u/miklcct

I am considering squeezing in some training sessions in an indoor dive centre on my next overseas trip, and a session is available which fits my schedule and ends 21h 45min before my flight back home.

I want to work on my comfort and equalisation between -27 m and -32 m.

Is this interval safe for flying? What is the minimum surface interval for this kind of training session? Is it 12 hours or 18 hours? Is it not deep enough to require a full 24 hours?

I am looking to buy an EQ tool / Otovent for the purpose of training equalization. How should I choose the correct specification to buy? Can any equalization tool be used to train for any depths? Also, how should I get replacement balloons as well?

For me, I currently want to train for equalization which can help me exceed my RV depth, about -27 m with full lungs.

I am thinking if we can actually make the South London suburban network a useful train service, with a turn up and go service at all suburban stations (except outer-suburban branches or single line sections) to one Zone 1 station and to one outer London mainline hub.

Here is a plan to modify the network to provide 4 tph on all South London suburban routes (with a few exceptions of rural branch lines) and 4 tph on the whole Southern network to connect to East Croydon, in the following way. All trains stop at all stations unless otherwise specified:

Services from Victoria (8 tph):

• Victoria - Crystal Palace - East Croydon - Reigate or East Grinstead: 4 tph (replacing the current Victoria - Crystal Palace - London Bridge, and Victoria - Crystal Palace - West Croydon, Victoria - Reigate mainline, and Victoria - East Grinstead mainline routes. Calling patterns south of East Croydon remains current.)
• Victoria - Mitcham - Epsom: 4 tph (with 2 tph continuing to Horsham, adding calls at Battersea Park and Wandsworth Common, restoring the pre-COVID service level with calls added to all intermediate stations and the Dorking service extended to Horsham)

There will no longer be a direct service from Victoria to Norbury, a change at Balham is required. Norbury will instead gain a direct, 4 tph Blackfriars service as its sole Central London link, creating a reliable, turn up and go service.

The current 1 tph East Croydon - Watford Junction service will be removed as well as it is completely pointless. Most passengers can use the extended Mildmay line service (mentioned below) to Willesden Junction and change to the Lioness line to complete the journey, apart from those starting from East Croydon which will require 2 changes via Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction. Those need to access the Southern mainline network from the north are advised to change at Euston / St Pancras instead.

Services from Blackfriars (8 tph):

• Blackfriars - Herne Hill - Norbury - East Croydon: 4 tph (new service)
• Blackfriars - Sutton loop: 4 tph, joining and dividing at Streatham for each loop direction (replacing the Thameslink Sutton loop service)

St Albans Thameslink train will go to Rainham and Orpington instead. All conflicting moves near the Blackfriars throat, and at Tulse Hill, are removed.

Services from London Bridge (8 tph):

• London Bridge - Peckham Rye - Tulse Hill - Crystal Palace - Coulsdon Town: 4 tph (with 2 tph continuing to Tattenham Corner, rerouting the current route to be via Crystal Palace instead of Norbury to East Croydon, with 2 tph having a portion detaching at Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction)
• London Bridge - Sydenham - West Croydon - Sutton: 4 tph, with 2 tph continuing to Epsom Downs, 2 tph continuing to Guildford (replacing the current London Bridge - Epsom, and the Surrey part of the Waterloo - Epsom - Guildford services)

Overground extensions: 

• 4 tph Mildmay line services to be extended from Clapham Junction to West Croydon, with a long-term target of 6 tph on the West London Line, 2 tph terminating at Clapham Junction
• 4 tph Windrush line services to be extended from Norwood Junction to Caterham (instead of West Croydon), with a long-term target of 6 tph Dalston Junction - Clapham Junction service and 6 tph Highbury & Islington - Crystal Palace service (20 tph in the core)

SWR changes:

• Waterloo - Dorking service will have to increase from 1 tph to at least 2 tph if to match the current service level, 4 tph to restore the pre-COVID service level
• Waterloo - Epsom - Guildford service will be cancelled and replaced by the 2 tph London Bridge - Guildford service for the Surrey section

Thameslink changes:

• The stopping service between Luton, St Albans and St Pancras will continue to either Orpington (via Catford Loop, restoring the service to pre-COVID 4 tph) or Rainham, as the Sutton loop is detached from the network.
• The Sevenoaks - Blackfriars service will run to Welwyn Garden City all day long, as the Blackfriars terminating platforms are all used for Herne Hill services.

This service pattern can provide a lot of benefit instead of a simple restoration of the pre-COVID frequencies, as the network is designed to base on a 15-minute headway timetable instead of the old 30-minute headway:

• From Norbury, this network provides trains to East Croydon every 15 minutes, West Croydon every 15 minutes, Blackfriars every 15 minutes, and trains to Clapham Junction, Kensington (Olympia), Willesden Junction and Stratford every 15 minutes with more destinations, effectively doubling the current useless service. Those requiring Victoria will have to change at Clapham Junction.
• From Streatham Hill, only a single 4 tph route will be provided, but it goes to a more useful place, East Croydon, instead of West Croydon. Those requiring the Sydenham Corridor will have to change at Crystal Palace. The main loser are those specifically requiring London Bridge, as 2 changes will be required at Crystal Palace and New Cross Gate (or Canada Water).
• The frequency at West Norwood and Gipsy Hill will be slightly increased from 6 tph to 8 tph, all going to East Croydon creating a high frequency shuttle, those requiring the Sydenham Corridor will have to change at Crystal Palace, while for London Bridge passengers, the trains will run like clockwork in a single direction instead of on two different routes.
• For Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Streatham and the Sutton loop, the frequencies are doubled to turn-up-and-go levels, while the direct link between Herne Hill and East Croydon is restored as well. Those requiring further into the Thameslink core need to change at Blackfriars, as originally planned by Network Rail.
• For the Sydenham corridor, the direct link to East Croydon is reinstantiated by the Windrush line extension to Caterham, and a new, 2 tph direct link to Guildford is created as well by converting a fast service to a stopping service. Those going to stations towards Victoria will have to change at Crystal Palace.
• The London Bridge - Guildford service strengthens the orbital link across South London and Surrey, eliminating a change at Epsom, and restoring the link to the pre-COVID 2 tph instead of the current 1 tph.
• Waddon, Wallington and Carshalton Beeches will keep 4 tph per hour (6 pre-COVID), but they will all go to London Bridge on a clockface schedule every 15 minutes instead of the 5-25 interval to West Croydon now.
• Mitcham will see a doubling of frequency, 4 tph to Victoria and 4 tph to Blackfriars.
• A number of fast trains are replaced by slow trains. This is mainly to improve service reliability by reducing the number of trains which switch between the fast and the slow lines. Most affected people don’t need to change trains, but they can choose to do so. This new network encourages passengers to stay away from Zone 1 unless absolutely necessary, by offering easy change to the Windrush line for a cheaper fare to avoid going into London Bridge.
  • The Caterham branch is the only branch which a change is forced at East Croydon to access London Bridge (or any London Terminals). Instead, they gain doubled frequency and direct access to non-Zone 1 East London destinations, which currently require a change at Norwood Junction.
  • The Tattenham Corner branch trains will continue to London Bridge (via Crystal Palace), although a change to a fast train can be done at East Croydon.
  • The East Grinstead and Reigate trains will continue to London Victoria (via Crystal Palace), although a change to a fast train can be done at East Croydon. This plan does not affect the current Thameslink peak services from East Grinstead to Bedford. These two places are the main loser of this service plan, which are sacrificed to reduce conflicting moves across the Windmill Junction, as fast and slow trains to Victoria are completely segregated in this service plan. In this plan, no trains will need to switch between the fast and slow lines south of Selhurst.
  • The Epsom - London Bridge service, being replaced by the Guildford - London Bridge stopping service, will continue to serve all the existing stations, although a change to a fast train can be done at Norwood Junction.
  • In this plan, the only trains which will switch between the fast and the slow lines around the Croydon area are the Thameslink trains to East Grinstead, Three Bridges and Horsham. The only Southern train switching line will be the Uckfield train, removing 8 line switches per hour.
  • The total number of fast trains from East Croydon to London in a standard off-peak hour will be reduced to 6 trains per hour to Victoria (Portsmouth + Littlehampton + Eastbourne), down from the current 10 (the East Grinstead and Reigate trains become slow), and 9 trains per hour to London Bridge (8 Thameslink + Uckfield), down from the current 11 (the Caterham / Tattenham Corner trains become slow).
  • The total number of slow trains from East Croydon going north in a standard off-peak hour will be increased to 3 to 16 trains per hour, making it a super transfer hub for South London passengers.
  • The total number of trains from West Croydon going north in a standard off-peak hour will be decreased from 10 (12 pre-COVID) to 8 per hour.

Darwin is notorious known to give inaccurate predictions which underestimate the delays when a fast train is physically blocked by a slow train.

For example, last week, I encountered a situation that, I was waiting for a fast train from East Croydon to Victoria, and there was a slow train waiting to depart, also going to Victoria. Darwin predicted that the fast train would overtake the slow train. However, what happened was that, the slow train was routed on the fast line, blocking my delayed fast train! Adding to the insult, the slow train was "actually booked to run on the fast line", stopping at the fast platform all the way from Selhurst to Balham before switching back to the slow! I ended up massively late into Clapham Junction, missing a few connecting trains there.

On another night, from Clapham Junction to East Croydon, a non-stop train was delayed, which was scheduled to depart from platform 13 (the fast line), while a one-stop (Selhurst) train was on time and scheduled to depart from platform 15 (the slow line). Eventually, there was a last-minute platform alteration - the delayed fast train was sent to platform 15 behind the one-stop train, but Darwin still showed that the fastest train to East Croydon was the delayed fast train, now behind the one-stop train. I didn't fall into the trap this time because my judgement was that, the fast line was now closed for late night works, otherwise the fast train wouldn't be routed onto the slow causing a platform alteration. My guess was right, the non-stop train was now stuck behind the one-stop train.

Even in the simple case of a two-track railway, I have also seen impossible prediction being given out as well, why is it so dumb?

Sorry, no photo here as I'm just passing through on a non-stop train. The signs now are in GBR style instead of LNER in the past.

I have a closed account (I closed it voluntarily in 2022) which I would like to reactivate. After I enter my email and password, it says that "Your account is currently closed. If you would like to re-activate your account, click here.", but after clicking, it says that "User account reactivation is not allowed".

The help page says:

>Why can’t I reactivate my Upwork account?

>There are three main reasons:

>Your Upwork account was set up to let you both use Upwork as a freelancer and a client. In these cases, we need to help you get your account reactivated, so please reach out

>Your account has been inactive for more than five years. If that’s the case, we suggest you contact us

>You were permanently suspended for Terms of Service (TOS) violations. In this case, you will not be allowed to work on our platform again, and new accounts will be closed 

I think I might be in the first case. Then I went to the Contact Support page, and no matter when I clicked on the chatbot or the "View My Requests" link, it told me to login again, and the loop repeated.

How can I create a support ticket to reactivate my account?

I got my AIDA 2 certification late 2020 in Hong Kong wanting to do fun dives afterwards, but I moved to the UK early 2021. Since then, I hadn't dived for 4 1/2 years. I joined a dive sightseeing trip February this year and maxed out my buddy's ability during the trip before I had a chance to dive to -20 m, although everyone there was also AIDA 2.

Afterwards I joined a dive club, but in London it is impossible for me to do any depth training. I reached 75 m DYNB and 50 m DNF in a few weeks' time and felt that was already enough for me (I have no interest in competing). My STA max out at 2:30 currently. Earlier this month I got a buddy and went to an indoor dive centre in another country, and I reached -20 m on the first day then -24 m easily on the second day, still fully within my comfort zone, but unfortunately it was a short trip and I didn't have time to explore deeper. I also practiced CNF dives to -15 m and did a lot of training without mask as well.

I will go back to Hong Kong to visit my family September this year, and thinking if I should return to my original instructor for AIDA 3. With my above limited diving experience, am I ready for AIDA 3?

Whenever I swim in an indoor pool, my nose gets completely blocked the next day with a lot of mucus as well as sneezing.

I didn't realise the seriousness until I went to an indoor dive pool to train depth, where I performed well, consistently reaching -18 m to -20 m on the first day but congestion ruined my dive quality on the second day. I felt pain above my eyebrows immediately at duck dive and could only work my way down by lots of pre-equalisation and increasing equalisation frequency, and slowing my descent. Eventually, at the end of the day, I could no longer go beyond -8 m head first, and I even had to pause my descent to force equalise, resulting in funny videos like duck dive, stop, continue, or head down first, switching to head up, free fall, etc., and I still felt a little bit of pressure effect above my eyebrows after my dive, indicating that I probably stressed myself too much on the day.

Such problem didn't appear when I went to a dive holiday in the ocean.

What should I do to avoid my dive trips being ruined in the future? Should I avoid diving in indoor pools for multi-day depth training in the future? It is so difficult for me to find warmth and depth living in London.