Life and times of S J Cawley
Hello again,
I thought as i’m sat here bored wondering where all the passengers have gone, i’d write a short insight into the life and times of S J Cawley seens i’ve been allowed to post what the hell I feel like, i’ll take advantage of that to amuse myself 
)
Well, i’m Sam, aged 22 years, 2 months and 27 days, I was born in Yeovil hospital, if you have no idea where Yeovil is, well it’s a town in Somerset. A small, tiny, town which is awfully boring and just full of chavs, I wouldn’t reccommend visiting it any time soon if I was you, unless you’re old then it may appeal….
So, I was born, I grew a bit, went to playgroup then started school aged 4 years, because of my birthday, I started school young thanks to my evil parents who made me go but hey I appreciate it now. I got through school with average grades, 7Cs, 1D and a GNVQ pass. I should have done better but lack of effort on my part meant I didn’t!!
From school, I went on to college where I got a BTEC National Diploma for I.T practioners (Software development)… which I got pass/pass/merit for which I was thrilled with seens I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time and spent more time browsing the internet than actual work.
After that, for some reason which I still haven’t quite established, I decided that going to university was a good idea!! London South Bank universsity at that to study Criminology and Sociology, I didn’t do well and only lasted 2 years before moving back to Yeovil with my tail between my legs (
So, I got a job with South West Trains which is where my love of working on the railway began, my love of early morning shifts however is a different story. I was really happy with my job working in a ticket office serving passengers all day long but I missed the city life so had to find a way to go back….
I pleaded with SWT to give me a transfer but they wouldn’t so I left to join Chiltern Railways, working in the ticket office at Gerrards Cross which is probably most famous for the tunnel collasping but luckily it was more sturdy by the time I started there.
In order to work at GX, I needed to live locally, and Watford, around 13 miles away was the most local I could afford. I liked Watford, close to the city, but not in the centre of the hustle and bustle of scary Elephant and Castle/West Norwood!!
Then, something amazing happened, I got together with the most amazing man there is on this planet lol so needed to move more into London, something which I always vowed i’d never ever do again, but it’s amazing what this thing called love does to you!
I couldn’t get a job more centrally with Chiltern, story of my life, struggling to transfer when I don’t want to be somewhere so I got a job as a customer host with London Overground which is turning out to be one of the best choices I have ever made in life!! I now live in Sutton as well, with Matt which isn’t really what i’d class as London so i’m happy and Matt says he is in London so he’s happy to.
During my 22 years of life, i’ve moved around quite a bit and now I think it’s time I settled down, life seems to be heading in all the right directions, decent job, decent home, decent man, I can’t really ask for much more. I feel I can handle anything that life wants to chuck at me and I say bring it on! Oh, back in 2006 I broke the record for visiting every London Underground station in the quickest time possible which was some achievement but now I intend to do it again, I just need some luck… I also completed the Dublin marathon in 2007, took me 7 hours but I did walk the whole thing so was pleased, something I never thought i’d achieve. My ambition is to complete the London marathon but i’ve been rejected 3 years on the trot now, one day though… one day….!
Anyway, so much for a short insight into my life, I don’t think i’ve missed much off and i’m not sure that anyone who reads this will give a damn but it’s wasted some time which is what I wanted!!
Take care everyone and keep smiling )
Did the letter about the staff at WRU get posted….! I know you told me I probably shouldn’t read your blog… but…. I couldn’t resist… Geek
P
Not yet, went to Post Office for some stamps but the queue was so long I’d still be there now…
Welcome back! I am all over this shit dawg!
I’m impressed with the BBC so far as well for the most part
The worst part of the team in my mind is EJ, his interview with Bernie in Malaysia was just cringeworthy!
The best bit… has to be The Chain being back
And you’re right about the muppet, his blog is really good, he certainly is coming across better than when he was getting too excited behind the microphone!
Awww, you’re so sweet
)
Well, of course it will rain, as it always does when we actually get some time off together and make plans, don’t you just hate that guy called sod!!! Grrr! xx
Can’t wait, June is gonna be a fantastic month
D yay xx
:’( stupid depressing survival Sunday :’(
Why have you tagged Sheffied Untied… who are they? ;o)
Sorted
Woah…. a posting!!!!
You shouldn’t need any more things to keep you focussed, if you aren’t focussed now then you never will be….
It looks like Turkish coffee. If you’d called it that, everyone’d think you were very cultured.
YOU think oystercards are annoying…. try bloody working with the damn things then you will realise the TRUE extent of their annoyance
Was amazing, got better the further and further forward we got. Song of the night was either “Return of the White Rabbit” or “Girl From Mars” for me, or “Kung Fu” for that matter, on sheer crowd reaction alone
It worried me slightly when the person behind the glass at Gloucester Road rubbed the oyster card on the reader for several second when registering it…
I thought that your paper travel card was far better than anything with a chip in it
Of course it’s a valid hobby. When I went to that very 1st Z1 one day I really didn’t know what to expect and thought it would almost certainly be my 1st and last challenge. I wasn’t expecting to fit in at all or that people would talk to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong, everyone was friendly and chatty and of course the full network talk cropped up. I looked rather terrified at a tube map commenting “I wouldn’t know where to begin” It just looked so daunting, scary and impossible. Pete Lupton (Fat Buoy) said he had a route and would go around with me Amersham – Upminster. It never actually happened and it seems crazy looking back but it wasn’t even going to be a record attempt, just a “we will get around all the stations” which at the time just seemed impossible. The thought of ever doing this for a world record just didn’t seem a remote possibility, it’s madness this person I saw on the tube; Geoff Marshall is brilliant how could we ever even try for a GWR?
We supported Ric Brackenbury, David Scard and John Stark on a full network challenge visiting parts of the network we had never been near before and did a food drop for Peter Miller and his brother on our way to the start of the inaugral “snake challenge”. I can’t remember how the discussion came about to team the Browns up with John Stark and he came up with a full network route one lunch hour and we thought he was brilliant. Wow we have a route to do full the network this is amazing, this must be the only realistic possible route.
So we went out and did it on for children in need in November 2006, we hadn’t even run it through Transport for London journey planner but who cared, who knew we had a route!!
Since then Matt has teamed up with the Browns, Antony and his son Phil and my 2 boys Jamie and Ryan. We have spent many hours route planning at “headquarters” being the Air New Zealand office at Radius Park….
Wow actually there are hundreds of possible full network routes, Geoff Marshall isn’t so great after all, the time is not impossible to beat I have routes over an hour inside that!
So moving to the present day I have 2 world records, neither in great times and neither that satisfying or pleasing. Matt is incredibly unlucky also not to have 2 world records. The time has come down greatly and route planning, strategy and fitness have dramatically improved.
The alternative challenges and other events such as Zone 1 day, The random 15 championships and tube olympics are fantastic get togethers where we have met and made true and great friends. The social side after these events is also great fun with darts at the pub, a darts league and also social drinking and darts days without any tube challenging!
Yes it is indeed a valid hobby
So much for team spirit eh
Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi, Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi, Olly, Oi, Olly, oi, Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi!
You know nothing
Ick.. I know someone with Crohn’s disease (a particularly complicated and tricky case as far as I know, though). It does not look fun.. :S
I don’t know much about it, they assure me it is manageable if indeed I do have it, but I’ll be tested further in due course. It’s wait and see time, taking it in steps – I am back at work tomorrow for the first time in a month and feel vaguely healthy for the first time in over a month, so these are good things
660-1 I get for that. Fancy a quid on it?
Don’t forget to also make a weekend trip to Schloss Wizbit um Deutsch zu sprechen
good luck wiv that he deserves more than most reminds me of July 8th 2008 i was determined that Sara would get her reward for all her hard work.
Hard Work? What hard work? Following you around
lol