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Re: The perils of public transport {rant}

"Paul Weaver" <usenet@isorox.co.uk> wrote in message
news:020f5c0d-4f53-46c0-aa07-2d8d0da5f6f6@x16g2000prn.googlegroups.com...
Not fancying a 6 hour drive home on my own on a Sunday evening (when
Radio 2 is pretty crap after Dale Winton), I decided to chance a train
ride -- sleeper births were unfortunately fully booked, but  with
FGW's refurbished trains, the 8 hour trip seemed acceptable. The
chance to sit in relative comfort reading pointless things on
t'internet (3g) and catching up on TV seemed much preferable to
sitting in a traffic jam.

Boarding at a backwater at the arse end of Cornwall on an early Sunday
evening, and having checked the ticket office was shut, I assumed
buying a ticket on the train would be OK. Got on the train and noticed
that all of the standard class seats had reservations. Fine, so I
asked the "train manager" if weekend first was available, he said
"yes, £10 to upgrade".

Great, took a seat in an oversized first class seat, plugged the
laptop in, and started catching up on emails. The same manager walked
through asking for tickets, and I proffered my debit card, YP railcard
(still valid -- until november..), and asked for a "Saver Return to
London or whatever replace them".

I was then rudely told I should have bought my ticket from a machine
I've never seen at St Erth. I'm hardly going to be fare-dodging when
it's a 6 hour trip and I'd already talked to the train bloke when I
got on!

Just to wind me up further the guard claimed his machine wouldn't read
my card (which I've never had a problem with before). Strangely it
started working when I offered a second card.

Still, being in a good mood, I took it in my stride, and decided to
sample what turned out to be a surprisingly adequate cheeseburger. Not
as good as motorway service grub, but not too bad. I even decided to
ignore the fact the fact the buffet attendant decided retreated into
her compartment for 5 minutes!

It was so good about 2 hours later I decided to return to the buffet
for another (I was pretty hungry by this point -- a microwaved burger
doesn't meet the quality of pub grub I'd get if I drove)

I was then told (by a new, rather thick, buffet person) the microwave
had "broken" (somewhere between Plymouth and Exeter I assume).

Fine. It's annoying, if one motorway service station is shut there's
one 20 minute down the line, but I can accept these things. Somewhere
near Taunton the aroma of hot food flooded the cabin. Eagerly I
returned to the buffet. "It's still broken", I was told, however I was
happy to find my first class ticket would get me a mouldy old biscuit
and some peanuts. 2 kitkats set me back £1.20

Charming.

After a customary 30 minute delay stuck in Southall, we finally get
into London, an hour after leaving Reading (which we were 15 mintues
late at anyway). Checking the time I realise I could probably get the
next train from Euston. I dart for the underground (Circle/District as
I was at the front of the train)

Get on a District to Edgware road, which arrived after a minute, the
best part of the trip. My bladder regretted it though.

We arrived as Edgware road to see the opposite train waiting for us.
Glorious, things were looking up. As our doors opened, the departing
train on the opposite platform shut. It hadn't even started moving by
the time several angry travellers made the 15 foot journey across the
platform.

Still, a 5 minute wait for the next train (half the time it takes for
the entire PAD-EUS journey on a bike) and H&C train arrives.

My bladder, by this stage, is screaming. Fortunatly I remember that
there's a toilet at baker street. Looking out of the train as well
pull into the station I see barriers across it. I assume it's only
open "whenever the staff feel like it", which seems to be the moral of
public transport.

We finally pull into Euston Square, and head to Euston. First stop is
obvious, however signs inform me that despite my £3,000 season ticket,
or £60 ticket from cornwall, I was expected to find 30p from somwhere.
I vaugely have memories of a motorway service station charging
somewhere on the M40. I was so flabbergasted at the time that I tend
to avoid travelling on that motorway, and I certainly haven't
encountered that service station again. It's normal at train stations
to be "nickle-and-dimed" for every last service -- it's like ryanair
run the place.

I then, at 10-someting pm, decided that getting some food would be a
good thing (having been on the train since 4). Turn up at the
seemingly open burger king as some guy behind the counter tells me
they're closed. In plain view there are about a dozen burgers ready to
go, not to mention a pile of chips. What a disgusting waste of food.

The secondary burger king (which used to open until after the last
train) at the station has been shut for months, leaving a sandwich
place the only source of food.

It's then onto a skanky 321 for the slow final leg.

Perhaps it's a tainted memory, but I'm sure that train journeys used
to be a hell of a lot nicer, even 5 years ago -- as it is there's not
much in a UK intercity train journey and a plane journey. Both are
degrading and dis-spiriting, a hell of a lot more than a traffic jam.

Having said that, never had a problem with train journeys in Holland,
or on Eurostar, and I don't really have much of an issue with rush-
hour commuter services.

A "Train Station"! Was this journey made in the USA?

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