A Lot of Nonsense

Some things just feel right, but it isn't possible to explain why. I feel like that about Virgin trains, I love travelling on Virgin trains, I feel comfortable and relaxed, but it is hard to explain exactly what it is that makes me feel like that. I was so sad when Virgin lost the Cross Country franchise and like many others I had serious misgivings about the future of Cross Country. Time has proved me wrong, my fears for Cross Country have not been realised, in fact I have been pleasantly surprised. I don't think much of the livery and they lack the Virgin 'flair' but Cross Country is OK, in fact it is better than OK. There is just one thing I can't work out, why does Barry Doe have such a grudge against Cross Country?

In the latest Rail magazine Boring Barry posed the question “Why not avoid Cross Country altogether?” He seems to have taken great exception to Cross Country's attempt to get people to change trains at places more suitable than Birmingham New Street. I have shared my thoughts about Birmingham New Street previously, so I will be brief, I detest the place, I would rather visit the dentist than change trains at New Street! So if the company can suggest ways to avoid New Street, I'm interested. In fact I would be willing to accept a slightly longer journey if I could avoid that god forsaken place. Barry Doe gave an example, apparently the Cross Country leaflet advises passengers from Reading an the South Coast travelling to Scotland and the North East to change at Leamington Spa if a through train is not available. Boring Barry calculates that it would add up to an hour to the journey time and it would involve two changes. It may come as a surprise to him but he is not the only person in the country who can read a timetable and he is not the only person capable of comparing journey options - but I must admit few of us are as anal about it as him! I consider that I am a fairly ordinary passenger, if I needed to make that journey I would check the timetable, consider the options available and plan my journey accordingly. I do not blindly follow advice in leaflets without checking the facts.

He also claims that he can do Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Waterloo and Kings Cross in seven hours, so he can not imagine why anyone would use the Cross Country service. If he was a little more in touch with reality he would know that negotiating London stations and the the underground is challenging for anyone, but for passengers with heavy luggage, disabled travellers and people with children, it is almost impossible! Even the dreaded New Street is preferable to that!

Avoiding the complication and trauma of a journey across London would be one of my top priorities, so the temptation of lower walk on fares, more frequent services, more comfortable trains and and better on board services would not tempt me to travel via London. I am just an ordinary traveller, but I am not stupid, I would plan a trip like that and I would not pay a walk on fare anyway. As for longer more comfortable trains, someone should really explain to Barry that bigger (and longer) does not necessarily mean better!! I find Cross Country services comfortable, and judging by the number of people who use their services, so do many other people. What Barry doesn't seem to understand is that most people travel on trains because they are going somewhere, it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. They want a reasonably comfortable, trouble free journey, but to them it is just a journey and their main aim is to get there more or less on time. There are plenty of obsessives and rail enthusiasts who focus only on the journey, the route or the rolling stock, but the great majority of the travelling public use the railways for the purpose intended, to travel from one place to another. Barry Doe does not seem to understand that his myopic nit picking shows no understanding of the needs and aspirations of ordinary travellers.

Hopefully Barry will follow his own advice, and avoid Cross Country altogether. It should be a great selling point, passengers would flock to Cross Country services to avoid Boring Barry. I don't know what caused his rancour and resentment but I am sick of him having a pop at Cross Country and he would be doing us all a favour if he would stay away He is like a buzzing wasp - an annoying irrelevance!

Mr Angry!

Robbie's trip to Leeds turned out to be a bit of an endurance test, he had to be up at 4.30am in order to be at the station in time for his train and he didn't arrive home again until nearly midnight. He was very tired but he was still talking about trains, he went on and on ...... and on about his December 08 timetable and the various problems he has to resolve. I am not that interested in the intricacies of timetable planning at the best of times, and I'm even less interested after midnight! I tried to get him to shut up, I even asked if he had mistaken me for Barry Doe, but that proved to be a big mistake. The mention of his name provoked a torrent of loud and very angry speech, I didn't understand the individual words, it sounded as if he was speaking 'Klingon' but the meaning was obvious - Barrie Doe was not in Robbie's good books! It was past midnight, but Robbie presented me with the offending article in Rail Magazine, Barry Doe was scathing about the pricing structure of Cross Country tickets. More words of 'Klingon' followed, then someone must have flicked a switch and Robbie lurched into fast forward mode and he began what promised to be a very long tirade about the inadequacies of the franchise process. I keep emergency supplies to cope with this type of crisis, there is only one proven way to make Robbie stop talking – feed him! Soon afterwards peace was restored and Robbie was tucking in to ham and mushroom tagliatelle. As for Barry Doe, I think he is quite funny when he has a rant, he is a bit like a Jack Russel terrier, he can't resist biting whichever ankle happens to be nearest. He may say that he wishes that Virgin had not lost the Cross Country franchise now, but he as been fairly nasty to them in the past.

Procrastination 11.12.07

There was and amazing red sky on Monday afternoon, it made me think of the old saying 'red sky at night; shepherds delight, red sky in the morning; shepherds warning'. There was a red sky again this morning (but not as dramatic as last night) I don't know what that means - shepherds with bipolar disorder possibly! I don't think there are many shepherds around here these days, delighted or otherwise, but there is one very relieved cat. Oreo went to the vet to part with his manhood yesterday and he came home fighting fit, ravenous and bursting with energy. He raced around the house teasing the dog and doing everything he could think of to get Dave the cat to play with him. If that is the result of castration, I can think of one or two human candidates!

I couldn't help worrying about Oreo while he was at the vet's. I had lots to do, but I couldn't concentrate on anything, in the end I distracted myself with inconsequential stuff. Procrastination, that's the word. I needed to go to the Cross Country Trains website because I wanted to send them some feedback about our journey on Saturday. I was quite impressed with the site on the whole, it was easy to navigate and I found what I wanted without any problem. Once I had the email address that I wanted I had a look at the various sections of the site, one section gave me cause for concern - I'm not sure the world is ready for that 'meet the team' photo - scary! One person's expression suggested that he had haemorrhoids and I am almost certain that George from 'George and Mildred' had sneaked into the picture! I thought I would have a quick look at the Virgin Trains site to see how it compared and to see if they had a meet the team type photo. I didn't like the general presentation as much because it was harder to navigate, but there were a couple of interesting sections such as their stuff for students, and there was a nice photo of Chris Gibb. They had made the wise decision to only expose the public to one face at a time and they only included small head and shoulders photos. I had now got a taste for the websites of train operators and I decided to have a look at the First Great Western site. Barry Doe states that you can judge a train operating company by the presentation of it's timetables, I wondered if the same principle applied to websites. The FGW site was far better than the service they deliver to the travelling public. I noticed that they don't have a meet the team page or anything similar - perhaps they are afraid of retribution! After that I couldn't waste any more time on trivia and I applied myself to the more pressing matters of the day.

Timetable Trauma! 09.12.07

On Saturday we had to get up very early to make the long trip by rail from Northampton to Plymouth (via Birmingham). I don't like getting up in the middle of the night especially on a Saturday, but by 6.55am we were on the train and heading towards Birmingham. We had a very tight connection at Birmingham but we made it and finally we could sit back and relax. I like long journeys because I have plenty of time to relax and read my magazines without feeling guilty. The first part of the journey passed with Robbie lost in the latest edition of Rail, Sam in his own little world reading a film magazine and me reading my family history magazine. I reserved the last section of the journey for looking out of the window and enjoying the coastal views, I love the section around Dawlish where the track runs so close to the sea that the waves batter the trains on rough days. Some very rowdy football fans joined the train at Newton Abbot, but they were at the other end of the train and they didn't bother us. When we arrived in Plymouth the police were there in considerable numbers, they took the fans off the train and out of the station with the minimum of fuss, it was a bit scary but it was a very well organised operation.
We delivered our Christmas presents and had a happy few hours in Plymouth before heading home again. The journey home was not exactly tranquil. Some rowdy foul mouthed people travelled back as far as Bristol Temple Meads, they had been to Plymouth to see Argyle play Bristol Rovers and while perhaps not drunk enough to fall over they were far from sober and still drinking (they brought a huge pack of cans onto the train). It made the journey very unpleasant.
I managed to wrestle the Rail magazine away from Robbie. I have to admit that I enjoy reading the 'fare dealer' column by Barry Doe. I always have to read it more than once because it makes my brain hurt, but I have the sort of mind that enjoys that sort of detail. I was in my element this week because it seemed as if Barry Doe had taken over the magazine, as well as his usual column he popped up in various other places. His contribution included a whole page criticising the Cross Country timetable. I am not sure that he intends his writing to be funny, but he had me laughing out loud much to Robbie's annoyance. He is not a fan of Barry Doe, but I am unable to share his opinions with you because it would almost certainly get me sued! Robbie had one of his famous rants which lasted all the way to Cheltenham Spa, I bet Barry Doe's ears were burning! To be fair he made some very reasonable observations about the timetable and I am sure by next time it will be more user friendly. I have to agree when he says that 'green on green looks worse than it sounds' hopefully next time they will choose colours that don't induce nausea. To be fair to Cross Country if the nit picking about the timetable is all he can find to criticise Cross Country are not doing so badly. I think they have made a fairly good start all things considered.