Another post-lockdown trip (or 2)

I've made a couple of trips since lockdown now. After my short hop up to Croydon for a job interview, I made my way down to the South Coast, for another interview (which I also didn't get). This involved travelling on 2 trains, changing at Haywards Heath in the middle for a train heading for Littlehampton, to take me to my destination in Shoreham-by-Sea. I didn't tick off any new stations on this trip, however I was shocked at some of the face mask positions, including as covers for the chin, rather than the nose and the mouth. I was also slightly put off by an individual who felt the need to eat a hard-boiled egg on a train. I even saw the "Thank you Key Workers" Class 700.

But my next trip took me back into London for the first time since lockdown. To be brutally honest, I was a bit wary. but I wanted to meet up (socially distanced of course) with a friend from uni. So I got the train to Croydon, before picking up tramlink to Wimbledon, where I met my friend, before getting a train to Waterloo. Here we changed for Waterloo East to cross the river to Charing Cross, leaving us with a short walk to Covent Garden, where we got food and sat and caught up. This trip meant I actually got the chance to tick off a few new stations: Wimbledon, Waterloo and Vauxhall. I didn't stop at any new stations on the way home. 

I've been to London on two more occasions since that day, and I'm actually going to skip over the first of these two trips, as it was the inspiration for something that I'm planning on doing tomorrow (check my social media for updates on the day), and I'll therefore mention it in next week's post. But on my last trip to London, I got the tube to Westfield London, which is near the old BBC television centre. I did this via Hammersmith, changing between the two stations. At the Piccadilly and District Line Station, I even saw a floral display reflecting the rolling stock used on the subsurface lines.

 I took the opportunity to go in the large Lush store at the centre, which was fantastic because my local Lush is tiny, and with really sensitive skin I've found I get on with their products really quite well. My local store is so tiny that, given the current social distancing guidelines, they've just put a table with a till at the door and you have to request what you want, whereas the Westfield one gave me the chance to browse. I picked up a couple of new products to try and I'm really enjoying using them.

  

On my return to Victoria, I had a bit of spare time before I needed to be home, so took the opportunity to get on a train to West Croydon via Crystal Palace, ticking off a few new stations on the way. From there, I simply took the tram back to East Croydon, from where I got a train home.

Stations ticked off: Battersea Park, Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Common, Balham, Streatham Hill, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill, Crystal Palace, Norwood Junction, West Croydon.

Having re-checked my spreadsheet, I've also made a mistake with a calculation, due to how my spreadsheet is set up, so there's a few extra stations added in to my total today.

I think I'll leave this here for today.

Station Count: 237