The Tip of the Iceberg!

I was very tired on Thursday morning after dealing with the dog during the night. By lunchtime I could feel myself nodding off and I prescribed a cup of tea and a little rest, with Radio 4 for company of course. I had just settled down when I almost choked on my tea. The irritatingly complacent tones of Iain Coucher were intruding into the room. It feels as if I can't get away from Network Rail. It is bad enough listening to Robbie moaning about them every day, and I'd had a taste of their inability to cope with joined up thinking at Northampton Station the night before, so the last thing I wanted was that man intruding into my lounge.

I'm not sure what is going on in Northampton, maybe the council are challenging Bristol for the title of road cone capital of the UK. For months we have endured road closures and road works involving one of the most important roundabouts in the town. Work on the roundabout finished a couple of weeks ago and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because it had cased me a lot of inconvenience. My relief was short lived, the roadworks have now radiated out to other equally inconvenient sites and the cones haven't gone, they have just moved down the road. The road outside the front entrance to the railway station is closed and they have dug a massive hole in the road, so I was forced to enter the station via the long stay car park at the back. It is an awkward entrance anyway, but visiting the station was turned into a near death experienced by having six massive lorries loaded with huge bits of track maintenance equipment, parked nose to tail along the narrowest and most dangerous part. They must have known in advance that the council planned to create a 'heffalump trap' at the front entrance, so you would have thought that even with their limited resources in the brain cell department, they could have worked out that this was not a good time to block the other entrance/exit.

Anyway back to Mr Complacent on the radio. He managed to cure my tiredness because I was far too cross to be tired. He is still rambling on about what a good job they are doing and how everyone else was at fault regarding the New Year debacle. That old phrase comes to mind, There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.

As usual when the railways are mentioned in the media Christian Woolmer was wheeled out to give an expert analysis. He talked a lot of sense, but he hasn't really got the sort of voice that makes you want to listen, I guess he is the David Bellamy of the railway world - much better in print. His assessment of the cause of the previous delay and the potential for further disruption was much more plausible, I suspect we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far! Even if Network Rail manage the Rugby shut down this Easter better than the New Year fiasco, weekend rail travel from Northampton to Birmingham will still be a bit like the dodo - a thing of the past!

Robbie's journey to work today (Friday) took three hours and put him in a foul mood, he arrived home at 9.40pm after an equally challenging return journey. I think we would all be a bit more forgiving about blocked lines and replacement coaches if we thought there was a realistic possibility of a better service after the upgrade, but if they don't tell the truth about the present why should we believe the promises about the future!