A Boy Called Sarah?

Robbie has been promising (or threatening) for weeks that he would take me on a charter trip so that I could experience the ‘wonder’ of Sarah Siddons, the oldest electric locomotive still in traffic. Today was ‘the day’ but when I woke up at some ungodly hour, I told Robbie that I would rather stay in bed. He was not a happy chap, he stomped off and came back bearing a cup of tea to find me still half asleep. When bribery didn’t work, he stamped his foot like Rumpelstiltskin. I am not sure if it was a war dance or a rain dance but it got my attention. Somewhat reluctantly I left my lovely warm duvet and prepared to face rush hour on the railway.

We had no problem finding a parking space at Northampton and after a quick visit to what turned out to be by far the best station toilets all day, we were on our way, heading towards Milton Keynes. We changed there for a Southern service to Harrow and Whealdstone, it was an OK sort of journey except for the catastrophe when I visited the toilet. It was compact in the extreme, I put my hands under the hand wash thingy and it dispensed a large dollop of soap onto my hands, then nothing at all, I tried everything but there was no water! I tried to wipe the soap off my hands with toilet paper, but the paper just stuck to my hands. I returned to my seat leaving a trail of soapy finger marks and attempted to clean my hand with hand sanitizer and wet wipes, but the soap made the wet wipes lather and it got worse rather than better. By the time I was able to wash my hands in the shopping centre at Harrow, there were stinging and sore.

When we reached Harrow and Whealdstone we had to get a bus to Harrow on the Hill. We found a bus with a driver who did not speak English, judging by the price he charged us he must have thought we wanted to buy the bus rather than travel the short distance to Harrow on the Hill! I expected Harrow to be rather posh but the places we saw looked a bit grim and ‘unloved’.

We got to Harrow on the Hill Station to find that the ‘the socks and sandals brigade’ were out in force and wearing their ‘winter uniform’ – I have never seen such a display of dodgy footwear in my life! In fact when I saw such a large gathering of the the gathering of the ‘weird and wonderful’ I had an almost irresistible urge to run . They ranged from the quietly confused through various categories of weirdness to the downright odd. Robbie had to hold on to me to stop me making a dash for freedom. Sarah Siddons was late, but eventually it arrived – I refuse to call a loco that turns up late and breaks down a lot ‘she’ when it is so obviously male!

We found some seats in a compartment and soon we were joined by a chap with a big simile and thankfully few words who liked class 37s. I could have cope with him but my ‘weird magnet’ was working overtime and two seriously strange bods from the South West came to sit next to me. They talked incessantly about quail maps and sections of track that they’d ‘had’. They made it sound like notches on their bedposts! It did not surprise me that they both turned out to be single! I did what any sane person does in such circumstances; I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

At Amersham I was entrusted with everyone’s bags, it was like lemming year! There was a mass exodus of men and cameras all hoping to get the perfect shot of Sarah Siddons. As I gazed out of the window at crowds of men milling around carrying cameras with formidable lenses, I couldn’t help wondering if train spotters like trombone players are over compensating for their deficiencies in other areas. After two trips from Harrow on the Hill to Amersham and back I was allowed to escape to the relative sanity of a normal service to Aylesbury. I hadn’t really enjoyed the experience, I was bored and trapped and I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Robbie said that perhaps I just don’t like electric locos, perhaps not, to me it just felt unreal and uninteresting, like a theme park ride with added weirdness. I think I prefer proper rail tours with interesting people and (preferably) diesels.

Aylesbury offered the worst station toilets of the day, they seemed fairly new but they were so badly designed that you had to straddle the toilet in order to shut the cubicle door. The tap that claimed to be the cold tap produced such a powerful burst of uncomfortably hot water that it soaked my top! Why is it so had to provide clean adequate toilet facilities? It may not sound important but passengers remember when companies/stations can’t even get the basics right.

We came back via Marylebone on a Chiltern service. That proved to be the greatest disappointment of the day. It was rubbish, the toilets were in a disgraceful state, no toilet paper, filthy seat, overflowing bin, floor flooded and a broken dryer. Also there was no air con and it was so uncomfortable when we were delayed by about an hour that my asthma played up. There was no wifi, some of the sockets were not working, there was a distinct lack of useful announcements, people had to get refunds for their tea and coffee because the milk was off and the train manager failed to apologise for the delay. The seats were very badly designed, impossible to get in and out of and very uncomfortable. I will steer clear of Chiltern from now on.

The best bit of my whole day was the Virgin Pendolino that we caught on the way home, it was absolutely perfect. We had to get the London Midland service from Rugby, but for once London Midland excelled themselves, it was one of the more comfortable ‘blue’ trains, the toilets were working and it was a pleasant trip back to Northampton.

On and Off the Rails

Yesterday was such a fantastic day. Robbie had caught me at a weak moment and apparently I had agreed to go to Newquay on the train with him. I like Newquay and I like Voyagers and (most of the time) I like Robbie, but I don't like getting up before the birds on a Saturday morning and all that effort for 20 minutes in Newquay didn't seem like my idea of fun. I mentioned the National Railway Museum to Robbie and before I knew it he'd had the idea to go to York instead of Newquay - it works like magic!

The nice thing about York is that we didn't have to get up quite so early, but it was still a struggle to leave my nice warm bed for a chilly early morning at Northampton Station. The journey to York was nice despite the non existent catering on the CrossCountry service to York. I fell in love with the voice of our train manager, he was a really good train manager too, I could have listened to his voice all day. I enjoyed the journey and before long we arrived at York, the station proved disappointing, very poor customer service and grim toilets. Northampton station may be nothing to boast about but at least we get hot water, soap and working hand dryers in the ladies toilets!

I loved the NRM when I eventually got the chance to see it - it took a huge effort to drag Robbie out of the shop! I headed straight for the Royal trains and I could have stayed there all day because there was so much to see. Robbie enjoyed it too but he wanted to see as much as possible so reluctantly I followed him to one of the other exhibition halls. As we walked in I noticed that the person on duty at the information point was fast asleep, not a good sign! I found it a bit noisy but I really enjoyed looking at everything. It was ideal for me because you were allowed to touch all the exhibits and there was so much beautiful polished wood and lovely shiny metal that I couldn't resist stroking it.

All too soon we were back in the shop on our way out. Robbie was just like a big kid, I bought him a railway book that he simply couldn't live without, as well as a few postcards and a NRM canvas bag. He got so excited about it all and he went out proudly carrying his new bag - I didn't like to point out the likeness to Roy Cropper! We walked into the city to get a late lunch before heading home. I wasn't too keen on York as a place, I don't think I have ever come across a place with so many weird and peculiar people in my life, it was a bit disconcerting.

Our journey home was good in parts, the bit from York to Birmingham was tolerable, the train manager was OK (but not as nice as the one in the morning) but the trolley dolly was totally useless. She was certainly not any one's idea of 'dolly' and she wasn't much good at the trolley bit either. If CrossCountry are paying her to do that job they are being ripped off, maybe she is on some sort of work therapy for the bewildered! I was excited about going on a Virgin Voyager from Birmingham to Rugby, but it wasn't wonderful, I almost got frostbite from the air conditioning and the quiet coach sounded more like the Tower of Babel. For me the last train of the day was also the best, a London Midland green train, Robbie hates them, but it was warm, quiet and comfortable.

We have decided to go back to the NRM very soon!

A Way With Words.

Often when I write the blog I have a moan about the astounding incompetence I encounter in everyday life, but today I am full of praise. I think Virgin Trains could teach us all a thing or two when it comes to communication and media management. At the end of last week I listened to Tony Collins, CEO of Virgin Trains being interviewed on Radio 4. The first thing I noticed was that he had a trustworthy voice – a rarity in the rail industry. What he didn't say was as eloquent as what he said. The interviewer pointed out that the Pendolino had been voted the least liked inter city train by passengers. He focussed on the many benefits the Pendolino offers and refused he to be sidetracked. I don't know who these people are that don't like Pendolino's, I like them very much, and Robbie will rearrange his plans just to travel on a Pendolino. To be honest I prefer them to H.S.T.'s but I know Robbie would argue with me about that. The best thing about the Pendolino is that it is safe, Barry Doe hates them so there is no danger of finding him sitting next to you!!

Anyway back to the Tony Collins interview, the best bit was when he talked about Network Rail, his words were inoffensive and succinct, but we were left in no doubt about the underlying message! Virgin have a way with words, the other day I laughed out loud when I read the Virgin Rail Group response to Network Rail and Office of Rail Regulation comments on West Coast performance. It is not a laughing matter, but it reminded me of my mum. She used to tell me that you have to be careful what you say, but nobody can control what you think. Virgin have turned that into an art, their words are well chosen, but we are left in very little doubt about their thoughts!

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!

A Trail of Coincidences?

Passengers on the West Coast Mainline must be wondering when all the travel chaos will end after a second new year of travel chaos. There have been a number of vague and unhelpful statements from Network Rail, claiming that the delays and cancellations are due to "infrastructure problems" and The Daily Mail reported that a Network Rail spokesman said A Network Rail spokesman said: A Network Rail spokesman said: 'We don't know anything at the moment, but we're not ruling anything out. My guess is that it is an awful trail of coincidences.' That much bad luck doesn't just happen it, it has to be caused. To adapt the words of Lady Bracknell, to lose power in one location may be regarded as misfortune to lose it in more locations looks like carelessness!

Virgin Trains must be totally exasperated by the problems, but I must congratulate them on the way they deal with the media, I am sure I have commented on it before, but their representatives always sound knowledgeable, articulate and appropriate. I listened to their spokesman Arthur Leathley on Radio 4 yesterday, he had a very nice 'trustworthy' voice (like a favourite grandad), he answered questions sensibly and he was very measured when speaking about Network Rail but he managed to convey the frustration of the train operators and their concern for the passengers. There was a very good piece in the Daily Mail Rail bosses blamed for 'rush job' as 100,000 commuters caught in travel chaos

To Birmingham and Back Again

Yesterday passed me by in a blur of agony. Clearly I insulted my flu bug by referring to it as 'just a cold' on the blog on Thursday, and it decided to show me exactly who was boss. By Thursday evening everything ached and my thermostat had gone mad, and by Friday morning I was ready to curl up and die. It is now Saturday evening, I am still feeling fragile and breathing is a bit of a challenge, but at least I can face the bright lights of the computer again. So rather than dwell on my aches and pains I will write about something completely different instead.

Last week Robbie took me to Birmingham for the evening. This may not sound very exciting but it is a big event for me because it involves passing through that God forsaken place known as New Street Station – I really hate it and I avoid it at all costs. Our journey started at Northampton Station, it is a while since I have been there and it will be a while before I go there again, the parking charge is a rip off! I hoped it would be a more pleasant experience than when it was in the hands of Silverlink. The best thing about the station was the hot chocolate from the coffee shop. The station staff seemed a little more cheerful and they has swapped the severe 'border guard' look of the Silverlink uniform for the 'slept in look' of what must be the most boring uniform ever. The station itself looks more unloved and shabby than ever, I'm not sure anyone could love a building that looks and feels like a farm shed, but I feel sad that this is the first impression that travellers get of my home town. Oh well, it could be worse, Coventry station takes 'grim' to a whole new level.

The journey to Birmingham was good, we travelled on a 350, it was surprisingly comfortable and it was a pleasant journey. I can't complain, but however perverse it sounds I miss the good old 321's and I miss the Silverlink livery that always reminded me of a Cadburys Dairy Milk wrapper. So there you are you have proof that Robbie is not the only weird one in our family when it comes to trains. All good things come to an end and all too soon I found myself in New Street Station. It didn't seem to have changed, there were the usual announcements about platform alterations and breathless and confused passengers with a demented look in their eyes sprinting from platform to platform in search of their trains. I know they have to announce platform changes, delays and assorted misery, but why do thy choose someone with such a grating voice that it sounds like nails being dragged over a blackboard?

We made our escape from the gloom of the station to the grim reality of the street. I never feel safe in Birmingham and I struggled to keep pace with Robbie, nothing would slow him down because he was heading in the direction of food. He took me to The Big Wok because he was sure I would like it – I didn't really, but to be fair I was probably coming down with the flu by then. Robbie made up for my lack of enthusiasm, in the interests of good taste I will not detail all that he ate but I can't resist mentioning the beef curry. I watched him polish it off incredibly fast, it looked as if he was melting like an ice cube in the sun, but he said he enjoyed it. I am sure that man would eat absolutely anything!

We enjoyed our evening out at the theatre, but afterwards we had to head back to the glories of New Street Station. The 'welcoming committee' defending the ticket barriers looked distinctly unapproachable and uninterested. Their uniform also had that 'slept in look' - obviously London Midland are a bit lacking in the imagination and style department! We had a while to wait for our train but I was happy enough on the platform watching the train dispatcher (he was rather nice) and having a good look at the 323 that was waiting to depart. The London Midland livery was hideous, the world should not have to endure that much green, but as soon as the engine started I cold tell that under all that war paint it was still the loveable, quirky 323. I love the way it sounds like a slot machine when it pulls away, you can hear it best from inside the train, but even from the platform there was no mistaking the sound.

Finally our Pendolino arrived and we were safely settled on board. For the first time that evening I felt safe, I'm not sure what it is about Virgin, but I love travelling on their trains. Unfortunately we had to abandon the Pendolino at Rugby in favour of a smelly old coach. Virgin failed to announce that passengers for Northampton needed to leave the train at Rugby, but at least they had a couple of friendly looking 'care bears' on the platform to point us in the right direction. Rugby Station looks like a bomb site, hopefully it will all come good in the end, but it is hard to imagine it happening in my lifetime! The coach journey was cramped, uncomfortable and scary, the driver threw it around as if his sole intention was to scare us to death. We arrived at Northampton safe but shell shocked, and I can honestly say I have never been so glad to see my car and to feel in control once more.

Too Much Detail

Robbie rang me yesterday to apologise for the frying pan incident, I think he'd got the message loud and clear. He was very cunning about buying it on Sunday, I was going to wait in the car because he (allegedly) only needed to buy a couple of things. He gave me his copy of Rail Express to read so that I wouldn't notice how long he was in the shop. While he was gone I had time to read a long article about the Virgin Trains service from Euston to Holyhead, it was an interesting read, and the pictures were great, but I didn't like the writing style and it became irritating after a while. The choice of words was more 'Boys Own' than railway magazine, terms like “we spied” were out of place, what is wrong with saying 'we saw, we noticed or we spotted'. When Robbie got back into the car he distracted me again by talking about model trains and the pros and cons of buying weathered or pristine models. It wasn't the most exciting subject and I found myself wondering if this was really the best he could manage in terms of conversation, after all he hadn't seen me since early on Friday morning! As I explained yesterday conversation he last thing on my mind when I discovered the frying pan!

I was really exhausted when I got home last night and all I wanted to do was eat and sleep, but Robbie wanted me to stay awake long enough to listen to him talk about an upsetting incident on his journey to work. From his expression and the way he was speaking I thought something really bad had happened, perhaps he'd had another fall or something; he had my undivided attention. The so called upsetting incident was nothing of the kind – someone had sat in Robbie's seat! It completely disrupted his routine and he had to sit in the opposite seat and glare at the 'intruder' all the way to Birmingham. He has now decided that we have to get up even earlier in the morning so that he can be absolutely sure of getting 'his' seat! I thought I could escape to bed, but he embarked on a long and to be brutally honest boring monologue on the refitted Cross Country HST. Unfortunately I find it hard to get excited about the performance of HST toilets at any time, but it was after midnight and I just wanted to sleep! In the end I wandered off to bed leaving Robbie still talking (to the cat) about trains. This morning I felt like screaming, he got up and resumed the conversation from the previous evening!

Bedtime Reading

Robbie and I had both had a busy week and by Friday evening we were worn out. Emily was working, and Mum's taxi was booked for 10pm, but she was out on time and we were home again by 10.30pm. After finishing a couple of jobs I headed off to bed. I was just settling down when Robbie announced that he had something that I would really enjoy. I wondered whatever he could mean - but life with Robbie is never predictable so I waited patiently while he rummaged through his bag and proudly produced the April edition of Railways Illustrated. I hadn't planned to spend an early night with my husband reading railway magazines and my quizzical expression elicited more information from Robbie. He said, "it has an article about Chris Gibb (Virgin Trains MD), you know how much you like him, but they haven't got his feet in the photo". I am used to translating 'Robbie speak' into English but that sentence took more effort than most.

It is not possible to like someone I have never met, but Chris Gibb does sound like a decent bloke. As someone who observes the railways from a distance, I like the fact that he speaks in plain English that everyone can understand and as far as I can tell he does what he says he will do. The straight answer seems as rare in the railways as it is in politics, so it is refreshing when you find someone capable of saying what they mean and when necessary calling a spade a spade. In the article he was eloquent about the farce at Rugby over the new year period "it was totally avoidable. It was a shortage of key people at the right time and Network Rail will be getting a bill from us for long term damage to growth".

OK, I did once say that he was easier on the eye than some of his counterparts from the other TOC's, etc. I wasn't commenting on his looks as much as his ability to smile and to look approachable. There are a number of faces in the railways that could have made convincing gargoyles! While on the subject of confession, Robbie is right that I did once say that Chris Gibb had very expressive legs. Back in the old days when he was MD of Cross Country I noticed that when he was photographed his feet seemed to be working to their own agenda. The photo with the Railways Illustrated didn't show his feet and was cropped oddly leaving people to wonder about his hands, but it had the trademark cheerful smile.

The article was a good read, clearly Virgin has some interesting plans for the future. I learned a little more about Chris Gibb too, apparently he has a passion for punk rock music, that didn't seem to fit with the photo of him in a fleece; but when I looked closely at his shirt and tie it was clear that there is a streak of anarchy within him. Not many people would be brave enough to combine a shirt with vertical stripes and a vivid red tie with crazy diagonal stripes. It seems that his role is to be known as Chief Operating Officer, a rather grim sounding title, I wonder who he will be operating on first - Network Rail Perhaps?

Mystery Men

Robbie was at work until late in the evening yesterday because he had to work from home in the morning while waiting for the Sky repair man to come and replace the sky box. We had no TV over Easter because the sky box turned up its toes, I didn't miss it that much but certain other people were having withdrawal symptoms. I am fairly happy as long as I have my radio, I can't survive without Radio 4. The Sky man turned up eventually and everything is back in working order, so when Robbie got home last night he parked himself in front of the TV and watched junk until 1.30am.

Talking of Radio 4 it was responsible for a serious rise in my blood pressure yesterday. The You and Yours program had a 'phone in' about rail travel, George Muir from ATOC, Nigel Harris from Rail magazine, Tom Windsor a previous rail regulator and the dreaded Iain Coucher from Network Rail were all there to answer questions. The first three sounded sensible and plausible, but yet again Iain Coucher sounded totally insincere and complacent. Someone who rang in had been prevented from getting to work that morning because of an engineering overrun at Shenfield. He did his usual splutter and stutter, then explained that the planned engineering work to work on signals had been completed on time but it just so happened that the very next signal to where they were working developed an unrelated fault and this caused the delay. Whatever! When Sam was younger he always blamed the squirrels for whatever he had done wrong, he was very convincing, but that didn't mean I believed him. The calls to the program were overwhelmingly critical, the only company to receive any praise was Virgin; whatever you think about their service you have to admire their PR!

I overheard Robbie making a series of work calls during the morning, he kept talking about Craig and Timmy and I began to wonder who they were, a gay couple perhaps? Did Robbie have a secret life? Eventually I asked about them as I hadn't heard him mention either of them before. It turned out that he was actually referring to a place, Craigentinny nr Edinburgh, apparently it is the place where the trains 'go to bed'.

East Anglian Daily Times

Wrong Time, Wrong Place. 27.01.08

For once we had a Saturday when I didn't have to drag myself out of bed ridiculously early to take someone to work or to catch a train or whatever. I spend a large part of my life driving my family here there and everywhere. For once I enjoyed a lazy start to the day and it was nice to have Robbie at home on a Saturday for a change. As usual it wasn't long before I was treated to one of Robbie's 'wrong time, wrong place' comments. I thought I finally had his undivided attention, but suddenly he informed me that his Hornby Blue Pullman was DCC ready - he had spotted it on top of the wardrobe! The trouble is once he starts on the subject of trains you cant shut him up and he started to ramble on about the relative merits of the Hornby Virgin Pendolino as against the Dapol version. There was only one course of action open to me, I sent him off to make a cup of tea!

The cats don't seem to mind listening to random information about trains, as long as he feeds them, so he stayed downstairs talking to the cats while i enjoyed a few minutes of peace and quiet with Radio 4. A bit later on I was busy with some paperwork and I noticed that Robbie was missing - I always start to worry when he goes quiet! He was having a chat with one of my friends on instant messenger, she wants to borrow him again, that man will do anything for cake!! There was only a brief respite from railway related ramblings, he pestered me all afternoon until I gave in and took him too the model shop to buy the new Hornby catalogue. It cost £8 just for the catalogue, but at least it kept him quiet for a while!

The dead fridge freezer was taken away for a post mortem today. Bosch want to work out what caused the plug to burst into flames. I already have a written report from the tradesman who came out on Christmas Day, it was a wiring fault in the plug so it will be interesting to see how they try to put a positive spin on that. I have sent the plug back as requested, but as you can see from the photo there is not much left for them to examine. A new fridge freezer has been delivered to replace the one that spontaneously cremated itself. I insisted on a different model but I am still struggling to overcome the urge to turn off the electricity every time I go out, it has really frightened me.





Robbie was finally able to travel to Birmingham from Northampton today. The handover was not problem free, Robbie rang me with updates on delays and diversions but it is far too boring to detail here. I feel really sorry for Virgin, they must be wondering if things will ever get back to normal. I went to visit some relatives today and they enquired about the train problems and the impact they were having on Robbie. My sister in law said she had seen a rather charismatic man from Virgin being interviewed on TV. I don't know who it was, but I would hazard a guess that it was probably Chris Gibb. You certainly have to give them full marks for managing the media. When it comes to spin Virgin make the Labour party look like amateurs. Beware 'the Dark Side' are taking over the world!!

This article makes interesting reading. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/01/04/cnvirgin104.xml

Network Fail - Again! 03.01.08

This morning was a bit of a shock to the system, Robbie's contorted travel plans involved me being woken at 5am and kick started with a nice hot cup of tea. Very reluctantly I dragged myself out of a warm and comfortable bed to take Robbie to Kettering at 6am. It is worse for Robbie because he had to make a long, cold, time wasting rail journey, but as I drove home again I was thinking evil thoughts about Network Rail - but I suspect I wasn't the only one!! Before we even set out for the station they had a spokesman for Virgin Trains talking about the problems caused by Network Rail failing to manage the engineering works effectively. I think the Virgin spokesman was called Arthur something or other, I think he must have been the night shift, but he got his message across fairly well. Chris Gibb was on Radio 4 at a slightly more civilised hour, he was clear and down to earth and his words were measured and reasonable. He used the word 'staggered' several times to describe the mismanagement of the work at Rugby by Network Rail. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was on Radio rather than TV because I suspect that his expression may have betrayed his thoughts!

Robbie got to work just after 9am, but his journey had been much more comfortable than the coach that he would have been forced to use if he had travelled from Northampton. He hates getting to work late, but even when he settled down in front of his computer he had to wade through a flood of spam email that had accumulated over Christmas. Apparently he was inundated with invitations to enlarge his manhood and advertisements for viagra, Robbie had no need of either, but after some of the limp excuses this morning maybe he should have forwarded the email to Network Rail!

The failings of Network Rail dominated the news bulletins all day and Virgin Trains had mobilised their SWAT team to ensure that even the most dense listener understood that they were the innocent victims rather than the perpetrator of the chaos. James Kennedy an area manager for Virgin Trains informed us that they had lost faith in information coming from Network Rail. Tony Collins Virgin Trains CEO told us that Network Rail got it wrong and they were guilty of unrealistic planning. He went on to explain that the reason for the engineering delay was a shortage of overhead electrification line men (I will forgive him for being sexist on this occasion as he was probably not having a good day). Nigel Harris editor of Rail magazine agreed that the root of the problem was poor management at Network Rail. As usual Gwyneth Dunwoody Chair of the Commons Transport Committee said that this was the result of breaking up the rail network into private companies. British Rail was pretty diabolical when it came to delays and they were hopeless at providing passengers with adequate information, but she has conveniently forgotten that. Theresa Villiers the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport accused Network rail of mismanagement and said that we should also blame the government (who created Network Rail) because Network Rail was not accountable enough to customers and passengers. She said the regulator should have greater sanctions available to them. Finally Network Rail offered a spokesperson. Robin Gisby who rejoices in the title of Director of Operations and Customer Service at Network Rail sounded as if was standing in front of a firing squad. I can only describe his incoherent ramblings as total claptrap, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him - customer services? Network Rail? he's never likely to achieve his performance targets is he!!

A slightly less measured Chris Gibb was on the radio again at tea time. He blamed Network Rail for bad planning and bad communication, he said the delay and the disruption to customers was not understandable and it was not acceptable. When asked about the promise from Network Rail to hand over the line at 5am on Friday, he was adamant that his contingency arrangements would remain in place. When asked if he didn't believe them he said "I haven't had a promise delivered by them in the past week". The art of understatement! he would probably make a good spy because he seem extremely cool when under pressure.

To conclude my ramblings, the most remarkable aspect of the day is not the media coup by Virgin Trains but the fact that is the first time I can recall that there has been a railway related news story and nobody has wheeled out Christian Wolmar - how refreshing!

New Year Madness in the Rail Industry 29.12.07

I have never been very impressed by the way this country bestows honours, but the publication of the New Year Honours List has convinced me that the world has gone totally mad. Ian McAllister chairman, Network Rail has been given a knighthood for services to transport! What services? As if the shambles at Network Rail isn't enough to blacklist him from any thought of an honour, he used to be Chairman and Managing Director of Ford - and you all know what I think about what passes for customer service at Ford!!

Virgin Trains have certainly got plenty of publicity regarding their complaint about Network Rail extending the engineering works at Rugby on New Year's Eve. I was listening to the news on Radio 4 at lunchtime and a Virgin spokesman called Ken Gibbs spoke about the disruption to passengers that Network Rail's action will cause. I hope Virgin's complaint to the Office of Rail Regulation is upheld, but I think Chris Gibb needs to have a bit of a rethink regarding the choice of people who speak on behalf of Virgin. However competent and knowledgeable they are, they lose all credibility if the spokesman sounds as if he should be doing voice overs for cartoon characters!

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.

Mistaken Identity 09.11.07

As I have mentioned before Robbie is known by several different versions of his name, but today he was most put out to find that his name had been completely changed. Virgin Cross Country will cease to exist at 2am on Sunday morning and Arriva will take over the franchise. This has necessitated all sorts of changes including new email addresses and have all the IT migrated to a new server. So this morning he and his colleagues switched on their pc's to find they were about as reliable as the present government - all noise and no substance. It took most of the day to achieve something approaching normality. Anyway, to cut out along story short when Robbie finally got internet access he found that they had made a mistake with his new email address and apparently his name was now Richard! This caused considerable amusement in the office and the inevitable jokes about his new name. Robbie struggled to see the funny side of being lumbered with an old man's name.

'Thin Ice' 09.09.2007

Robbie has been 'walking on thin ice' this weekend. We both had an unexpectedly chaotic day on Friday and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend with Robbie, with no rushing around. I was speechless when he announced on Friday evening that he was going to Newquay on Saturday as it was his last chance to go on a Virgin HST. I expressed my intense disapproval but I knew that given a choice between me and a train, the train would win every time, so there wasn't much I could do. Robbie has picked up one of the Children's tactics and he alleged that he had told me about it ages ago, but I must have forgotten - whatever! He left the house at 6.30am and arrived home after 11pm, but he had enough sense not to talk about trains all night. In fact he would have probably survived unscathed if he hadn't slipped into the conversation this afternoon that he had to make an early start next Sunday and he would need a lift. It seems he 'accidentally' booked tickets for an open day somewhere near Mancehster. I haven't plotted my revenge yet, I prefer to keep him guessing!

People Who Live In Glass Houses ................. 18.06.07

Robbie braved the floods and was forced to abandon his beloved trains in favour of busses in order to spend Saturday in Walsall/Birmingham with the gang. He had been with Seb for less than an hour before he was begging for mercy because Seb wouldn't stop talking. Like father like son! Now he knows how the rest of us feel!! I can't make Robbie stop talking (he even talks in his sleep). Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but he even does it when I am using a calculator or speaking to someone else on the phone. That makes me furious, but even the most severe threats make no impact on his behaviour, so I am gradually learning to 'tune him out'.
He had lots of Fathers Day prezzies including a book about Virgin trains (OK I admit I only managed to cope for 10 mins before I grabbed the book for a 'quick' look) a new travel mug and some special coffee, yet another parker pen for his collection and a DVD. Even with so much to keep him quiet he was noisy all day! I suppose I knew what I was taking on, and his many good points outweigh the 'background noise' but I was slightly offended when he told me that I was weird and that I had a very odd taste in men! People who live in glass houses ..................................

Happy Birthday Laura 02.06.07

An early start this morning! At 7am we were all enjoying bacon sandwiches and watching Laura open her birthday presents. After some hasty packing we hit the road at about 9.30am. I am always reluctant to leave Cornwall, but it is a little easier on a dismal morning such as this morning. It remained wet and miserable until we were past Exeter and then gradually a beautiful warm day emerged. It was a tedious journey as there were far too many people on the road but once the dreaded Bristol was behind us and we had joined the M4 the journey improved.

Robbie was delighted to see a FGW train heading towards London and a Virgin double set heading towards the south west. It is a very odd sensation to drive along the M5 with a train travelling alongside.

On a More Serious Note 24.02.07

Well, Friday was another one of those days when I couldn't do right for doing wrong. Walking on eggshells is an essential parenting skill, but as the children become older it becomes increasingly challenging.

Poor old Emily is still crushed by grief following the death of her friend Charles. I don't think I have ever felt so useless, anything I say or do just makes it worse. He was such a lovely young man; life can be so cruel sometimes.

Samuel went to school in tears on Friday morning because I have apparently embarrassed him. Nothing unusual there, I am apparently a constant embarrassment to my children! My particular sin this morning was to send a note to his teacher, Sam hates anything that draws attention to him. He can be engaging, funny and thought provoking, but the reality of living with autistic spectrum disorder is often scary for him and very difficult for those around him.

We went to school with Laura to discuss her A Level options on Thursday evening. She was given a formal offer for the subjects she wanted, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Geography and I thought it was a very successful meeting. I felt that Robbie and I had dressed appropriately, behaved properly and not said or done anything that could have embarrassed her in any way. Laura disagreed!

We saw her class tutor who I rather like. The poor chap has the misfortune of looking at least 15 years older than his true age - not good when you are in your mid 20's. To make matters worse he looks incredibly like a jelly baby which makes it very difficult to have a serious conversation with him. Apart from telling him that Laura's art teacher was useless, I behaved perfectly. I could have said that her behaviour suggested that she was an alcoholic, but 'useless' seemed to sum up the situation succinctly.

We then went to see a senior teacher about Laura's sixth form options. I didn't comment on the fact that he was more camp than Graham Norton or that he had a larger ego than Jeremy Paxman. When he said that General Studies was a very useful subject, I didn't tell him that he was talking out of his rear end. I smiled sweetly and pointed out that it cannot be counted for University entry and Laura's general knowledge is extremely good, in fact it is a little too good for my liking at times!

Robbie is also giving cause for concern. He will shoot me for putting this on the blog, but he is really struggling with his back and he is desperately trying to pretend everything is OK. If he tries hard enough he may even convince himself!! He is going back to the doctors, even if I drag him there kicking and screaming!

We were gutted last night when the news of the rail crash involving a virgin train came up on his pager - yes, he found the pager! Robbie couldn't settle and kept up with the news until late into the night. I feel very sad for the people involved and their families, especially for the family of the lady who died. It is hard to imagine the horror of the crash when as a family we are still coming to terms with the enormity of the death of Emily's friend Charles. The news reports made me so cross when they said that an elderly woman had 'lost her life', people lose keys or money, they don't lose their lives, they die. Death is not a deliberate or careless act, it is one of the few certainties of life but it is impossibly hard to bear when it happens a 17 year old or as a result of a horrific crash. Richard Branson seems to have reacted quickly and appropriately. I know he has his critics, but he sounded shocked and sincere unlike the head of Network Rail - weasel words from a chap who looks like a ferret.