High Speed Train to Swansea
I said that I was going to see Ipswich in Swansea yesterday. I had bought a Standard Class ticket out and a First Class back at a total cost of £45.20. I had actually booked six days in advance, so these good prices weren’t the result of very early booking.
The trip takes three hours and is probably one of the longest trips you can do from London easily in a day in a High Speed Train or IC125 both ways. I got six and three quarter hours in Swansea, which was enough time for a wander round the city, have some lunch and see the match.
As to the latter, I’ll not be talking about that!
According to the guy who served me coffee in the buffet, the train out had just been refurbished. It was certainly in very good condition and completely clean. I think it might have been the same train set on return, as it was in an equally pristine state.
So how did Standard and First Clases compare?
According to Ian Walmsley ‘s excellent article in Modern Railways a couple of months ago, he scored 82.1% for First Class and 76.2% for Standard for the IC125.
I’m not going to argue with those figures, although, I actually found the more upright Standard Class seat slightly more comfortable. But then my spine doesn’t curl under correctly and I’ve always found that too soft chairs are less uncomfortable than hard ones. When I used to drive, I found some cars particularly difficult.
My one complaint is that the tray in Standard Class is not big enough to lay the paper out, so I could do the Sudoku.
Small Seatback Tray on an IC125
However, I did get two seats to myself going out, so I could spread sideways a bit.
Perhaps I need a Working Class coach. This would be Standard Class but everybody would get a proper table, just like you originally got, when the trains were built.
I know the new layouts get more people on the trains, but have we really progressed?
As to progress, I did walk through several carriages to get to the buffet. The train was rather busy and there were several of those trolley cases, I hate so much, in the aisles. Despite this, I didn’t have any problems getting to the buffet and getting back carrying the coffee. Compare that with the problems I had on the Pendolino. But then I was running yesterday at 125 mph on a railway built for 60 mph in the Victorian era, in a forty year old train.
If I had the choice, I’d take a High Speed Train or failing that a Mark 3 Carriage anytime I could! When I travel to Ipswich, I always book one of the Norwich trains, as these are made up of Mark 3’s.
When booking on-line, you should be told the type of train you would normally be getting.
Getting to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea
I hope there’s better information, when I get off my train in Swansea, but everyone assumes you’re going by car to Swansea.
But what do you expect?
Very few places have had good information on how to get from the train station to the football ground. In some cases, you can use the method you do at Ipswich; the Mark 1 Eyeball. But in others, it’s impossible.
Football Shirt Sponsorship
Years ago, many of the top football clubs had shirts that were sponsored by drinks companies.
I’m just watching Manchester United and Everton on the television. United are sponsored by Aon, who are an insurance company, although they are a lot more than that! Everton on the other hand are sponsored by Chang, which is a beer company. To me, a brewer is someone who makes real ale, and I doubt that the Thai company who makes it observe the same principles as say Adnams or the Germans. I don’t think that you would call Chang a significant player in the UK drinks market. It’s certainly something that I as a coeliac couldn’t drink safely. The tie-up between Everton and Chang also has some interesting links to post-tsunami projects, so it could be seen as being benficial to both partners. It certainly doesn’t promote excessive drinking.
So are any other clubs in the English Premier League sponored by drinks companies. Carlsberg used to sponasor Liverpool and in fact the Premier League, but I don’t think they do anymore. Obviously, advertising at football in England doesn’t make sense to them now.
So who sponsor the shirts of the other teams? The complete list is here.
- Arsenal – Emirates – airline
- Aston Villa – FxPro – financial trading
- Birmingham – F & C Investments – finance
- Blackburn Rovers – Crown Paints – paint
- Blackpool – Wonga – finance
- Bolton – 188Bet – gambling
- Chelsea – Samsung – electronics
- Everton – Chang – alcoholic beverages
- Fulham – FxPro – financial trading
- Liverpool – Standard Chartered – finance
- Manchester City – Etihad – airline
- Manchester United – AON – finance
- Newcastle United – Northern Rock – finance
- Stoke City – Britannia Building Society – finance
- Sunderland – Tombola – gambling
- Tottenham Hotspur – Autonomy – technology and Investec – finance
- West Bromwich Albion – Homeserve – emergency repair experts
- West Ham – SBOBET – gambling
- Wigan Athletic – 188Bet – gambling
- Wolverhampton Wanderers – Sportingbet – gambling
If you look at many of these companies, it is unlikely I would ever deal with them. Perhaps the only ones I might use are the airlines and perhaps one or two of the finance companies. As to the betting companies, I wouldn’t use any as if I have a bet it’s on Betfair. But the only company, which anyone could possibly have any serious objection to is Wonga, which is a very high interest rate lender, that I would never touch with a bargepole. Unless of course, they were to pay me serious money for consultancy, which is unlikely.
With the exception of Everton and their deal with Chang, there are no sponsorships from alcoholic beverage companies. I think this is a good thing.
Surely though, the sponsorship of Stoke City by the Britannia Building Society is the most interesting, in that no-one can have objection to a well-run building society can they? Especially, as it is one of the longest running deals in English football.
When it comes to the nPower Championship, I can’t remember seeing a drinks company on a shirt this season.
So what about the Scottish Premier League
- Aberdeen – Team Recruitment – recruitment
- Celtic – Tennents – alcoholic beverages
- Dundee United – Calor – energy
- Hamilto – Reid Furniture – furniture
- Hearts – UKIO – finance
- Hibernian – Crabbie’s – alcoholic beverages
- Inverness – Orion Group – recruitment
- Kilmarknock – Verve – motor dealer
- Motherwell – Commsworld – communications
- Rangers – Tennetts – alcoholic beverages
- St. Johnstone – Taylor Wimpey – house builder
- St. Mirren – Carbrini – sportswear
One or two of these might have changed, but two stand out. Both Glasgow teams are sponsored by the same alcohol company.
Surely with their history of alcohol-fuelled violence at the matches and domestic violence afterwards, this is a very good idea.
Especially, as alcohol can’t be advertised on television and all Old Firm matches are televised.
In fact, I would support a total ban of the shirt sponsorship by alcohol companies throughout Europe.
Silly Rules
I queued for half-an-hour at the Orient yesterday, because they couldn’t take cash on the turnstiles, as it was Good Friday.
Ridiculous
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain
With all of the death threats and bombs in Glasgow over the last few days and the statement from Paul McBride, I decided to search the Internet to learn more. After all, anybody who is less than a hundred bricks short of a full load, would want the problems to be sorted and be stopped for ever.
I found this excellent web site from Phil Mac Giolla Bhain. Read this post about a tax demand from HMRC and note some of the associated comments.
Tomorrow is another battle in the Glasgow Premier League. It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Rumour has it that Jeremy Bowen has been asked to commentate.
Leyton Orient 2 – Peterborough 1
This afternoon I went to Leyton Orient to see them play Peterborough in League One.
In some ways they are the most accessible club to where I live. Arsenal are nearer, but although I want them to win more than say Chelsea or Norwich, I would never pay money to see them.
The Herne Hill Velodrome
The reason I was going to North Dulwich was to visit the Herne Hill Velodrome, which is the last venue from the London Olympics of 1948, still in use in it’s original form.
It said everybody was welcome on the gate.
The Entrance to Herne Hill Velodrome
I had a quick look around and left fairly sharply as they had a ban on photography, which of course was one of the reasons I had gone.
The Two Faces of Football
This morning the news of the threats against Neil Lennon broke.
This evening, I’ve just watched a marvellous display of football as Tottenham and Arsenal fought out a three all draw.
Now, when I was young and growing up in North London, the rivalry between the two North London teams was fierce and probably on the same level as it was between Rangers and Celtic in Scotland at the time.
The rivalry is still there in North London, but it is still at a fierce but fair level. I would doubt there have been any more than a handful of arrests tonight. How many will we see in Glasgow on Sunday?
What has gone so wrong in Glasgow?
Scottish Football Gets Uglier
And now there are parcel bombs to Neil Lennon and two fans. There is also this story on the BBC about a Facebook page threatening the Celtic manager.
I can understand why Scottish football is in so much trouble. We certainly don’t want Rangers and Celtic in the English leagues.
As I said before they should form their own Glasgow Premier League and perhaps play behind closed doors. But would that make the domestic violence linked to the games as reported here, better or worse. Certainly that report in the Glasgow Herald, paints a grim picture of the matches.
And then there’s the sectarian songs, that have got Rangers in trouble with UEFA after the match against PSV EIndhoven.
UEFA were soft on Rangers and they should have banned them from Europe.
Is Josh Carson the New George Best?
I just typed Josh Carson George Best into Google and found a lot of results, like this one.
Here’s an extract.
Paul Jewell has dubbed Josh Carson as “the new George Best.”
That might sound a bit far-fetched, considering that only a month ago 17-year-old Carson had not even played a League match.
But Jewell was referring to Carson’s colourful personality, as much as any potential footballing prowess, especially as Town’s new find actually forgot to go to training on Sunday.
The Northern Ireland Under-21 international, perhaps still basking in the glory of his two goals in Town’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, was sitting at home when the phone rang – it was Jewell telling him to drop everything and get down to training.
In the end, Carson was only a few minutes late, but Jewell kept ducking the apologies from his new teenage sensation for the rest of the day.
And remember that was before he scored the only goal at Bristol City.
In my mind George Best was only a good footballer and not a great one. In the years I have been watching football, I have seen two great Northern Irish footballers; Danny Blanchflower and Pat Jennings. Both had long and illustrious careers. George Best’s could have been great, but he decided to blow it all!
So in some ways, I hope for his sake, that Josh Carson isn’t the new George Best! Carson has been playing much in the manner of that classic Northern Irish winger of the 1950s and 1960s; Billy Bingham.
The Anonymous Widower 