“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old." - Abraham J Heschel

It has been a very difficult few days. On Sunday lunchtime I had a frantic phone call from my step father, my mum had blacked out and fallen on the kitchen floor badly cutting head open - I have never seen so much blood! He had already called an ambulance and I dashed to their house (in a village about 6 miles away) to be with my mum. As I ran down the lane to their house I realised that there was no ambulance there and I assumed that my mum must be already on her way to hospital. When I opened the front door I realised that I was wrong, my mum was sitting on the floor propped against the kitchen units holding a blood soaked towel against her head. The kitchen floor was covered in blood and my step father (who is terminally ill) was standing there ashen faced looking totally helpless.

I did my best to make my mum comfortable and then I rushed around getting everything ready for a trip to the hospital. The ambulance control had told them to leave mum on the floor and to leave the blood as it was. We waited and waited but no ambulance came. After an hour I spoke to the ambulance control they still insisted that I should not move her and they said they would make mum a high priority and an ambulance would be there soon. I told them that I needed to clean up the blood as it was making it impossible to move around the kitchen to look after mum, and when I got off the phone I cleaned the floor. Still no ambulance came and I was very worried about my mum's condition, so I called my brother (who lives in a different county) he came with his car and between us we got mum up (she was very wobbly) put her into the car and took her to the hospital. By the time we left her house we had waited two and a half hours for an ambulance!

At the hospital her condition was taken very seriously, they said her pulse was dangerously low and she was kept on close observation in the resuscitation area. She is still in hospital, they think she may need a pacemaker, but they are still doing tests. I am disgusted that a woman who is over 80 can be left to wait so long for emergency medical care. We will be making a formal complaint, but our first priority is to look after mum.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

It will not surprise those who know me that Robbie and I do not always agree. We are quite capable of arguing about everything from politics to pet care, but when you get beyond the bickering our views are not significantly different. It is just that Robbie is less willing to be outspoken than I am -yes really! I can tolerate people spouting drivel as long as I don't have to listen. I can accept their right to believe passionately in the most ridiculous things, but if they try to impose their batty beliefs on me they will get their answer loud and clear - even the Jehovah's Witnesses have blacklisted our house! The thing that really gets me wound up is when one group gets so forceful about asserting their rights that their actions have a devastating effect on others, including those more vulnerable and less able to assert their 'rights'.


That brings me on to a name which has fast become a swear word among many of it's customers - London Midland. If you type the words 'London Midland chaos' or 'London Midland Disruption', you will find countless examples of delayed or cancelled services and services that terminated before their expected destination. Their name has become synonimous with disruption, chaos and unreliability. The the drivers dispute which has been causing havock for passengers is supposedly at an end. There have been various promises about normal service being resumed from yesterday. It is that little word 'normal' that bothers me because 'normal' for London Midland is not a good customer experience. Yesterday Robbie's journey to work was one of the worst yet. I would be much more reassured if they said that they would be running the full timetabled service, on time and with working toilets. Come to think of it I wouldn't believe them even if they said that!!


Like so many others Robbie has has had a terrible time trying to get to and from work.  Often it took three times as long as it should and it required considerable ingenuity to get there or to get home again. It was exhausting and extremely worrying. I understand that the drivers have issues, of course they want to be paid well for what they do. I am not anti union (but I am deeply unimpressed by the way some unions behave) and I understand that this problem is not all one sided, the company should have sorted this out long ago. In fact the faceless bods at DFT who make totally batty decisions about franchise allocation should have foreseen the problems of harmonising the pay and conditions of workers who joined the new franchise from two different companies. It is simply not good enough to treat passengers so badly.  


Needless to say the chaos has generated a lot of frustration and there has been plenty of heated discussion on facebook. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even some fellow railway employees did not support the recent action. One person wrote (not a direct quote as it was necessary to tone down the language) They need to get their heads banged together. For too long the insulated world of train crew have been taking advantage of at the people who employ them as well the poor passengers stood on platforms waiting for a non-running service. A fortnight working hard in a different job would be enough to make them appreciate just how fortunate they really are.


It seems the drivers have got their deal, but at what cost. What about the people who have had to drive to work or to university because the train service is so unreliable, what about the countless people who lost pay because their train was cancelled or terminated short. Did the drivers give a thought to the people who were terrified of losing their job because they just couldn't get to work on time. I wonder if they cared that the passengers that they messed about so badly will get no meaningful compensation. It is great for the drivers that they have got what they wanted, but at what cost? 

What Goes Around Comes Around - I Hope!

I should have been in court on Friday, I can't say I was looking forward to it but I would have got a lot of satisfaction from seeing that man squirm. The man in question is the idiot who pulled out from being parked at the side of a main road without looking in his rear view mirror, he drove into the side of my car as I was driving along. Accidents happen sometimes, we all make mistakes, but this chap was an accident waiting to happen, he was on his phone and not paying attention to what he was doing.


When he hit me we both pulled in and he couldn't stop apologising, he seemed really angry with himself and generally lacking in composure. I was quite shaken up but it was me who had to stay calm and reassure him. I  gave him my details and got him to write his information down in his own handwriting, in fact he wrote it on the back of a piece of paper listing the calls he had made that day. My car came off worse because his car was bigger and higher than my Galaxy I had a dent and a deep scrape along the side of the car from the back panel stretching all along the rear door.  He told me that he would ring me the following day to confirm that he had reported it to his insurance company.


The following day I rang my insurance company and made arrangements for my car to be inspected and collected for repair, and also for a hire car to be delivered. I was entitled to a similar car to my Galaxy but as I didn't need a large car in the next few weeks I asked for a Micra or something similar (I got a Nissan Note and instantly fell in love with it). The man did not ring me the next day, but he did ring the following afternoon, there was something odd about his tone and he seemed surprised that I had already reported it to my insurance company. 


My car was inspected, photographed and collected, it was away for repair for well over a week because they had to order parts and then it had to be resprayed. The car came back and I heard nothing more until mid January when my insurance company notified me that his insurance company had not received any notification or claim from the other driver. I tried to call him but he didn't answer my calls or respond to messages. It became clear that he had got the damage to his vehicle repaired without informing his insurance company, maybe it only needed a new bumper.


At first he tried to deny the accident completely, but thankfully I still had the details in his handwriting written on his call sheet. Then he tried to claim that it was my fault but I could disprove that because there was no reason to pull across him and I could prove my arrival at work by CCTV image and fingerprint entry. To get to that destination I needed to be in the outer lane. He clung to it being my fault until we issued court papers, then he drew it out as long as possible  before admitting liability but disputing costs. There was nothing to dispute, I asked for a smaller hire car and I used the repair company recommended by my insurance company, my only other claim was for my excess and a nominal sum for phone calls. He managed to delay and procrastinate but finally a date was set for the court hearing, as everyone predicted he waited until less than a week before the hearing and then decided to settle. 


There really should be a penalty for people who do that this sort of thing, it wastes court time as well as messing people around. It has taken fifteen months to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion, he thought that he could make it go away if he ignored it but he didn't bargain for me having the tenacity of a Jack Russell Terrier, I never give up! 

Delayed

I missed Robbie so much while he was away and by the time Monday morning came I was longing to see him again. Before he went he told me that he expected to be back soon after lunch time on Monday, so I had a plan in my head of what we would do when he got back. I sent him a text when I woke up and I got a nice text back, then as I was getting on with my morning I was thinking about what he was doing and where he was on his journey. I rang him at about 9.15am and I was disappointed to find that he was still at home, but he said he would be leaving within half an hour so I didn't make a big issue of it.

It felt as if time stood still, I was keeping busy and doing things that I enjoyed, but I just wanted him to come back. Just after half past eleven I signed on to the internet and found that Robbie had left a comment only a couple of minutes before. I reassured myself that he must be using his netbook on the train, but when I rang to check he was still at home! I wasn't amused. I had willingly agreed to him going away for the weekend, in fact I had suggested it, but I felt that he was now taking liberties and I made my disappointment clear.

Robbie did his old trick of going silent because he knew I was cross, so I didn't have any more calls or texts from him until around 4pm, I expected that he would be well on his way, but he was only at Leicester! I had to wait until 8.15pm to pick him up at North Walsham, I was cross with him but i still really wanted to see him and I thought I would go mad having to wait so long. Finally it was time to go to the station, I drove off delighted that my long wait was almost over. I hadn't got very far when my phone rang (hands free), it was Robbie telling me to go back. I couldn't make sense of what he was saying so I had to find somewhere to pull over and ring him back. He had got on the wrong train, he discovered his mistake in time to avoid an unplanned trip to Lowestoft but by then he had missed his train! It was like a cruel joke, I had to turn back.

We were finally reunited an hour later. I was so glad to see him that my annoyance was quickly forgotten. We have the rest of our holiday to enjoy now.

Winter Woes

1st December dawned icy cold, one of those mornings when the prospect of getting out of bed seems unthinkable and the temptation to roll over and go back to sleep is hard to resist. I had the usual battle with the alarm clock and as usual it won, so by 5.40am I plodded downstairs ready to face the day. I'm not sure why I was surprised to find the car windows covered in a thick layer of ice, but I was; it was the first frosty morning this winter. My carefully timed morning routine had suffered a set back and the prospect of being late loomed large. The ice was soon cleared and I was on my way, but from now on I will need to allow time each morning to clear the windows. I hate winter!

The Never Ending Journey

Robbie, stubbornly decided to travel despite the snow yesterday and as I predicted he had big problems getting home again. He finally arrived home at 10.45pm, tired, cold and starving. For once food was was not the first thing on his mind (but it was a very close second) he was upset because he had ripped his trousers on a Voyager table. So that is another pair of trousers written off, I'm sure that man keeps Marks and Spencer in business!

This morning the snow has frozen, I couldn't even get into my car and because the doors were frozen shut and when I eventually got into the car my wipers were frozen solid and it was just a case of waiting for the heater get to work on the windscreen. The roads are treacherous and Robbie wisely decided that he should work from home today.

They Didn't Plan to Fail, They Failed to Plan!

I'm sorry, I'm still going on about trains, but there was yet another problem with the West Coast Mainline yesterday! I couldnt resist quoting from this article in The Times Rail expansion grinds to a halt as power line faults cause chaos

Last December Network Rail promised that a new timetable would “herald a step change in the frequency and speed of train services” unfortunately we didn't realise that meant more delays and chaos than ever! The article made me laugh out loud, Network Rail really make themselves look ridiculous The company has stopped carrying out daylight inspections of the lines and does them at night instead to avoid closing tracks during the day. An industry source said that it was much harder to spot defects at night.

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

A Quantum Leap

It is so cold, the snow from Monday is still hanging around, and where the roads and pavements have not been gritted it has become solid slippery ice. Robbie fell over and hurt his back on his way home from work this evening, it is hurting him but he seems to be able to move fairly freely so hopefully it will not get any worse. He'd had a difficult journey to work this morning, there were delays and cancellations apparently this was due to a broken rail somewhere near Birmingham and there were diversions in place as well due to a problem with overhead lines on the Trent Valley.. I He finally got to work just after 11am! I could tell by his texts that he was totally frustrated, the word 'farce' in capital letters was used in every sentence. His return journey was equally frustrating, and he didn't get home until 8.30pm! Tomorrow looks even worse in terms of rail travel because Robbie has just informed me that there are problems on the West Coast Mainline again, this time it is overhead wire problems at Bletchley and more overhead wire problems at Watford. It looks as if Network Rail tempted fate on 14th December last year an unknown Network Rail spokesman boasted "The achievement is massive and the result will be a quantum leap in services." and Iain Coucher said "Now it is complete passengers and freight operators will reap the benefits". Well it has certainly been a quantum leap – in the wrong direction! I think George the cat has the right idea – get as close to the fire as possible and stay there!

Road Rage

Every day of my life I seem to be rushing around taking people to or from various places. I am used to being the kids taxi service, and because Robbie doesn't drive I have to drive whenever we go shopping, to town, to the doctors or whatever, but now I am the only driver for my mum and step dad as well. I hate being late and I often find myself racing against the clock to pick someone up on time. It seems as if everything conspires against me, I have written before about my 'love' of milk floats but I really think the local milkman has some sort of vendetta against road users. If he is not creating chaos by dawdling along at 5 miles an hour, he abandons his vehicle in the middle of the road while he delivers the milk and he brings the traffic to a standstill. Northampton must hold the world record for road humps, but once you get used to them they don't need to cause too much of a problem, So why do I always get behind people who have to slow to a crawl for every road hump? The idiots who lower their suspension and put 'go faster stripes' on their cars are the worse, they shouldn't be on the road if they can't cope with ordinary road hazards. Then there are the Volvo drivers who seem to panic and almost come to a halt before tackling the road hump, there is no need for such a reaction, maybe we should just ban Volvos!

It is my step dad's birthday today so I am taking him and my mum out for lunch, he was so ill in September so I am very grateful that he is well enough to enjoy his birthday.

Northern Rail - Don't Know if They Are Coming or Going

My life has been really chaotic this week because of having to take my mum to and from Oxford to visit my step father in hospital, so it was nice to have a quiet few minutes listening to the radio yesterday lunchtime. You and Yours was on Radio 4 and they had a report about Northern Rail and the problems experienced by passengers at Worksop Station. As if putting up with delays and cancellations was not bad enough, the passengers complained that lack of information was adding to their frustration. Station staff at Worksop don't seem to able to get up to date information on delays, but the station Café owner has found a way of keeping customers up to date. The train crew ring ahead with their food orders and at the same time they update him with information on delays etc. Richard Allen the head of communications for Northern Rail was interviewed and to his credit he didn't try to excuse the situation. He explained that investment is needed for the company to replace old equipment at stations, and they also need to review staffing levels. He tried to duck and dive a bit when he was faced with their poor passenger survey statistics but on the whole he gave sensible down to earth answers. If the café system works, maybe the best thing they could do is build on that by making a more formal arrangement for train crew to phone ahead.

The Waiting Game

Robbie went to a gig in Birmingham on Monday evening, apparently it was one of his favourite groups called The Wedding Present. Robbie was incredulous that I have managed to get through life this far without ever hearing anything about them, and he decided to put that right by providing a potted history of the group and then making a strange noise which was allegedly singing. My eyes glazed over and I decided that in this case ignorance was bliss. My ears were still recovering from the tuneless roar that Robbie calls singing when he asked me to pick him up from the station at midnight. I agreed on the strict understanding that he would not sing to me again. I duly arrived at the station at 11.55pm just one minute before the train was due in. Within seconds a text arrived to say that they were delayed at Rugby! A succession of gloomy texts followed and I sat there feeling cold and tired until the intrepid traveller finally arrived at 1.00am, I was not impressed. The journey home consisted of a long rant from Robbie on the subject of Network Rail!

Robbie is going on a charter trip on Saturday and apparently his life will not be fulfilled unless I let him go to an open day at a cement works on Sunday. Well, how can I compete with the attractions of a cement works? One thing is absolutely certain, it will be a very long time before I agree to pick him up from the station at midnight!!

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

I am beginning to think that the world is conspiring against me. Why do the little tasks turn out to be so complicated and time consuming? I had to take the Galaxy to be serviced last week, this week it passed it's MOT and I was pleased that it was ready to go on holiday. Two days after the MOT the safety warning light came on to tell me to check the break pads, so it is going back again on Monday! The expense is bad enough but the inconvenience of arranging lifts to get to an from the garage is even worse.


Meg also has an appointment on Monday, she is going to the vet to get her booster injection and the kennel cough treatment. They put the kennel cough stuff up her nose, but the vet ends up wearing most of it because it always makes Meg sneeze.


On Tuesday morning Sam is going to the doctors for a medication review. The Micra is having it's MOT on Thursday and I am going to the hairdressers on Friday. I still need to book a medication review for Laura, she has to see the GP rather than the nurse for her review, because she has Pityriasis Lichenoides Chronica, an unusual skin condition that requires a lot of medication and she also takes medication for migraine. Dave the cat will also need to go back to the vet very soon because his paws are getting sore again. With all that to fit into an already busy life I think I am in for a stressful week.

On Friday I went to the doctors to drop off our repeat prescription requests and to book the medication reviews for Laura and Sam. The girl on reception informed me that Sam was very late for his review and was therefore not a priority. They use the date of birth as a review date, Sam's birthday is in December - who needs hayfever medication in December? They wouldn't thank me for taking up their time on that during Christmas week! I couldn't get an after school appointment for Sam until mid July so he has to miss an hour of school on Tuesday morning just for the nurse to tick a few boxes. I couldn't get an appointment for Laura at all, she has to see the GP for her review rather than the nurse because she is on beta blockers for her migraine and she has loads of medication for her skin condition. I have to ring at exactly 8.30am on Monday when new appointments wil be released. Until a couple of years ago the system worked quite well, you rang on the day and you got an appointment. Then Tony Blair decided that we had to be able to book ahead, the government did their usual micro management thing and imposed loads of new rules so now it is worse than it has ever been!

Robbie rang me at lunchtime on Friday to ask if I would mind picking him up from the station at 3.50pm because he had booked a hair appointment and he wouldn't be able to get home on time otherwise. I agreed and I was just pulling into the station when Robbie phoned, I couldn't take the call but when I had parked I found that he had sent a text with a grovelling apology telling me that he had given me the wrong time and he would be there an hour later. There was no point going home, by the time I got there I would have to turn around and go back again. It was pointless to get cross so I just sat there and waited. It was one of those days where I had rushed around all day but I ended up further behind than when I first started!

Why Are Men Such Slow Learners?

Why are men such slow learners? You would think by now that Robbie would have learned that certain behaviour provokes a negative response, but when Robbie finds himself in a hole he just keeps on digging!
He rang me at about 4.30pm yesterday to say that there was a problem with his usual route home, and he would try to get back via Nuneaton instead. I know he can't help it but it drives me mad when I am left in limbo, either everyone has to eat late or I have to cook several different meals. We were having roast pork and it wasn't something I could cook in stages, so everyone had to wait.

After several more progress bulletins Robbie hoped that he would be home between 6.45pm and 6.55pm but they encountered further hold ups and the train didn't get in until 7.30pm. A journey that should have taken an hour took three hours and by the time we sat down to our meal it was well past 8pm. I was irritated about him being late, not so much cross with him as frustrated by the situation because it happens so often. I'd had my own frustrations in the afternoon so by the time Robbie got home we were both tired and frustrated. That really wasn't the best time for him to start getting critical about the cooking! He came into the kitchen and started to tell me that I had cooked the peas too soon, he even tried to tell me how to fill the kettle! These are all trivial things, but I have told him about it so many times and he just will not learn that it winds me up. A few words were exchanged, but instead of backing off he started to micro manage how the plates were set out when I dished up the meal, I told him to be quiet and leave me alone - something he seems physically incapable of doing!

After our meal I was trying to get some work finished on the computer and I just needed to be left alone to get on with it. The others were watching the Soap Awards but Robbie did his usual thing, he started flapping his arms and demanding to know what he had done wrong. I tried to focus on my work but with Robbie flapping around like a cross between a dodo and Why Bird! Do you remember Why Bird from Playdays? he had such an irritating voice. In the end I couldn't ignore Robbie any more and I told him to go fry his face, everyone has their limits - even me! The children thought it was hilarious, but I wished I hadn't reacted. It had the desired effect because Robbie took himself off to bed leaving me to tackle the washing up.

This morning he was sorry, but still annoying, I wasn't cross anymore, just exhausted. He sent me a text in an attempt to get back into my good books, a simple sorry would have been fine, but it was a typical Robbie approach. The text said Excellent and rather touching piece on Gwyneth Dunwoody in Rail by Nigel Harris. It is a good thing I can read between the lines! Gwyneth Dunwoody was a bit of a rarity in politics, she said what she meant and she meant what she said, and she would stand up for what she believed was right even if it didn't always suit her party. You have to admire a person with that sort of strength and independence even if you don't always agree with her politics. She will be missed especially by those involved in transport.

Watching the World Go By

You know when you see cartoon characters with steam coming out of their ears - I know exactly how they feel! Robbie and I were going to the garage to check the tyres and to do all those routine car jobs last night, so I arranged to drop Laura at work and then pick Robbie up from the station. Shortly before I was due to leave the house he rang to say that the line was blocked because a train had failed. He said not to worry because he would only be 35 minutes late. I had to leave as planned in order to get Laura to work on time, so I found myself sitting in the station car park watching the world go by. Whoever it was that coined the phrase 'the sights you see when you haven't got your gun' was probably sitting in the car park at Northampton when that thought struck them. There was enough raw material to keep Trinny and Susannah fully occupied for years! I began to wonder if there is a national shortage of mirrors? Why do men wear brown shoes with black suits? it looks horrible. I saw a so many people with pinstriped suits, striped shirts and patterned ties, have they never heard that 'less is more' or are they just taking revenge on the world? How difficult is it to buy a pair of trousers that actually fits? There seems to be an epidemic of 'ankle bashers' surely people must notice that their trousers are at half mast, it makes them look as if they have escaped from an institution. I know old men have a tendency to pull their trousers up to fasten under their chin, but ankle basher syndrome seems to affect a wide variety of people.

I watched groups of passengers spilling out onto the station, looking hopefully for Robbie among the crowd. He wasn't there. A series of texts detailed his very slow progress, each text ended with the word 'farce' in capital letters. I think it's a man thing, he does something similar when he is loosing an argument, he underlines every statement with the word 'fact'. By the time he finally arrived it was too late to mess around with the car, we had to get home in time to rescue the chicken casserole. Robbie wanted to talk about every detail of his journey and to explain the exact cause of the delay. I wanted to think about anything other than trains, surely I had endured enough for one night, he didn't take the hint and in the end he was faced with a stark choice - shut up about trains or walk home!

Robbie seems to have taken on some 'Hulk' like tendencies. On Monday he tore his shirt on the arm near the elbow, yesterday he tore a second shirt in exactly the same place. I suggested that he should wear that horrible multi coloured striped shirt today, I wouldn't be too bothered if he ripped that one. I suspect this may be a cunning plan to justify more new shirts, but I think he still has more than enough shirts to see him through the next few months!

The Tip of the Iceberg!

I was very tired on Thursday morning after dealing with the dog during the night. By lunchtime I could feel myself nodding off and I prescribed a cup of tea and a little rest, with Radio 4 for company of course. I had just settled down when I almost choked on my tea. The irritatingly complacent tones of Iain Coucher were intruding into the room. It feels as if I can't get away from Network Rail. It is bad enough listening to Robbie moaning about them every day, and I'd had a taste of their inability to cope with joined up thinking at Northampton Station the night before, so the last thing I wanted was that man intruding into my lounge.

I'm not sure what is going on in Northampton, maybe the council are challenging Bristol for the title of road cone capital of the UK. For months we have endured road closures and road works involving one of the most important roundabouts in the town. Work on the roundabout finished a couple of weeks ago and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because it had cased me a lot of inconvenience. My relief was short lived, the roadworks have now radiated out to other equally inconvenient sites and the cones haven't gone, they have just moved down the road. The road outside the front entrance to the railway station is closed and they have dug a massive hole in the road, so I was forced to enter the station via the long stay car park at the back. It is an awkward entrance anyway, but visiting the station was turned into a near death experienced by having six massive lorries loaded with huge bits of track maintenance equipment, parked nose to tail along the narrowest and most dangerous part. They must have known in advance that the council planned to create a 'heffalump trap' at the front entrance, so you would have thought that even with their limited resources in the brain cell department, they could have worked out that this was not a good time to block the other entrance/exit.

Anyway back to Mr Complacent on the radio. He managed to cure my tiredness because I was far too cross to be tired. He is still rambling on about what a good job they are doing and how everyone else was at fault regarding the New Year debacle. That old phrase comes to mind, There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.

As usual when the railways are mentioned in the media Christian Woolmer was wheeled out to give an expert analysis. He talked a lot of sense, but he hasn't really got the sort of voice that makes you want to listen, I guess he is the David Bellamy of the railway world - much better in print. His assessment of the cause of the previous delay and the potential for further disruption was much more plausible, I suspect we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far! Even if Network Rail manage the Rugby shut down this Easter better than the New Year fiasco, weekend rail travel from Northampton to Birmingham will still be a bit like the dodo - a thing of the past!

Robbie's journey to work today (Friday) took three hours and put him in a foul mood, he arrived home at 9.40pm after an equally challenging return journey. I think we would all be a bit more forgiving about blocked lines and replacement coaches if we thought there was a realistic possibility of a better service after the upgrade, but if they don't tell the truth about the present why should we believe the promises about the future!

'Me Time' 08.03.08

Robbie is out playing trains again today, he has gone to Carlisle on a charter, he mentioned something about tractors but I am not sure of the details because I tend to 'tune him out' when he goes on and on about trains (or anything else for that matter). He had to leave soon after 5am and he assured me that he wouldn't wake me up, as always that proved a forlorn hope, the sound of Robbie galloping around the house was enough to wake the dead, but just in case anyone in the street was still managing to slumber he shut the door with such force that we thought there had been another earthquake!

I had expected him to encounter some sort of hold up, he always seems to attract trouble when he travels north. Today he had hardly left the county before he encountered problems, a cable fire between Birmingham International and New Street had caused chaos. He rang me to tell me about it, but I begged him to just give me the abridged version, so I am a bit sketchy on the detail, but I know that they got away safely in the end.

I decided that I was going to have some 'me' time too, so after providing Laura with a chauffeur service to and from the hairdressers I settled down to some family history research, but it was one of those frustrating days when I just kept hitting brick walls. Laura had gone to town to buy yet more shoes (something else for me to trip over in the hall) and Sam had scurried off to his room allegedly he was going to rediscover the carpet and have a general tidy up, but judging by his lack of progress I suspect he was watching a DVD. At least I had a couple of hours of peace, I gave up on the family history because it was making me frustrated, but I managed a few more chapters of A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L Sayers, I have read it at least twice before but it is just as good the third time.

Robbie will not be home until after midnight and I don't suppose his arrival will be any quieter than his departure, but if the wakes me up to tell me about his day I may not be responsible for my actions. Tomorrow I intend to listen to the Archers omnibus before I even think about the routine of the day, and Robbie can make me lots of cups of tea to make up for abandoning me today!

The 'Robbie Effect' 16.02.08

The 'Robbie effect' on the railways is becoming rather worrying and people have started to notice. Every time he travels north he seems to jinx the network and either he gets delayed or the whole system grinds to a halt. He has run through most of the possible causes of delay from livestock on the line to high wind, floods, land slip, a bridge bash, power failure and assorted accidents. He went to Crewe yesterday evening to a retirement 'do' and he rang me several times detailing his return journey. He wanted a lift and we have major road works near the station so I needed to allow for a longer journey time to get to the station. I had already left the house when he sent a text to say that he was delayed due to a fatality at Nuneaton, I didn't pick up the text until I got to the station so I wasn't best pleased. I went home and had the added pleasure of driving back to the station later on to fetch him. That poor person, it is a horrible way to meet their end and terribly upsetting for the driver and those who have to clear up.

So once again Robbie has travelled north and once again there was a delay. Is he jinxed? Why does it always happen when he travels? He would hate it, but to avoid the 'Robbie factor' it may be worth Network Rail imposing a travel ban and paying for him to go everywhere by taxi. They should understand the concept, after all, they are the cause of so many other passengers being forced off the rails and ferried around by bus and taxi.

If...... 11.02.08

If I failed to meet my targets at work I would wave goodbye to my bonus.
If I continually failed to meet my objectives ...........
If my leadership was inadequate.....
If my inaction damaged the reputation of the company ....
If I was invisible when problems arose and I left my minions to face the music ................
If I didn't learn from my mistakes.....
If I tried to shift the blame to everyone else ..............
If I was responsible for appalling customer service, arrogance, and woefully inaccurate information..........
If these failures were compounded by massive budget overspends, huge fines and compensation claims ......
I would be sacked!!

So how did they get away with it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/02/11/cnrail111.xml

Who created this monster and who was so keen to have a scapegoat that they failed to impose and maintain adequate regulation?

Here's a clue

The last time I encountered this sort of madness I was reading Alice in Wonderland!!

Network Rail - The Big Question 02.02.08

It seems that Network Rail is one of three unlikely companies that have been granted permission to award their own qualifications that will have equivalent status to A Levels and diplomas. When I heard this announced on the news a question sprang to my mind. Will Network Rail be restricted to weekday training, and if not will their trainees find their rail qualification replaced with a bus qualification?!

I am not sure how much meaning a Mc Donald's A Level will have, but I can see that a Network Rail qualification would be a great asset to anyone considering a career in politics. After all, experience in blame shifting, diversion, diversion and pointless delay would seem to be a great advantage!

The real story