna temple (is it bad that when the lady who does that stamp on your head comes close, I pretend that I didn't see her and rush inside?), then onto my aunties house for a lovely chat and delicious food and then a meal at Rose in Kingsbury for some masala chips and veg mains. They have just introduced a loyalty card. Wowza, bet Sainsbury's are worried.

I have some exciting news about tonight's journey people. Approaching the new farringdon entrance this evening and there is a crowd of people waiting to get in. Woah I thought...either the queen has started to use the tube or something has broken... Yep, First Capital Connect or FCC as the kids call it was feeling unwell so it took 15 mins to get to the platform. Met line is thankfully ok and I even managed to get a seat. see that's karma right there...look after ur parents, take them to Costco to buy some dishwasher tablets from time to time and in return you get a seat on the tube, even when there is a crisis going on. Hare Ram.

Before I forget, Netflix is brill and now available on apple tv. I relieved season 4 episodes 1-3 with dad on Saturday and watched Dhobi Ghat with Preeti in the evening. For £6 a month you can't go wrong...

Parents are off to India tomorrow and mum has been making sure she has found enough random stuff to make the 46k EACH of the Jet airlines baggage allowance. Dad has been busy putting their names in big writing with yloads of Sellotape on the bags.

I went to that toy shop near leather lane market at lunchtime to get myself a model of a cruise ship (did u see the horrible news over the weekend!). So he gets it out for me and to my embarrassment I then found out that I had left my wallet at home. I don't think he was that happy when I asked if he could put it to one side for me...

Today's headline is "parking turmoil as chief resigns". Wowza. Maybe he should have looked for a bigger space or used a parking camera as we do in the Lexus!

Right, let's leave it there as I'm feeling sleepy now. Speak soon...

That reminds me, my mate at work who I've known for 10 years finally confessed that he works as a mime artist at Covent Garden on Saturdays. Woah, he kept that quiet...

Have a quiet sleep,

A small man called Kawks.

Friday, 13 January 2012

Friday 13th January 2012 - The Journey home

18:21 destination unknown

Wow wee..it's the end of the first 5 day of the year, and we are on the journey home. In my excitement to board the tube, I didn't see if it's an Uxbridge one. talk about life on the edge!

Well a bit better regarding work life balance today and the good news is that I've got an evening standard and there are loads of people on here.

Let's have a look...

Lady to the East is studying in some detail the calorific content of her Rinena strawberry boxed drink. I wonder if the sugar content was what has caused her skin to remind me of the craters on the moon..Miaow

A 'general public' type of chap is talking loudly about how much he hates London and how he got a 90p pay rise. Neat! Yep I said p not k Carol Vordaman.

The lady to my west has the latest iPhone 4S and what is she doing with using the latest in A5 chips technology and retina screen. That's right people, she is playing bloody solitaire on it. Slap!

To my north west there is a rather posh chap with a full head of hair (nope I'm not jealous) and pin stripe suit who is confidently picking his nose and flicking it in the general direction of Ribena lady.

Let's check out the headlines: Olympic rush to rent out homes. It says prices soar 500% and even Sol Cambellbis getting in on the act by renting his pad
for £75k a week! Wowza, where can I sign up Sol?

Advert for the day: Need help with your short-sightedness? Look no further...

Ok I made that one up as there are no new ones.

Friday the 13th. normally my mum reminds be to be careful today! Does yours?

Im still waiting to hear your suggestions on anniversary presents and also for topics for me to include in my blog. Come on now, don't be shy!

Thought for the day: Hairdressers, I take my hat off to them.

Right, it turned out to be a fast train so 18:58 and I'm at Rayners so will say tara.

Have a lovely week, put your houses on rent as Sol will be looking for somewhere to rent during Olympic week and have a lovely sleep,

See ya,

A small man called Kawks.



Thursday, 12 January 2012

Thursday 12th January 2012 - The Journey Home

19:27 Semi fast Watford

Hello kids. Look at this, another late one, yep 2 days in a row. I'm trying to get Preeti to think that I'm having an affair, rather than in reality sitting on a park bench an hour after work. Only kidding folks..all the tramps had already taking the benches...

Yes, work is keeping me nice and busy, so running late, but I've been good and already rang home to tell them not to put the hot potato in the oven till a bit later. Are we the only family who have spicy baked beans as one of our fillings. It's tangy yaar.

3 people in the carriage. One of them is on the phone speaking in Chinese. Wondering if I can use Google Translate to convert what she is saying to English. She is using her hand a lot and speaking very fast, so probably would work right?

2 more people have got on at Baker Street. Man this tube is getting crowded. One of them is reading a document on her iPad. She has a purple lining for it which I've never seen before. It also has a purple cover. I wonder what type of rain she likes? What's that Prince...?

Advert of the day is save £445 on your TV, broadband and home phone bill. How's that exactly..stop using them? No www.simplyfydigital.com/tube will tell you how.

Can I have my royalties now simplyfydigital? But to be honest my dear website, it's not the most simple of website names to remember.

Oooh someone with an Evening Standard has just boarded and I can now tell you the headline today is 'Police Stop and Search Slashed'...well I guess that's better than a real person being slashed...

There seem to be a smarter collection of met line passengers at this time of night. One chap is reading the Economist and the lady opposite is engrossed in a research paper related to the long terms effect of bio degenerate materials in the human body (if my upside down writing skills are up to scratch)...

How could I forget to mention this earlier but hope you all celebrated sound check day like I did! 12. 1. 12...

I was scanning this weeks Harrow TImes yesterday and in the classified ads, this made me chuckle: Premature ejaculator seeks fem..... oh, never mind.

Right, that's your lot. See you tomorrow and have a lovely sleep.

Kind regards

A man who will be eating spicy baked beans on his potato in 15 minutes...