Pardon me, boys ...

I had a phonecall this afternoon from Ned, saying they were safely in a Carlisle pub, waiting for their train. They enquired about catching an earlier one, but that would have cost them an extra £32 each. It’s a ridiculous system we have now. Back in ‘the old days’ you bought a ticket, either in advance for a particular day or whenever you wanted to travel, and it was for whatever time train you fancied catching. As long as it was off-peak it didn't matter, the price was the same. Now it’s for a particular train, and if you miss that one, then your ticket’s no good. Tickets should be booked in advance, but bookings can’t start till about a month before the proposed journey, and different timed trains are released on different dates. You have to keep phoning or visiting your local (ha ha) station to enquire. If you just turn up to catch a train, you might not be able to get one because they might be fully booked. Why not put on an extra carriage, then? Make a bit more money? And the closer you get to the proposed date of departure, the more the ticket costs. If you have a family crisis and need to get across the country as soon as possible, then you’re going to pay through the nose for the privilege. In fact in that situation it is cheaper and quicker to fly. So much for encouraging people to get out of their cars and use public transport.

I used to love travelling by train, and did a lot, but not now. When I have used the train in the past few years the service has been excellent – the only delay was when a stupid dork pulled the communication cord and ran away, so the train was stranded for half an hour while its airbrakes recharged. We missed our connection, and everyone getting on the train further down the line moaned and unfairly blamed the rail company.

Anyway, the upshot is that they have been sat in a pub for most of the afternoon, when they could have been steaming (dieselling? electricking?) homewards and I could have met them at a reasonable hour. Instead it’ll be about midnight when they reach Leamington and I’ll be a really tired old crosspatch.

Welcome home, happy wanderers.