We changed the clocks on Saturday night (strictly speaking it was Sunday morning). I love the lighter evenings that come with British Summer Time, but I absolutely hate losing an hour because it takes me weeks to adjust. I set my alarm clock for Sunday morning because I wanted to make absolutely sure that I didn't miss out on my usual Sunday morning routine and to make sure that I was wide awake in plenty of time to enjoy the omnibus edition of The Archers. We were awake by 8am and we enjoyed a nice relaxed morning, but this morning I was much more reluctant to get up, it felt like the middle of the night. Why do we have to be so tied to time?
To answer my own question, it is all the fault of the railways. In the middle ages towns and villages managed perfectly well with local time, set from a sundial, but everybody had slightly different local time. Mechanical clocks were created and they were also set using the sun and local time continued. When the railways developed it was very inconvenient to have various local times, imagine the timetable nightmares. The Great Western Railway was the first to adopt London Time in 1840, others followed and by 1847 most were working to London time, this is confirmed by the January 1848 edition of Bradshaws Railway Timetable (no Robbie's collection does not go back that far!). By 1855 most public clocks were set to GMT, but this held no legal status until the Definition of Time Act in 1880. There is a certain irony in all this, the railways 'invented' standard time with GWR leading the way, now time is their master and it seems that punctuality seems to create greater problems for FGW than for anyone else!
Showing posts with label First Great Western. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Great Western. Show all posts
Monday, 31 March 2008
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
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.
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.
Busy Going Nowhere! 19.11.07
Here we go again, for the third Monday in a row there was an engineering overrun so the first train to leave Northampton heading towards Birmingham was the 7.22 Northampton - Liverpool which finally departed at 8.21! Robbie was such a joy to talk to this morning!! He was absolutely livid about being delayed again. Maybe the delay was caused by contractors, but that doesn't absolve Network Rail from responsibility. The blame rests with them because it is down to them to make sure that these sort of things don't happen, and there is absolutely no excuse for this occurring three weeks in a row. They don't understand plain English, so it is futile to hope that they realise how much ill will episodes like this generate. Perhaps it is just as well that they couldn't read Robbie's mind!
On the subject of Robbie, I am surprised to find that he is not the only person who obsesses about the toilets on trains! I came across a whole blog entry on the subject
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/christopherhowse/nov07/makes-the-going-easy.htm
I like to look at other peoples websites and blogs from time to time and this one always gets me on my soapbox because it is about Worst Great Western and it deals with some of the wider issues affecting the railways. It is also very well written and it manages to make me smile even when dealing with some really serious subjects.
http://firstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/05/foolish-consistency.html
Here is one last blog that is well worth a visit. He writes about railway stuff as well as all sorts of other things. Have a look at his entry for Thursday 15th November 07 about the opening of St Pancras International. There is a lovely picture of the statue of John Betjeman, I really have to go to St Pancras just to see that statue. John Betjeman was one of my heroes. He campaigned and battled to save St Pancras and we owe him a great deal.
http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/
On the subject of Robbie, I am surprised to find that he is not the only person who obsesses about the toilets on trains! I came across a whole blog entry on the subject
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/christopherhowse/nov07/makes-the-going-easy.htm
I like to look at other peoples websites and blogs from time to time and this one always gets me on my soapbox because it is about Worst Great Western and it deals with some of the wider issues affecting the railways. It is also very well written and it manages to make me smile even when dealing with some really serious subjects.
http://firstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/05/foolish-consistency.html
Here is one last blog that is well worth a visit. He writes about railway stuff as well as all sorts of other things. Have a look at his entry for Thursday 15th November 07 about the opening of St Pancras International. There is a lovely picture of the statue of John Betjeman, I really have to go to St Pancras just to see that statue. John Betjeman was one of my heroes. He campaigned and battled to save St Pancras and we owe him a great deal.
http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Stranded Without a Quail! 22.02.07
Robbie phoned me from the train this evening. He told me that there was a speed restriction in place, but he was stranded without his quail map, so he couldn't check the signalling to work out roughly how late he would be. Imagine being stranded without a quail map - what a predicament!!
When he got home it wasn't long before First Great Western got him into serious trouble. They had driven him to the limit of frustration with timetable issues and he used a very unfortunate expletive to explain the situation. After a severe telling off we decided to adapt our family code so that FGW has become a swear word in its own right, minimising the need for other expletives.
As well as being caught out without his quail map, Robbie has lost his pager, it has been missing for a few days and despite searching frantically he can't find it. I don't know what he could have done with it. I hate the thing, it is bad enough that it constantly vibrates in his pocket, but he even takes it to bed with him! It is like a security blanket and he is lost without it
When he got home it wasn't long before First Great Western got him into serious trouble. They had driven him to the limit of frustration with timetable issues and he used a very unfortunate expletive to explain the situation. After a severe telling off we decided to adapt our family code so that FGW has become a swear word in its own right, minimising the need for other expletives.
As well as being caught out without his quail map, Robbie has lost his pager, it has been missing for a few days and despite searching frantically he can't find it. I don't know what he could have done with it. I hate the thing, it is bad enough that it constantly vibrates in his pocket, but he even takes it to bed with him! It is like a security blanket and he is lost without it
What Did You Say? 18.02.07
I woke up early this morning because my back was hurting, but I stayed in bed for a while reading and listening to Radio 4. There is a short program called a point of view, this week Clive James spoke about the way that we have to keep messing around with our language. Some of his talk was railway related, perhaps a bit overstated, but thought provoking and amusing. This is part of what he had to say
"Not long ago, at Paddington, I ran to catch a train that was called First. The long version of the name is First Great Western, which is already bad enough because it suggests the possible existence of a Second Great Western. But the First Great Western company insists on referring to itself and its trains as just First.
My problem, as I ran with a heavy bag in each hand from the barrier end of the platform, was to find the first second class carriage in a train all of whose carriages were marked First. I cursed First in the worst language at my command, but my outburst at First was nothing beside the imprecations I rained on One.
Yes, what used to be simply called Anglia Railways is now even more briefly, but far less simply, called One. This leaves the way clear for the railway station announcer to inform potential passengers that one One train will leave from platform two and the other One train will leave from platform three.
If the first One train leaves at twenty to one it's the twenty to one One train and if the other one leaves at ten to one it's ten to one on that it's the one One train one actually wanted but one couldn't understand the announcement.
What happens when you have to change from a First train to a One train I leave to you, but you might face a situation where you should catch the first First train if you want to change to the one One train that will get you to the mental hospital before you crack up.
Except, of course, that it's never now called a train, it's called a service, just as the passenger is now a customer. Linguistic philosophers have already written theses about how the vocabulary of marketing has invaded the realm of transport, which logically should have no need of marketing, because people know exactly what they want and demand nothing except for the means of transport to be safe, clean and on time.
But the language of marketing spreads inexorably because it gives those who use it a chance to be creative, which everybody has been taught is a desirable thing to be.
In fact, the last thing that a passenger who has already been outraged by being called a customer wants to hear when he is sitting, or probably standing, in a train running late, or probably not running at all, is a voice on the public address system calling the train a service, when providing a service is exactly what it is currently in the process of not doing.
Nor does the voice on the public address system show any sign, once it gets started, of wanting to shut up. The voice supplies the information that the buffet car is situated in the middle of the service, for the benefit of anyone who thought that it might be travelling along separately some way behind the service. The voice apologises for the delay caused to your journey, a way of softening the fact that the delay had been caused, not to your journey, but to you.
The voice continues to audition for a career in broadcasting by pointing out that the first One service to arrive at the next station will be the last One service to continue any further until the engineering works have been completed. Where did all this start? Well, it probably started when the name British Railways contracted to British Rail
"Not long ago, at Paddington, I ran to catch a train that was called First. The long version of the name is First Great Western, which is already bad enough because it suggests the possible existence of a Second Great Western. But the First Great Western company insists on referring to itself and its trains as just First.
My problem, as I ran with a heavy bag in each hand from the barrier end of the platform, was to find the first second class carriage in a train all of whose carriages were marked First. I cursed First in the worst language at my command, but my outburst at First was nothing beside the imprecations I rained on One.
Yes, what used to be simply called Anglia Railways is now even more briefly, but far less simply, called One. This leaves the way clear for the railway station announcer to inform potential passengers that one One train will leave from platform two and the other One train will leave from platform three.
If the first One train leaves at twenty to one it's the twenty to one One train and if the other one leaves at ten to one it's ten to one on that it's the one One train one actually wanted but one couldn't understand the announcement.
What happens when you have to change from a First train to a One train I leave to you, but you might face a situation where you should catch the first First train if you want to change to the one One train that will get you to the mental hospital before you crack up.
Except, of course, that it's never now called a train, it's called a service, just as the passenger is now a customer. Linguistic philosophers have already written theses about how the vocabulary of marketing has invaded the realm of transport, which logically should have no need of marketing, because people know exactly what they want and demand nothing except for the means of transport to be safe, clean and on time.
But the language of marketing spreads inexorably because it gives those who use it a chance to be creative, which everybody has been taught is a desirable thing to be.
In fact, the last thing that a passenger who has already been outraged by being called a customer wants to hear when he is sitting, or probably standing, in a train running late, or probably not running at all, is a voice on the public address system calling the train a service, when providing a service is exactly what it is currently in the process of not doing.
Nor does the voice on the public address system show any sign, once it gets started, of wanting to shut up. The voice supplies the information that the buffet car is situated in the middle of the service, for the benefit of anyone who thought that it might be travelling along separately some way behind the service. The voice apologises for the delay caused to your journey, a way of softening the fact that the delay had been caused, not to your journey, but to you.
The voice continues to audition for a career in broadcasting by pointing out that the first One service to arrive at the next station will be the last One service to continue any further until the engineering works have been completed. Where did all this start? Well, it probably started when the name British Railways contracted to British Rail
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
The Answer to Rail Congestion - Become a Sheep! 31.01.07
Being a sad sort of person, I listen to Radio 4 wall to wall (I even have a radio on the loo!). Last night as I was getting everything ready for Emily's birthday 'Today in Parliament' came on the radio and the railways took centre stage at Transport Questions. It is surprising to hear a government minister say anything that has a clear basis in truth, but I have to admit that the Transport secretary Douglas Alexander was absolutely right when he said that the recent performance of FGW was 'simply unacceptable'. Understatement, truth and brevity - not what we have come to expect from government ministers! Don't worry, it didn't last he was soon back to spouting the usual nonsense about matters that he knew absolutely nothing about. He must have had a deprived childhood because it is clear that he has never seen a train in his life. Imagine growing up without Thomas the Tank Engine, poor man!
The government has apparently set the operating companies a target that a passenger should not have to stand for more than 20 minutes. Well, I suppose FGW meet that by not providing enough floor space for them to stand on, and by thoughtfully providing a cushion of other passengers to keep them upright when they faint! There were lots of horror stories about people having to stand for entire journeys, one woman stood all the way from Kirkcaldy to London. The feeble reason given for overcrowding was that the government has been surprised by the increase in rail passengers - hardly a surprise surely, for years it has been government policy to get us out of our cars and on to public transport!! I really should be more charitable, they must have been surprised that one of their policies is actually working. Maybe astounded would be a more appropriate word, I think most of their polices are for show or for job creation rather than to make a practical difference. True to form, when incapapable of joined up thinking, Douglas Alexander reached for statistics to support his feeble excuses. He said that over a billion journeys were made by rail in the year 2005-6, that is the largest number of journeys taken since 1961. Look out folks, that could be an omen, remember who was getting ready to sharpen his axe in the early sixties - Dr Beeching!
Virgin came in for some criticism too, mainly for their annoying habit of dropping off but not picking up at Milton Keynes (pity they can't do the same with Coventry!). Douglas Alexander claimed that it was due to the wrong kind of platform - too short, I think he is wrong, but he certainly didn't explain himself very well. There were also grumbles about lack of functioning toilets, MP's want a statutory requirement to provide toilets on trains. The most interesting little snippet was that regulation 1/2005 91/6281 specifies a minimum amount of space required for cattle, pigs and sheep when travelling by rail, but there is no such entitlement for human beings. Never mind, I can think of one or two people who would easily qualify under that regulation!!
The government has apparently set the operating companies a target that a passenger should not have to stand for more than 20 minutes. Well, I suppose FGW meet that by not providing enough floor space for them to stand on, and by thoughtfully providing a cushion of other passengers to keep them upright when they faint! There were lots of horror stories about people having to stand for entire journeys, one woman stood all the way from Kirkcaldy to London. The feeble reason given for overcrowding was that the government has been surprised by the increase in rail passengers - hardly a surprise surely, for years it has been government policy to get us out of our cars and on to public transport!! I really should be more charitable, they must have been surprised that one of their policies is actually working. Maybe astounded would be a more appropriate word, I think most of their polices are for show or for job creation rather than to make a practical difference. True to form, when incapapable of joined up thinking, Douglas Alexander reached for statistics to support his feeble excuses. He said that over a billion journeys were made by rail in the year 2005-6, that is the largest number of journeys taken since 1961. Look out folks, that could be an omen, remember who was getting ready to sharpen his axe in the early sixties - Dr Beeching!
Virgin came in for some criticism too, mainly for their annoying habit of dropping off but not picking up at Milton Keynes (pity they can't do the same with Coventry!). Douglas Alexander claimed that it was due to the wrong kind of platform - too short, I think he is wrong, but he certainly didn't explain himself very well. There were also grumbles about lack of functioning toilets, MP's want a statutory requirement to provide toilets on trains. The most interesting little snippet was that regulation 1/2005 91/6281 specifies a minimum amount of space required for cattle, pigs and sheep when travelling by rail, but there is no such entitlement for human beings. Never mind, I can think of one or two people who would easily qualify under that regulation!!
Busy Going Nowhere! 30.01.07
Robbie arrived at the station bright and early this morning, having had one of those rare mornings when everything goes as planned and there is no competition for the bathroom, lost phone or missing season ticket. But nothing is as straightforward as it appears, he got to the station with time to spare, and there he stayed. The previous train failed at Long Buckby, blocking the line, and Robbie rang me from an increasingly crowded and uncomfortable train still sitting at the station with the prospect of going nowhere fast! I am starting to think he must be jinxed, but it could be worse, at least he doesn't have to travel by F.G.W!!
A Bunch of Cowboys
I have watched the decline of the First Great Western service with increasing horror and incredulity. I haven't mentioned it on the blog until today because I didn't have adequate words to express my disgust. They have hardly been out of the headlines recently, and this morning they got a mention on Radio Four's News Quiz. Sandy Toksvik summed it up perfectly when she said that company is aptly named considering it is run by a bunch of cowboys!
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