If you could buy train tickets at tube
stations things would be much better. Basically the whole tube system
is a blot on the UK public transport network. Having all these
stations refusing to issue through tickets to the rest of the rail
network seems amazingly old-fashioned.

Francis

Having got myself tied up in knots earlier on, I've now ordered an
Oyster card so we'll have to see what happens.

I think the thing is that Oyster seems to be a step forward
technologically but a step backward (to the days before Travelcards)
in terms of how the PAYG side works. It should work in my favour-
I'll save time at Kings Cross on the way down, and it saves me having
to have cash for ticket machines every morning, and as I plan to have
a trip on the East London Line I'll certainly get some use out of it.
But there must be plenty of overseas tourists who find themselves
bemused that they can't buy a ticket at the underground station next
to their hotel to take them to, say, Windsor, but they could buy a day
travelcard at Windsor which would cover the whole of London.