The omens were not good when we arrived at the station car park to find lots of empty parking spaces, but the pay and display machine wasn’t working so Robbie had to run around the car park looking for one that worked. When we finally got that sorted out we walked to the station building to find that London Midland had taken poor service to a new low. The queues at the ticket office were longer than the queues for the Next sale! According to the man when we finally got to the front of the queue this was because they were one person short on the ticket desks. It was impossible to hear what the man at the ticket desk was saying, so that added to the time taken by each customer and caused general confusion. For those that survived the car park and the queues the man on the ticket barrier was ‘cheerfulness personified’ I am not sure if he was there to check tickets or to repel all boarders!
I thought things would get better from that point but I was wrong. It was almost time for the train to go and it was almost out of sight at the far end of the platform. It was so far away that it was practically at Kings Heath!! Robbie made me run, we caught the train but it set my asthma off and left me struggling to breathe. Undeterred Robbie marched me through carriage after carriage in search of exactly the right seat. When we were finally seated and I had recovered the power of speech I begged Robbie not to make me run anymore today. His suggestion that I should keep my inhaler close by did not fill me with hope, so I told him in no uncertain terms that my running days are over.
Usually the London Midland train managers are good, but we got the exception that proves the rule, she looked a mess and she was inarticulate. Announcements matter to people, they need to be clear and easy to understand, but she failed on both counts. This became more important later in the journey when it was announced that the train would be terminating at Birmingham International. This left a lot of confused and upset passengers who didn’t understand what was happening and were worried about missing connections, so Robbie did his best to help the people around us.
To be fair, he didn’t make me run between platforms at Birmingham International, it was more of a trot, but it wasn’t a good experience. I guess it was worth it because we completed our journey to New Street on a Virgin Pendolino with an excellent train manager. Robbie was getting very wound up because the points failure near New Street that had interrupted our journey had made us very late and we were in danger of missing our connection at Moor Street. When we arrived at New Street Robbie left the train like a greyhound out of a trap, weaving around people, dodging obstacles (there were plenty of them) and generally making a quick getaway. I was left to trot along behind trying not to lose him. When we got outside I had to beg him to walk more slowly even if it meant missing the train, he was not a happy chap, but he did slow down. We didn’t have time to admire Moor Street, it looks like a pleasant station, but we did make our connection with a whole minute to spare!
We were travelling to London Marylebone in the Business Zone on a Chiltern Railways mainline loco hauled service. All I really cared about was being able to sit down and get my breath back. I must admit that the seat was quite comfortable; at least my legs didn’t dangle in the air like they do on an HST! It was a fairly pleasant environment except that the p.a system didn’t work, properly, it sounded very faint and you couldn’t hear what was being said. It didn’t worry me too much because I was getting off at Marylebone but it would have mattered more if I had wanted to get off at one of the other stations it stopped at.
To be fair there wasn’t much else to complain about except the tea which was almost as putrid as Cross Country tea, surely a decent cup of tea is not too much to hope for, it is not rocket science! There was one other unnerving aspect to the journey, the toilet. It was clean enough, and it was certainly big enough, but it must have been designed by a man. The toilet roll dispenser would be within easy reach of the right hand for a person standing up, but a person who is seated has to reach behind over their left shoulder to reach it, not the easiest manoeuvre. Even worse there is a full length mirror which gives a full view of you seated on the ‘throne’ – unnerving to say the least! A man would be able to turn his back on the mirror but anyone sitting can’t avoid the view.
When we got back to Moor Street I made sure that we walked back to New Street at a manageable speed. I couldn’t run for another train if my life depended on it! We had plenty of time before our train was due to leave, so we paid a quick visit to WH Smith to buy a magazine. Then back to the platform for the best part of my day, a Virgin Pendolino to Rugby, a perfect journey despite the mad man swearing at the top of his voice in the quiet coach!
The final part of our journey to Northampton on a London Midland service was uneventful but noisy; Robbie said that he is longing for the children to go back to school! Northampton Station was calmer, but no more welcoming than when we left this morning. There is one part of the station that deserves praise, the toilets. They are always clean and well looked after and they are free!
