My Train Journey This Morning

[original PM]

that would chafe

[Doggy Styles]

It's back! And it's bigger and better...

Yes, that's right. I'm roaming the British rail network on a daily basis to earn my crust so you'll all be delighted to hear that you can catch up with my thrills and spills on these very pages.

This is my daily schlepp: WSM - Bath Spa (change) - Salisbury (change) - Andover (where I have a new gig with Twinings Teas!).

Hi Gricer!

Nice, but two changes sounds fraught with risk for a daily commute. What is your timetable for a typical morning?

[gricerboy]

Hi Gricer!

Nice, but two changes sounds fraught with risk for a daily commute. What is your timetable for a typical morning?

I'm a well known character on the rail network DS and there are plenty of folks willing to indulge me in the event of any disruption to the schedule whether it's toasted trumpets in the station master's office or riding shotgun in the cab of a goods train.

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

A question of etiquette.

You board the train, get a double seat to yourself and someone gets on at a station down the line and sits next to you.

They then proceed to fold down the tray table and set out all the tubs and beakers etc containing their breakfast & somehow also manage to find room for a laptop, the keyboard of which with be clattering away like a Brazilian samba band on steroids for the rest of the trip.

Just as they were finally settled in, my stop hoves into view and I have the unmitigated audacity to ask the occupant of the neighbouring pop-up breakfast bar if I could squeeze through in order to alight from the train and the cheeky young strumpet refused to fold her table up so I had to perform a very inelegant limbo in order to prevent muesli and soya milk flying everywhere.

I should have told her I was getting off at the next stop, apparently, and let her have the window seat.

I had no idea this was a de rigeur feature of modern traveling etiquette.

[NigelJK]

Tell them next time to reserve a window seat if that's what they want.

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

Tell them next time to reserve a window seat if that's what they want.

I could just sit in the aisle seat from the start but I feel this makes me look antisocial because people will think I'm sitting there to reduce the chances of having somebody sit next to me.

Which, of course, would be very true.