Or is it East Coast trains formerly known as National Express, also formally known as GNER. With so many companies trying and inexplicably failing to turn a profit on one of the country’s busiest routes its hard to keep up with who is running the trains still. When I last caught this service the take over had been so recent that the branding hadn’t caught up yet.
I’m not entirely sure on this but from what I recall, the tracks are owned by the government, who farm out the right to run the business for the next decade or so. Naturally the contract goes to the company who will claim to make the most profit so bids are angled in that way. But heres the catch, the profits don’t go to the government but to the shareholders of the company. So once a company has the contract, they have the keep the shareholders happy. So the fares go up while the amount spent on track maintenance goes down. In the end the taxpayer looses out, paying more for less service while the profits are taken out of the railways.
Despite all the companies coming and going some things haven’t changed. The toilets are still dank, dark pits only ever to be used in moments of sheer desperation. The guards are the usual mix of hopelessly surly and unhelpful at one end, or manically cheerful types who seem on the brink of snapping. The ‘wide range of snacks and treats’ from the buffet bar are still just packets of crisps and soul-sapping soggy sandwiches.
Some things have changed in the past few years though. The trains have been wired up so you can connect to the internet, something which is very popular judging by the proliferation of laptop bearers elbowing for table room. The heaters work – far too effectively for such a mild winter day in fact. And very importantly the trains can still be cheap enough to be a viable alternative to flying.
My train ride from London to Glasgow will take 5 1/2 hours for the princely sum of £65. A flight would take about 40 minutes for £140 (more if you want to check in a bag full of Christmas presents or even just use the loo). On that basis flying seems to win out. But then you have to factor in the time taken to get to one of London’s satellite airports, checking in and getting through security, and then getting into Glasgow from the airport at the other end. All of which can mean the journey time for flying starts getting up over the 4 hour mark.
Or I could nip up to a central London station a few minutes early then sit at a table surfing the internet or watching a film for an extra 90 minutes and arrive in the middle of Glasgow – without having to strip down for airport security.
Train travel in Britain could easily become the ‘way of the future’ but it would need a serious overhaul of the current industry – toilets and all.
Filed under: Holidays
A quick browse through my websites showed me that this is not the only sadly neglected site. My Flickr site was bare of new offerings and I found my photos from our September holiday still hadn’t been uploaded.
I don’t flatter myself as much of a photographer, but perhaps I can set an example as to how not to do it?
Filed under: Holidays
With James needing to take some holiday before the end of March, we each took a week off work to see what mischief we could get up to. The plan for a tour of the battlefields of northern France was out, partly because we’d need to hire a car but mostly because neither of us could work up the energy to look into and book it.
Thus the decision to holiday on English soil where we could be sure of a hot cup-pa and a scone (and a reassuring que to get them) where ever we went. York beckoned as a place I had vague memories of 20 years previously and with a Gothic minster and mediaeval wall to meander along James was in. So despite the maps in London showing everything north of the M25 marked with ‘Ye North – ere be dragons’ we plodded up on a train for two nights in the ancient town.
Arriving at mid-day and dumping the bags in a nice wee B&B 5 mins walk from the Minster, the first stop for the afternoon was a meander round the National Rail Museum. This was something James had really been looking forward to and set about inspecting engines and taking photos with great enthusiasm. The first two sheds with exhibits on the ‘Stephenson Rocket‘, the royal cars and little details like the Victorian picnic baskets was quite a treat. While it was amusing to watch James studying the engines with all the enthusiasm of the 5 year olds beside him, it was a little worrying to see the inner anorak coming out.
I’ll confess though by the time we were half way through the third shed full of engines I was lagging behind and dreaming of a scone. James took the hint when my comment ‘What’s around this corner? Oh another train’ hit home. So we headed out in to the the bright sunshine for a tour of the city walls. Its a very nice walk round the existing 3km of the mediaeval walls with views of the old town centre and across to the Minster. They are well preserved all the way along, with some of the ‘bars’ (In Yorkshire gates are called ‘bars’ and the streets are called ‘gates’) still showing damage from the siege by the parliamentarians in the civil war.
A meander round the Museum Gardens turned up something we had been advised to seek out by the friendly B&B owners. Some quite well excavated remains of the city walls dating through Mediaeval and Norman times down to the Roman fort. The later builders had built on top of the Roman fortifications and had as such preserved them quite well. The excavations had also turned up several old Roman coffins which were strewn around the grass. The gardens also boasted the ruins of the Abbey of St Mary’s, built at roughly the same time as the Minster, but with a bigger footprint.
We woke up early the next day to a very promising blue sky and with a ‘full Yorkshire’ breakfast under our belts set off to ‘do’ the Minster, anticipating some very fine views from the Tower. Unfortunately they were closed till 2pm for something called the ‘Installation of the Chancellor of York University’. Dona will be proud of her son, who complained very loudly of the steps of one of the most magnificent Cathedrals in the world – ‘Damn, it looks like their god-bothering’. He was too annoyed to see the looks on the faces of the people being ushered inside but it was a treat I assure you.
Disappointed, but determined to make the best of it we went straight round to the House of the Treasurer of the Minster for a good look through that – a second prize if you will. They were closed for refurbishment. By this time we were both getting a little annoyed – there was nothing about the closures on any notice boards the previous evening while we were snooping round like good tourists photographing everything.
So we went to the Information Centre to find if there was a decent way to get out on the moors and see some of this British countryside we hear so much about. The ‘Moor bus’ service round the moors and the trains to get you there were seasonal and started up in April. While the local bus could get us to the Moors it would just take about 2 hours each way, the next bus was in an hours time and the last bus back was at 5. The prospect of a 4 hour round trip to spend 3 hours in a wee village didn’t appeal so we were back out on the street.
Despite the failure of Plans A, B and C for the morning, we struck out across town for Plan D – a tour and tasting round York Brewery. Something which would definitely make the morning a little brighter and set us up for the afternoon. But when we got there the brewery was (can you see where this is going yet)…. yes it too was closed. It didn’t open till noon, still an hour away. Unbelievably we were in York at 11am on a weekday morning and everything was closed.
An aimless, disgruntled and cold meander round the centre found us standing next to the Merchant Adventurers Hall, a fine mediaeval building which was mercifully open. The hall itself was quite a sight, with a huge oak beamed roof and a floor which bowed in the centre like a youth hostel bed. So James got some decent photos in while I meandered round with an audio guide. It was an intriguing visit and it was nice to have found something open.
Half past one found us on the steps on the Minster once again, this time a huge Italian lunch inside but sadly an afternoon that was clouding over. There was still confusion as they were packing up from the morning service while setting up another one and for a moment it looked as though they’d be closed all day. We were let in free of charge however which was a bonus after our disappointment and while the Tower was closed the Under-croft was open for the usual fee.
With two huge meals already for the day, a big dinner was out of the question, so we went to a local iconic tea room called ‘Betty’s‘. Built in the 1920′s, it had art deco decor, staff dressed in suits and blazers, a proper tea trolley and a live pianist. Definitely the place to go in York for afternoon tea or a light meal. We polished off the Stem Ginger and toffee cake and the banana and toffee pancake between us and can vouch for both.
This morning beckoned bright again, so we set off to explore Clifford’s tower toward the south of the city centre. This is a Norman stone tower built on the site of one of William the Conquerers wooden castles built after the ‘harrying of the North.’ The old tower built on the even older mound makes for a very fetching landmark, especially at the moment with the mound covered in spring daffodils. Thwarted yesterday in our attempt to get nice shots of York from the top of the Minster tower we managed to take a few from here.
A nose around the Roman bath museum proved to be an interesting look at the remains of the legionary baths which were found under a pub in the 1930′s. While nothing on the scale of the ruins found up in Chester on Hadrians wall, the museum was an interesting wee distraction in the rather comercialised area of the centre.
But after this, we found ourselves again with several hours to kill before our train and out of options with what to do next. A meander past the Minster to see if the Tower was open proved fruitless as it was closed again, this time for the day. The Castle Museum and the York Museum were both advertising exhibitions ‘for the entire family’ and having shared our visits to the Minster, the walls and the Railway Museum with school groups this didn’t appeal.
After killing an hour or so in the art gallery I suggested the Railway Museum again out of guilt for pulling James away early before. This time round the break from engines had done me good and we spent interesting second visit inspecting the huge cutaway locomotive displaying how steam engines work and how the mail coaches of the ’30s collected and dispatched mail without stopping.
It is a little worrying how small a city of 300,000 was after living in London for a year. We seemed to constantly be looking for something to do with tours that didn’t open till after mid-day and some pubs that closed the kitchens at 7.30 sharp. But it was a very nice, relaxing break for two days and while we will be back to check out the Minsters tower, we will probably do so on a shorter visit.
Well as we are on holiday, it was up early to try and beat everyone else to the Science Museum this morning. While James had spent a decent amount of time in there in the past, I’d only seen half of it last summer when we had just arrived in London. So it seemed a great time to see the other half. Plus there is an exhibition ‘Game on’ at the moment exploring the history, technology and culture of computer games.
We were at the door of the museum 15 minutes before it opened and joined the thronging crowd (well about 30) hanging round trying to stay out of the wind. The early start was well worth it as we were among the first to get into Game on and had all the arcade games to our selves. We played ‘Space War‘ the first ever computer game – invented in the 60′s. Two small, blue shapes pretending to be spaceships moving round a screen trying to shoot each other. It was quite a bit of fun actually.
There were rows and rows of old computer games to be played with and James moved from one to the next with a little gleam in his eye. A gleam with turned to a disbelieving laugh when I had to reveal I hadn’t played ‘Pac Man’. It was a little scary actually, seeming something which was cutting edge in my childhood sitting in a museum case.
But it was great, there was a version of the ‘Monkeyball‘ game which you played by standing in front of a camera and leaned the right way. James was even defeated by one game. You were some kind of flying robot and had to shoot other flying robots. There were two joysticks each with little ‘thumb joysticks’, a dash board covered with switches and buttons and things that lit up. Underneath there were three pedals, one labeled accelerator and the middle one was ‘brake’. As for the third, we still don’t know what it is….
At the end of the exhibition we queued up and managed to play for 5 minutes on the Wii. If you don’t know it, its a computer game with a wireless controller that you wield as a tennis racket, a golf club or a sword. We were playing tennis, all you had to do was swing either in a forehand or back hand when you felt your character on the screen needs to hit the ball. Sounds simple but 5 minutes was just long enough to get the hang of it before we were herded out to let someone else have a go. Lots of fun I have to say – even if it is a silly name.
With the festivities over and most of the chocolate gone it is time to do a bit of a catch up. I was feeling in need of some treats for Christmas so while James slumbered peacefully on Saturday it was off to the Borough Market. Intending to avoid the crowds on the last market before St. Nick attacked chimneys world-wide I was there just after it opened. I was not the only one to have planned to shop early though and arrived to find queues 30-40 deep outside the poultry store.
With the press of the crowd I didn’t plan to stay long so rediscovered my favorite olive stall and visited the ‘one pound man’. Its not the name of the stall but almost everything there is just one pound. There was a Christmas market on at the time but it was essentially the same stalls with prettier lights and more people. Having frittered away the better part of £15 in as many minutes it was off home to enjoy the fruits of my labour. I did take photos so you can have a nose too.
In the run up to Christmas London emptied somewhat – despite the ‘Killer Fog Travel Chaos’ as reported in the Evening Standard. So James and I took advantage of a quieter London and Tube and headed up to the Natural History Museum for the Saturday afternoon. He’d spent a while round it before so we meandered round a great collection in a fascinating building. It is a wonderful place and up there fighting with Westminster for my favourite building in London. More photos here….
Filed under: Holidays
Festive cheer to all, I hope you all spent your day as we did. Eating, sleeping and opening presents. I have to say I have eaten far too much, too much chocolate, too many sweet things and too much dinner.
Mum and dad had sent over their presents along with their (now traditional) festive care package – handmade chocolates from Makana. According to the customs declaration they sent 2 kg! Even allowing for Tony’s share that is still heaps of very fine chocolate. It is now officially Boxing day and James and I still have 2 boxes left…
Dinner was a success if I do say so myself. A gargantuan dish of roast veges enough for four people was duly consumed followed by the Doctor Who Christmas special. Something that is also fast becoming a tradition.
I can’t believe how much I’ve eaten, I’m still cleaning off the Borough market olives as I type. I may have to start a new Christmas tradition. The Boxing day work out. While I did nearly kill myself yesterday doing the full Darcey Bussell Pilates work out yesterday, tomorrow will be spent trying to avoid people at the boxing day sales. Last year we went early and seemed to avoid most people – Oxford street wasn’t actually that bad, fingers crossed it will be the same this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy indigestion tablets to everyone….
Filed under: Holidays
Ok I admit it has been here sitting in the lounge for the better part of a month now but I’ve finally opened the case and had a closer look. I could think of plenty of excuses (I always can) as to why its taken so long to play it. But none would really fit.
Its in good shape considering its been in a garage for a year and a half and then in a container open to god knows what temperatures. The bridge was a little moved and all the strings hanging off it but all it really needed was tuning.
Thankfully some clever person has placed some ‘tuning forks’ for the cello on-line. All you need to tune your poor abused cello. So thank you to that person…
Oh and P.S. the fog over here is freezing. Its not going to get above zero at all tomorrow! Its miles warmer in the Orkneys (11 degrees up there). I’m off to work in it while James is officially on holiday now. Lucky him……
