"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, Roland Perry wrote:

As catching an E* is clearly some kind of ceremony (involving officials,
handing over passports and tickets etc), can we draw a veil over the
earlier red herrings and go back to wondering things like "would a
resident of Thurrock really get a local train [1] all the way to
Stratford, rather than hopping across the river to Ebbsfleet"?

No.

The reason we can't is because it's obvious - it would be madness to take
the train if the car is faster.

The argument we were having before all this county business blew up was
really a failure to agree on what 'Essex' means: you think of it as the
bit where you live (i'm guessing), and i think of it as the bit where i
grew up - let's call them Inner and Outer Essex. People in Inner Essex,
like this resident of Thurrock you mention, will probably drive to
Ebbsfleet, or even to Ashford, or, if they need to use public transport,
take some sort of coach there. People in Outer Essex are more likely to
come to London, and either change at Stratford, or, if their train doesn't
stop there, go from Liverpool Street to either King's Cross or Stratford.


Except that people in the innermost part of inner Essex - the Greater
London
part - would probably also find Stratford more convenient. I grew up
in
Romford, and I'm sure that it'd be easier via Stratford (one train, 20
minutes) than Ebbsfleet (at least a 40 minute car journey).

What used to be Essex kind of splits into three now I think: the home
counties bit in the northern half; the Essex girl joke bit in the
South; and the greater East End bit inside the M25, which is like a
Londonized version of the southern half of the county.



Jonn