We decided to go to Newquay, it was a choice between Newquay and York, I was rather tempted by a day at the National Railway Museum, but Robbie's love affair with the HST won and we went to Paignton. Getting up on time proved a bit of a challenge, but we made it; I think the idea of breakfast in Birmingham spurred Robbie on! To be fair HST's aren't that bad but I don't like them because I can't sit comfortably in the seats. The base of the seat is too long so I have to sit forward to get my feet to touch the floor, I can't sit back because if I did I wouldn't be able to bend my knees and put my legs down. This predicament seems to cause Robbie a lot of amusement, but it really isn't funny on a long journey. Robbie was infuriated when I said that the seats on the local train from Paignton to Newton Abbott suited me better, but I am racing ahead, I haven't written about going to Paignton yet.
The journey wasn't too bad, I sat there reading my computer magazine and Robbie sat there with his Bakers Rail Atlas, his huge Bradshaws timetable book (or whatever they call it these days) and his quail maps. Just for good measure he had also printed out the timetable and he was monitoring his Blackberry to see how the railway world was coping on his day off. Any minor failure was met with groans and sighs and in the case of the dispatch at Weston super Mare a string of expletives too. Apparently they were very slow and showed no sense of urgency, causing a delay of several minutes. I was watching out of the window and it did seem rather like a Chuckle Brothers sketch and the train manager seemed equally frustrated with the platform staff.
Robbie had ants in his pants and couldn't resist several tours of the train. At one point early in the journey he returned to his seat and announced that there were about 133 empty seats (so there was no reason why the very loud moaning old man who parked himself in First Class couldn't have found a seat). Apart from the annoying man (who eventually upgraded and continued to annoy us all the way to Weston super Mare) the most significant problem was the toilet. The bin was full and overflowing when we boarded at Birmingham, the flush didn't work properly and the water in the hand basin was burning hot. The floor was very wet and this became worse during the journey to the point that I got my feet wet when I went in there. I can almost forgive CrossCountry for their dreadful tea, boring uniforms and uncomfortable seats, but a clean toilet is a fairly basic expectation and one that they keep getting wrong. On the plus side, most of the staff are very helpful and friendly and they do their best to make the journey pleasant.
On our outward journey the train announcements were hilarious, I didn't understand a single word, it was as if the person had been switched on to fast forward, I wonder if they get any training to help them speak clearly and and at an appropriate speed. It was almost as if he thought that by speaking so fast he would make up the time lost on dispatch at a couple of stations. It was a nice journey and as always the view from the window was wonderful around Dawlish.
Paighnton was a bit disappointing, very loud and brash, but we had a nice meal and a walk by the sea before heading back. The station was grim and everything was closed at 3pm when we were ready to head back. There were lots of people there needing tickets and advice so it seemed a bit short sighted to close the ticket office so early on a summer Saturday afternoon. Robbie hated the little local train, but I rather liked it, it was like a bus inside, but there was plenty of room and good provision for luggage.
The return journey by voyager was nice and the train crew were very nice, but guess what the toilet was dodgy. The flush wasn't working and the water at the sink was stone cold, surely it can't be that hard to have functional toilets on trains. New Street station was as grim and unfriendly as ever, they hadn't displayed the platform our train, Robbie had to phone so it was a last minute rush to get to the train, he was very uptight because when they finally listed it they had the wrong departure time. He gave me very detailed account of the sort of problems that such an error could cause - and for some reason or other I felt an over whelming urge to go to sleep!
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