Robbie has been really struggling mobility wise recently, in fact at the end of last week he was so bad that he simply couldn't make it to work and he had to work from home. This week it has been a real struggle for him but he has got himself to work. At times like this he has to plan his journey even more carefully than usual, making sure that he travels on a train that gives him more leg room and planning his return journey so that it works well with his bus connections and does not involve an excessive amount of standing around in the the cold.
Yesterday his train home was running on time, but it was delayed at Rugby to allow a freight train that was running late to go ahead of the passenger train. This caused great inconvenience to the passengers as the train arrived at Northampton 12 minutes late. Meaning that Robbie missed his bus - and at that time in the evening buses are not very frequent. He was forced to walk to the bus station, a long walk when you are in pain, all up hill, and just to make matters worse it was freezing cold and raining heavily. By this time he had missed his connecting bus too, so he had a long cold wait at the bus station. It was passed 9.30pm when he eventually got home, and by then he was in agony.
Unfortunately this issue of a passenger train being delayed at Rugby in favour of a late freight train is a frequent problem for passengers. Robbie expressed his frustration (rather mildly in the circumstances) on facebook. He was met with a barrage of criticism from one person who works for a company which until now I have trusted and respected. Among his various unhelpful comments was a suggestion that Robbie should just put up with it and that he detested passengers claiming compensation because it takes money out of the railways. He also said 'thats the joy of public transport' and 'if you don't like it get a car' I was staggered by his attitude, it makes me wonder how many other people think like that. It certainly makes me wonder if the company he works for shares his lack of respect for passengers! Passengers have paid for a service and they should complain when things go wrong, especially if the same problem happens often. It is the only way to make rail operators understand how much inconvenience it causes and hopefully this in turn will lead to better service. It really isn't about compensation, nothing could compensate for such a miserable end to Robbie's day. If a train is delayed by a tragedy or by problems arising from bad weather that's one thing, and most passengers would be understanding about that, but to deliberately delay a passenger train that was running on time to accommodate a late running freight train has to be wrong.
I understand that the railway has many customers and freight companies need to make a living too, but whatever the rules say, it is not unreasonable for passengers to expect their trains to be punctual and to expect that consideration will be given to their needs.
Robbie apologised for being a miserable old man yesterday. The reason for his strop was (allegedly) that I had made him late and he would miss his train. Robbie is an unstoppable force and absolutely nothing could make him late if he didn't want to be delayed. Yesterday morning he did everything possible to make himself late, he even stopped to put the recycling out for collection - he never usually does that. Even when he got to the station he wouldn't hurry because he was adamant that he was too late and it was all my fault. It is hard to describe Robbie walking in fairy steps - but I wish I had it on film! Anyway despite his best efforts he caught his train so I didn't make him late after all!The evening before, Robbie had told me that he'd turned down the chance of 'playing trains' at the weekend because he needed to be at home. Roughly translated that means that he dare not push his luck any further after last week! Of course what Robbie says does not always turn out to be what Robbie does. Yesterday evening he had been reasonably pleasant, he was sitting in his corner glued to his computer when he was overcome with what I can only describe as an excess of pleasure. His moans of excitement were rather disconcerting, but I knew that only one thing could have that sort of effect on Robbie - a train! Not any old train, his favourite deltic, Royal Scots Grey. Apparently it will be at Neville Hill at the weekend and despite not having broached the subject yet, I know that I will have another lonely weekend, because where the Royal Scots Grey goes Robbie is sure to follow. Oh well, if I have to put up with another weekend without him, I'm going to enjoy myself too, maybe I will go somewhere nice.
Robbie rang me on Saturday morning at around 10am, he didn't have much to say except a load of drivel about trains, but he did mention that he would get home late on Saturday night rather than Sunday morning because he could get a lift. I gave him very firm instructions not to wake me up but I forgot to check that he had his house key. He didn't ring me again on Saturday, he forgets that I exist when he is 'playing trains'. Evening came and before I knew it was past 11pm and still no word from Robbie. The question of locking the front door bothered me, I couldn't go to bed and leave it open, I could lock it but not put the chain on, but there was a good chance that he didn't have his key because he didn't take his briefcase on Friday. I decided to wait up for him, so I kept myself busy with jobs until after 2am, when he rang to say that he was just going to bed! He embarked on a long and contorted story to explain his change of plan, the short version was that the train was seriously delayed. I wasn't interested in the detail, I just wanted to know why he didn't let me know earlier. He spluttered a bit, he even attempted to think up an excuse, but simple truth is that he forgot. I waited up until past 2am for nothing, I want overjoyed about it. Robbie will certainly not go down in history as one of the worlds great communicators.
