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Abi

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09:58 pm: I fulfilled a long-held ambition today, that I've had since I moved to east London, of going to Southend-on-Sea: the natural holiday resort for people in this part of London in days gone by. It was alright. There was a credible seafront, a groovy-looking fun park, and best of all: an actual sand beach. The pier was long (we walked there and then caught the little train back), but there wasn't as much at the end of it as I might have hoped. But hey. We didn't do much then a recon, was too tired. Would go again. Definitely worth taking a bucket and spade.

One curious thing is the new (or apparently refurbished/expanded) Victoria shopping centre, which was very shiny and clean and new, but had very poor occupancy and was virtually deserted at what should be the busiest shopping time, Saturday afternoon. I know this isn't exactly the best time to be opening retail, but Westfield London and Highcross Leicester have managed much better occupancy rates.

We got the train from Liverpool Street-Southend Victoria. For the way back I got the idea to get an excess to make the return ticket valid from Southend Central-Fenchurch Street, thus going on a different line, but the person at the Southend Central ticket office refused to sell an excess. Also seem to have got a Network Railcard, which is a pretty good deal and I should have got before Eastbourne.

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From:blue_mai
Date:June 13th, 2009 06:10 pm (UTC)
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i quite like Southend. there are vague plans to do something new with the lifeboat station at the end, not sure if they've decided what yet, maybe a competition. when i went i think i went from Barking. Somehow i missed the real sand beach and walked a long way on a funny bit of beach of big round rocks covered in asphalt.

Good thing i found out about Network Railcard that no-one told me for years and years is that you can use it for people travelling with you, same discount so long as you travel together. Not sure how many, but certainly at least 2.
[User Picture]
From:abigailb
Date:June 14th, 2009 04:58 am (UTC)
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For three extra people, according to the leaflet. The person at the ticket office told us that, querying whether we really wanted 2 railcards, when we could both of us travel on 1...
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From:purplekaz
Date:June 14th, 2009 07:44 am (UTC)
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Cool! I still haven't managed to go to the seaside this year. Really must do.
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From:fluffymark
Date:June 14th, 2009 08:22 am (UTC)
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For me it works out lots cheaper to get an Annual tube travelcard (Gold card) which has the bonus of also working as a Network Railcard for free. 1/3 of fare is good, especially when I can get tickets from "Zone 3 boundary" as my travelcard covers the expensive London stations, make it cheaper still.
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From:abigailb
Date:June 14th, 2009 08:28 am (UTC)
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I've pondered buying a Gold Card but it seems a rather scary level of commitment. Must remember to buy tickets from Boundary Zone 3 more often.
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