I have caught myself leaving my apartment many times without my umbrella and immediately regret it.
As far as taking trains, they work well. I was used to a more efficent system when I lived in Barcelona. Trains were almost always on time, coming every four minutes, and if you missed your train, it's no problem because you know one is coming soon after. Here, it works well, but not to that extent. Normally I only take the train to get to Lugones, which is the city where the schools that I teach in are located. It is not far as it is two stops away and only takes six minutes to get there. The problem is, the train comes in intervals from anwhere between 10 minutes to an hour. It is also often delayed in the mornings when I am headed to school, and there's no way for me to know until I actually get to the station. The train I normally take in the morning will get me to school just on time, and any delay means I will be late to my first period class. Now let's say I missed the train, the next train does not come for another 20 minutes. This would assure me missing my whole first period class, which is not an option for me. Luckily for me, compared to other people in my program, my school is not too far from the city I live in. If I miss the train, I end up paying 10-15 euros for a 5 -10 minute taxi ride which gets me to school on time.
I do not have much experience with the city buses but they do seem reliable. The star of the show are the Alsa buses. These bring me wherever I need to go. If I want to go on a day trip to another city in Asturias, Alsa, if I want to visit another region of Spain in the north, Alsa, if I want to go to another country on the weekend and need a ride to the airport, Alsa. Alsa is the king of transportation!
