Three Hours on a Train
I wanted to see Ipswich play the first match of the season at Bristol yesterday and instead of going just for the say, went to see a friend in Plymouth on Friday.
I arrived at a very crowded Paddington in mid-morning for the 11:06 to Plymouth. It was crowded, with the usual wheeled cases being trailed everywhere. Do these selfish people realise that their mobile obstacles are a nuisance to anyone with limited movement or vision? I’m alright now and to prove a point, I had everything I needed in my new Samsonite bag.
I was carrying my gluten-free sandwiches and a bottle of wine for my friends, from Marks and Spencer in a carrier bag, but as I’d arrived with plenty of time, I walked straight on to the Standard Class Quiet Coach nto the window seat I’d booked. My two bags and coat spent most of the journey on the overhead coat rack. I only needed to disturb my companion once to get my lunch down and for another to get a coffee and take a toilet break. I should say that I was surrounded by a family of about six, all of whom spent most of the time reading and playing on a laptop. Their mother was dispensing a real picnic, with lots of parma ham, salad and fruit. Surely, they were showing how you use a Quiet Car!
In fact, the whole car was mostly quiet with not even a crying baby and there were some small toddlers there. The only problem was that some had blocked the aisle with heavy luggage. Those going to Plymouth seemed to have used the Baggage Car as the staff had asked them to.
I made one mistake on the journey. Although, I was sitting by the left hand window, I forgot to get my camera out to take shots of the train as it sped along the Exeter to Plymouth line between Exeter and Newton Abbot.
At Plymouth, I got ff the train pretty fresh, which is more than could be said as I got off my flight to Athens on easyJet.
Both journeys are about the same time, but give me the train anytime. Especially in a forty-year-old, but newly refurbished IC125.
The Anonymous Widower 