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At that that time of day the variable speed limit signs will be on, and all lanes will be moving along in a solid phalanx at the appointed speed limite, The only thing to do is to listen to the traffic news and go with the flow. Don't let it get to you or try to buck the system, you'll only increase the blood pressure.
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Go drive it a couple of times at the relavant times !
Good idea !
And I say again, the worst traffic seems to be in the clockwise direction in the morning.
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Live in the North, avoiding the M62 obviously. Treble advantage - better pies, actual rain (poncy hosepipe bans be damned) and no M25.
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Disadvantages: Full of northern folk, nobody speaks english.
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Disadvantages: Full of northern folk, nobody speaks english.
I refuse to rise to your bait , Jamie, we Northern folk know we are better off than the poor congested Southerners. (Open countryside within a 5 minute drive up here!)
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I refuse to rise to your bait , Jamie, we Northern folk know we are better off than the poor congested Southerners. (Open countryside within a 5 minute drive up here!)
Ask yourself why the South is congested.
Theres open countryside within a 5 minute drive here as well. So i fail to see your point.
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What about going by train? I know it's expensive and crowded, but a battlefield of commuters on foot is less stressful than a battlefield of drivers that is the M25!
The train might occasionally be late, but then you'd probably get held up sometimes on the M25 too.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 18/03/2012 at 14:42
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We mock the M25 and rightly so but it'd be a thousand times worse if it never got built.
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"What about going by train?"
If the OP lives near M40 J16 (Uxbridge / Denham / Hillingdon) and is going to commute to Leatherhead, he'd have to come into London via Marylebone or Baker St. and out again via Waterloo. Doing that every day would drive anyone mad!
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"Ask yourself why the South is congested."
I have asked myself, and it's baffling. There is a concentration of people there because of historical reasons like trade shipping going up and down the Thames. And presumably then southerners must have evolved an apprehension of living somewhere further north.
But in the north these days there are still jobs where you have to pay higher-rate tax. Yet it's possible to get a 4-bed semi for a tad under £200k, and as an example my own commute is 2.5 miles and takes 5 minutes. Open countryside is, er, ooh, right at the side of my house now I think about it. And it's proper countryside with hills and lakes and National Parks. Kent (for example) seems to feel rather cramped and jammed by comparison.
The north's weather is a bit colder and wetter, admittedly, but the beer isn't flat. And the people -generalising- are perhaps a bit friendlier. In fact, heading north myself, I have repeatedly noted amazing friendliness, politeness, and level of service, from people I've had dealings with in Northumberland.
Back on topic: yes, if you have to do it, there aint much choice but to get something comfortable, economical, and automatic. And some good audiobooks.
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Theres a high concentration of people here for many reasons, namely because its where London is. 22% of the UK's population live in London - I dont really know why either, its a horrible place - and you have a point about trade shipping with a huge amount of business in that sector being in Suffolk and Essex because of the Port obviously.
I cant speak for Kent personally as i've only ever been through it, not to it. But where i live its not especially cramped, i can be in the countryside within 5 minutes if i want to but by the same token i can get onto the A12 pretty quickly also. I have no interest in the countryside personally, i think any town which doesnt have white lines in the middle of their road should be ignored because its frankly uncivilised. The North can be good if you've got money, if you haven't then you end up in cramped houses in rubbish areas just like everywhere else in the country.
The South, particularly the East has very appealing numbers. Eastern England is close enough to London if you want to go there but far enough away to be nice. Crime rates are very low (according to the crime map i live in a blue spot, which is jolly lovely) where as most northerners are stabbists, vandals and car thieves. This has a knock on effect to insurance as well, my car would be £3,000 to insure in Salford, its £470 for me here. I've been to places like Manchester and Liverpool and found them bizarre in the way half of the city is nice and then within a few yards it feels like a bad day in Bosnia. The East has lower than average unemployment where as the North is essentially a giant job centre whether you care to admit it or not, although its possible the East's figures are somewhat massaged by a high concentration of pensioners.
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"I have no interest in the countryside personally"
Well it IS a bit flat in east anglia. ;-)
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Well the countryside really is pointless. Grass, mud, horses. Thats about it.
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"..most northerners are stabbists, vandals and car thieves.."
Is this really the level of debate nowadays on this forum? I'm not sure why I bother, actually.
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Yes, FP, it does get like that. Jamie likes to prod. He likes to make enormous generalisations about things he knows nothing about in order to upset people. I wouldn't normally bother to reply but the Northern thing feels a little personal TBH. Being from L'pool myself, none of my own acquaintances are 'stabbists', thieves or anything of the sort.
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"Is this really the level of debate nowadays on this forum? I'm not sure why I bother, actually."
I sympathise, FP, and I sometimes wonder why I bother carrying on as a moderator: I have to read every post of every thread in case Jamie has insulted someone, which he still does regularly in spite of being repeatedly asked not to.
As you know, banning someone is no use because they come back with a different alias.
I would say though that the level of debate is otherwise pretty civilised.
Anyway, this thread is about whether it's reasonably possible to commute round the M25 from Middx to Surrey. Let's stick to that, shall we.
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" As you know, banning someone is no use because they come back with a different alias." But don't the previous posts get replaced with the new alias?
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Is this really the level of debate nowadays on this forum? I'm not sure why I bother, actually.
I think a tongue was being pressed very firmly into a cheek here. I'm from oop north and I don't take offence.
After all, posts bemoaning the decline in the level of discussions do little to raise the bar!
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I think a tongue was being pressed very firmly into a cheek here.
Quite. Does it ever occur to any of you that i'd stop with such comments if you weren't all so morbidly humourless that you take everything so seriously?
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Hi folks
Thanks for all the responses to this - much appreciated.
I never imagined when I asked a question about driving to Leatherhead that I would provoke such a lively debate about whether people from the north are stabbists or not!
So its been very entertaining reading all the replies and I think I have made a decision on what to do about the job ... (and it's not the crofter's cottage unfortunately although that sounds the nicest option!)
Thanks again.
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We're just in suspense as to whether the proposed commute has ruled the job out (!?)
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