Trains, Planes & Delays

Over the past month I have been up and down to Oxford and London 3 times for work. I prefer to get the train when I can for my green conscience. On one trip I did resort to the plane for fear of Sunday engineering works on the railways but it would have taken the same time to get the train - since the plane was delayed 2 hours - and would've been less hassle!

I get really peed off with the cost of trains mind you. It cost £48 for a single flight from Edinburgh to Birmingham- but a return train ticket from Oxford to London was £50 - it's ridiculous! The trains are too expensive and the planes are too cheap. Why would people spend £100s on a train when they could get to the same destination faster for less by air?

I had 2 days in London and walked my feet off going round the shops on Oxford street before I had to run a focus group in the evening. My boss Sally flew down to run the group with me - (having twice forgotten her purse, borrowing 40 quid off a taxi driver and finally making it from Edinburgh) then afterwards, before getting our train, we went to a nice wee Indian restaurant near Euston which has been there since the 80s. But, as we ate a fight broke out in the restaurant- not between diners or a diner and staff but between 2 staff!

I took the sleeper train for the first time that night- misnomer extraordinaire - sleep is the last thing you do! It was like a small garden shed with a bed and sink and a window. I wasn't sure what to expect. In first class you get a cabin to yourself rather than sharing the same cabin with a stranger. You put in your breakfast order as you board the train where a nice lady asks you what you want and at what time. In your cabin you get a complimentary toiletry bag and a clean towel - I got a new eye mask in my bag, a mini deodorant, toothbrush, face cream etc. I had just bought some travel toiletries and needn’t have bothered! No ear plugs but I had my own anyway - even so the sound of metal grinding on metal is not conducive to sleep.

Some strange/ worrying things I encountered on my various trips included a young woman under the influence of I'm not sure what lighting up in the seats next to me on the train then passing out, ciggie still in hand burning the plastic interior of the carriage...(she did eventually get removed, shoes on the wrong feet, by traffic cops). At Edinburgh airport I was bemused to see 'organs for transplant' being checked in at the usual check-in desks in what looked like a small plastic pet carrier and a large young woman at check-in bending over in a short dress to sort her bag only to reveal enormous white knickers (think Bridget Jones tummy control pants) and sheer purple tights with enormous holes in them around the crotch...ooh nice! I didn't have the heart to tell her what she'd just shared with the entire check-in queue!