not to pick dd from london

[LEMmingaround]

Dd1 is 24 and going up to london to watch. a sports event. It finishes at 7.30 and she is nervous about travelling across London after dark. Ordinarily her dp would pick her up. She will be going up by train and event is apparentlt half hour "walk" from xanning town train station

She hasn't been to london on her own before. I have and i find it ok about dont like using buses alone. Its just because not used to it.

She has asked if dp can fetch her home. This is probably a four hour round trip as she luves in ramsgate kent. Half an hour further past us. That is assuming we dont hit traffic. Also petrol

Is it really mean to tell her to grow a pairand get the train? That is my gut feeling but i feel mean

Looks like she needs the 300 bus from near the leisure centre. That will take her to Canning Town. She can then get Jubilee line to London Bridge and train home. Very easy journey actually :)

the Invictus Games are on at the Olympic site, there will be loads of people around - and loads of police and security as well

Just called her and she was "oh fine. Then i told her to grow a pair and to plan it as she better not be calling me at 9 in a panic.

So she says - dont worry worse comes to worse ill get a taxi.

Strange child - has been all over the world, america. Germany etc with another sporting thing she does with her dp. Got stuck in spain due to the iceland volcano. Had to sonehow fet to santander and get a boat home laid on by brittish embassy. Thought that was great larks but can't navigate around east london

Grip passed

YANBU - my 14 year old dd would come out of a sporting event in London and that time and make her own way home.

I live in Newham! It's not really a pleasant walk from Canning Town alongisde a massive A road (not even sure you can walk along the A13) and doesn't look straightforward to walk it on smaller roads. I would get a cab from Stratford (here's a number: 0208 555 5555), or a bus from Canning Town.

Ghoul have passed on message to her about bus and tube thanks. I told her to put her big girl pants on!

Merry if she gets stuck ill send her to yours for will pass on taxi number too.

Thanks

Fuck - dd1 was 5 when i was 24!!!!

She'll be fine.

We're in East Kent, used to live near Canning Town. UEL is near there too so it'll be buzzing that time of night. I know London (or the thought of it) can be daunting if you don't go often but once you're there, most of it is just like most other places in the country! Hope she enjoys the event.

Complete aside but Roller Derby is an amazing sport to get into. Hope she enjoys the game and you are most definitely not a bad parent!

I have a friend like this, travels the world and regularly goes to do voluntary work in some really unsafe places in Africa, but can't get on a tube by herself. I think some people have weird ideas about London.

She's being precious and spoilt

According to TFL, it's a 5 minute walk from canning town

She can get the high speed to Stratford and then it's going to take her about 20 mins to get to Canning Town on the DLR. She won't even have to change. Honestly, she's being very silly

I've got to go to the shops in a minute can you please drive me? It's in london. I'm 35.

She can download citymapper app if she's worried - best thing ever!

It finds your location, you put in your destination and it gives you a list of ways to get there. She will be fine

It's not a 5 min walk to Canning Town. It's a 13 min bus journey. I'd say it's a good 25 + mins walk on not a very nice road. TFL doesn't say 5 min walk either I think that's a 5 min journey from Prince Regent on the DLR which is about 20 min walk from leisure centre.

shes taking the piss

At 24 asking for a lift home from London at 7.30pm is plain ridiculous!

IMO roller derby is far more scary than Canning Town by public transport! She'll be fine.

This is one of the benefits of neither of my children being able to drive yet, they are very confident on public transport, planning journeys and even coping with London in all its variety and excitement.
She's not spolit or precious IMO, but she needs to be brave and do this for herself without being rescued. It's not the wilds of Lagos, she needs to plan her route and be independent.
It will be so much easier for her next time around, and the time after that.

Some of the posts here seem a little bit harsh... where I come from is very rural and some of the people my age have only been to big cities once or twice before, so they'd probably believe what the media says about knives and drugs on every corner, and they would be very worried about going.

These people aren't precious and spoilt; they could navigate their way back through endless fields in the dark if they got lost without a second thought, and would have no qualms with walking two or three miles along dark, unlit country lanes, because that's what they've been doing their whole lives (something that some young people from bigger towns and cities have had problems doing, in my experience).

It's a little unfair to say that someone who wouldn't feel comfortable walking alone in London is precious and spoilt.

I agree Moomin, but I think she needs to push her comfort zone a little and this seems like a safe way of doing it.
At 16, DD had friends at school that didn't dare travel from Mid Sussex to Brighton, because people were strange and alternative and it was a Big City.
Not a good foundation for adulthood.

Not feeling comfortable so then asking her father to Make a 4 hour journey is precious and spoilt to me. Sorry.

I just looked at roller derby on youtube --didn't understand it at all - and it is WAY scarier than Newham or Canning Town!

Now, admittedly, I don't know every area of London and I am sure there are some areas that might be 'a bit dodgy', but generally, I have always felt safer walking around London at midnight than most other cities and you're talking about 7.30pm????

She seriously needs to learn to cope with life.

I would also recommend the Citymapper app if she has an iPhone or Android phone.