A Cheerful Chap?

Would the person who has stolen Robbie and left me with Victor Meldrew please send the real Robbie back, it really isn't funny any more! The day started well, Robbie had been agitating to go to Norwich, so today we got up early and headed to North Walsham to catch the train. The problem started just as we were leaving, he went to the fridge to get the can of coke that he'd chilled over night and he found that Sam had taken it earlier in the morning. I let him rant for several miles, but when he showed no sign of getting things in proportion I had my say. I reminded him that we had two cases of cans and it had been selfish of him to only chill one, if he had chilled several he and Sam could both have one. I also reminded him that we haven't yet become so anal that that we have to put labels on things in the fridge proclaiming ownership of various items. A family should be able to share!

It seems that just as Popeye needs his spinach, Robbie is incapable of functioning without a cold can of coke, he was still bleating about it when we got to Norwich. He seemed to lack enthusiasm for anything, he just stood outside the shops looking sullen. I thought that suggesting lunch at Subway would cheer him up, but it just made him even more impossible, so after lunch I decided that enough was enough and I dropped him off for a couple of hours at the 'man crèche' – otherwise known as Marks and Spencer!

Sam and I did more looking than buying, but 3 t-shirts and a decidedly dodgy tie seemed to cheer Robbie up no end. We went to Costa for a coffee and he managed to be almost civil, and a foray into Smiths and Quicksilver cheered him up even more. Unfortunately my happiness factor was set to plummet. Robbie led us back to the station at such a brisk trot and I had to run to keep up, then when we finally got the train it was full and standing with people spilling out onto the platform and bikes blocking the aisles. We squeezed on to train but it was swarming with unaccompanied youngsters behaving like brats. The train was dirty, disgusting and smelly, when a disabled person in a wheelchair wanted to use the train it was a total fiasco and it was quite obvious that the train was unsuitable for use on that line. The train crawled most of the way to North Walsham and I can honestly say it was my most unpleasant train journey ever. If this is the best National Express can manage they should hang their heads in shame and leave the railways to those who can do a better job. If we go back to Norwich next week, it will be by car rather than by train.

Robbie is a more cheerful chap this evening, lets hope he can keep it up!

Excess Baggage Talks Trains.

The 'Nationalised Express ' situation has been getting a lot of air time on Radio 4 today. There was an interesting discussion about it on Excess Baggage with Sandy Toksvig, you can listen to it here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ldbks/Excess_Baggage_04_07_2009/

They also got a mention on the Now Show at lunchtime, I was a bit surprised at the strong language use to describe National Express, this may be a comedy program, but they were spot on about how little they care about the travelling public. You can listen to it on the BBC Radio 4 website until next Friday, just search for the Now Show and press listen again.

Nationalised Express!

So the National Express East Coast franchise is to be taken back into public ownership. It was hardly a surprise announcement, I don't really see what else the government could have done because it it starts letting toc's renegotiate contracts it will make a mockery of the whole process (which is a bit of a farce anyway). What worries me most is what we end up with when the government try to fix a problem - Network Rail for example!

Yesterday was a really busy day for me, so I had no time to ponder on the rights and wrongs of the decision about National Express, in fact I didn't even think about railway matters until I got home in the evening. Robbie began by reading out snippets to me from his railway magazine, then when he wasn't getting much response he grabbed his headphones and settled down to watch the DVD about Laira Depot that he had for Father's Day. I could just about tolerate the appreciative sighs and grunts coming from his direction, but when he began to add to the soundtrack with his own train noises I had reached my limit. I gave him one of my most meaningful stares and he got the message loud and clear. He is already in the dog house (yet again) so he didn't need too much of a reminder not to push his luck!