I've finally been printed!!

[Mich the Tester]

You ******* arse

Yes, indeed he does.

[Pondlife]

Funny that, they've spelt your name wrong.



You ******* arse

Another epic fail by GB.

It's almost like he's not even trying anymore.

If he had actually written the letter and got it published as Mr Blenkinsop then it would have restored some of my faith in the sockiemaster.

C'mon who ever owns this one. Pull your blinking finger out!

[stek]

I got read out on Skinner and Baddiel's Unplanned - something I contributed to Bolton Wanderers Fanzine 'Tripe 'N' Trotters' which was suitably detrimental to West Bromwich Albion, so David Baddiel read it out to Frank Skinner, despite the 'no football' mantra on Unplanned. It was something about WBA signing Saddam Hussien and Chemical Ali as big men up front, bet it's dead unfunny now. Then as well prolly.

Wish I could find it on P2P, the editor of T 'N' T (now something big on 442 magazine) denies it happened, or doesn't remember, or never saw it. Or maybe I just dreamt it.

[Incognito]

Funny that, they've spelt your name wrong.

F. Harvey

Thornton Hill, Exeter

You ******* arse

[gricerboy]

In The Exeter Gazette no less

'Ave a Laugh Line

Full transcript here for those who can't be bothered to follow the link:

SPEAKING as a long-suffering victim of First Great Western's capricious rail service, I offer only grudging congratulations for the 150th anniversary of the Exeter-Exmouth line currently operated by this company.

In particular, the timetable alterations caused by festivities on the anniversary date, Sunday May 1, were implemented in a slapdash way which caused inconvenience to passengers.
While impressed by the substantial programme of celebratory events organised by the Avocet Line Rail-Users' Group, one feels the time changes should have been displayed much more clearly at Exeter Central station.

I do not know how well the alterations were flagged at St David's station, but Central passengers such as myself were inconvenienced by a row of thoughtlessly located posters announcing the alterations but displayed along the station bridge, an area reached only after one has bought a ticket, and not in the entrance hall or (as far as I am aware) outside the station.
Surely it is basic common sense to ensure such alterations are prominently conveyed before people buy tickets, not in a zone they only tread after doing so and after entering the bridge.
As a result of this, hapless passengers such as myself may have attempted to catch the normal timetabled 10.52am train, only to find it had been replaced by the special Exmouth Flier at 10.44. This was roaring off just as I arrived at the platform at 10.45.

No apology or explanation was visible for the cancelled 10.52, and the next train was not until 12.05, thus condemning me to unwantedly traipse around Exeter city centre in the interim, and catch the 12.05pm to arrive at Exmouth over an hour-and-a-quarter later than intended. But maybe I was lucky: if ticket barriers had been operating, I would have been trapped at Exeter Central or, if opting to leave the station, obliged to buy another ticket for the delayed journey.

True, the special timetable was detailed in the Avocet 150 leaflet - but no indication was given that the 10.44 supplanted the 10.52, nor that a few subsequent times were also altered that day. And not every customer would even have been aware of the anniversary in the first place.

As I was also attending the food festival in Northernhay Gardens that day, for which last admission was at 4pm, the rail delay also meant insufficient time was left to visit Topsham, to see further rail exhibitions, on the way back from Exmouth.

This is a microcosm of the unreliable, cavalier service we have come to expect from modern rail companies. First Great Western? Worst Late Worst 'Un, more like. Avocet Line? 'Ave-a-Laugh Line, more like.

Nigel Blenkinsop (Peak Army South West Region Lead Coordinator)

Weston Super Mare