Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-02-04 18:35:20 - Graham Ellis
("Dear Diary") ...
I'm giving a course, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, in the Dutch town of Zoetermeer. 9 a.m. start on Tuesday, 17:00 finish on Wednesday, and I have heavy baggage beyond what's practical on a plane - manuals and laptop computers to take with me. I could have driven all the way - taking the ferry or Eurotunnel - but I would rather sit back and let someone else do the driving, so I'm doing the trip overland. This first installment is being written in a tunnel somewhere under north London; I'm on Eurostar.
Lisa gave me a lift to Melksham station ... the 07:20 left on time for Swindon, where it arrived 3 minutes late having been delayed around Chippenham. The 07:58 to London left on time, but arrived about 10 minues late. It was one of the few "does not call at Reading" services, but I have to wonder why not. For it slowed right bown before and through Reading, it slowed down againg from Airport Junction and through Acton, and there must have been around 20% of seats empty on a peak train on the Reading - London section where every seat counts.
[My goodness - this is a long tunnel. We came out for a breath of fresh air a couple of minutes ago and we're underground again.] I wondered why there's no alignment between the windows and the seats (an no power points) and I've concluded (a) you can't see much anyway and (b) they save the nice stuff for first class.And as soon as I write that, we're out in the sunshire and passing trainloads of cars as well as I can see through haze and filthy windows.
One of the benefits of train over flying is the lack of a low limit on luggage, and the ability to keep things "with". I would have added "easier security" too - but it turned out not. I have laptops for each of my delegates to use with me, carefully packed (or they had been) ... all had to come out and be individually checked. I asked why it was necessary for this train journey and not for my train into London - apparently it's the rules because a passport's needed for this journey. Seriously, I can appreciate the need for putting a million people through this to stop the one who would try and do something to harm everyone, but I wonder at the difference in proportion to this security and the secuirty on the underground ...
Arriving at St Pancras, trains show for Disneyland, Paris and Brussels, with no indication as to wether they were on time or delayed. Just "check in at least half an hour before scheduled departure". Trains coming in ... a different story; over 3 hours late from Brussels due to "Power problems in Belgium" and I wondered if we were going to be late out based on delays to incoming services. Turns out we're fine, but I do wonder if this means that Eurostar have luxuriant turn around times and how efficient that can be. An excess of trains for a service that's not running as frequently as they originall planned?
[Ebbsfleet, and a few more people have joined. We're perhaps 40% loaded.]
The security announcement in English now carries on in French and Flemish. All around I hear French, and a strongly accented scotsman trying to explain to a french woman that she's in his seat. She's a real hop-around - I had to redirect here out of my seat whan I got on, but I don't think she believed me when I pointed out which here seat was.
I should have asked for the quiet coach. One of our two buffet cars is now telling us about what they have on offer. That's for people who missed it as part of the conductor's announcement before the security announcement.
[Just crossing the Medway ... our next stop, Lille ...]
---OOO---
[In the Channel tunnel - an uneventful run through Kent.]
As we flew over Ashford, I couldn't help wondering at some of the steep gradients that we have on HS1. and how they would have been impossible in the days of original railway build. With HS2 proposed / planned, will advantage be taken of this ability to ris and fall quickly? Or is it all just an illusion base on speed?
I need some Euros. But I'll wait; I have a few, and the rates on offer at St Pancras were poor. They well selling at 1.01 and buying at 1.30 - my goodness - that's a 15% take on each transaction. And THEN they had a commission charge on top. Is that a ripoff, or what? The ATM was out of order - perhaps it offers a better rate ;-)
We slowed down and have now speeded up. Engineering works, or a train ahead? Hard to tell in the Chunnel. It's a very long time since I came this way; the ferry's my more usual mode, but that would have been an even earlier start for a later arrival today, and with things to be done yesterday I couldn't take the overnight boat - quite apart from then having to hand around with lugguage for some 6 hours before I could check in. On the way back, I'm on the boat; it's the opposite case in that I'll have missed the last train of the day with connections all the way when I finish, and I prefer to be moving on the overnight ship rather than just waiting around. The booking was ... interesting.
Try using the Eurostar site to the Netherlands, and it says "no services available". Try getting a ticket from Melksham (or anywhere in Wiltshire) that includes Eurostar, and that's not possible as far as I can work out either. But book separate tickets, and you either pay full "walk up" price so that you can be delayed and drop back to the next train, OR you allow a huge amount of time at each change, OR you cross your fingers and hope you can blag it if push comes to shove.
The solution, it turned out, is to book through SNCB - that's the Belguim Railway web site. They will sell you London to Brussells, Brussels to Rotterdam and Rotterdam to local-dutch-station in one transaction. Fixed Eurostar train. Next train - ticket is valid one earlier and one later to Rotterdam. And in the Netherlands it's "any train this day".
[Wonderful - we have come to a complete stop in the tunnel!]
Of course, Britsh Railways are a law unto themselves and it's not possible to book from Melksham even with SNCB.
[Announcements - in French, then Flemish or German, then English. We must be more than halfway through the tunnel then ;-) ]
However ... I remembered something about a special connection ticket to St Pancras being avaialble, and research confirmed that I could buy it on the day, that it was a sensible value, that it included my use of the underground, and that it meant that if FGW was seriously delayed Eurostar would have to let me travel on the next available train.
[We're underway again]
For the return journey, I was advisd to book something called the "Dutch Flyer" - any station in the Netherlands to any Greater Anglia Station via Hook of Holland to Harwich. I think I've done that and I have my confirmation, but I had to use a dutch site ("we can only book tickets originating in the UK in English") and I'm waiting to see what my confirmation / receipt does for me at Zoetermeer Ooest on Wednesday evening. I'll probably ask my customers to find out for me as I'm sure their Dutch is excellent.
[Out of the tunnel, on the flat lands of the Pas de Calais, going slower that the Melksham to Chippenham train when it's waiting for the 125 to go across at Thingley. Just eased through a deserted Calais Frethun]
My hair is thinning ... seeing myself on TV last month showed that, with skin colour showing through on top. And I've just been reminded when the chap (or chapess) in the seat behind refolded a newspaper, and it brushed close to my head over the seat top and a felt the whaft of air. I don't know if I'm taller that most, or if others are slouching in the train ... but I'mone of the very few looking over seat tops. Much more pressing work to do, important things to write, but somehow the concentration won't come and I'm going to defer that to my hotel tonight. And it may also be the aftereffects of a couple of pints last night - my first 'drink' of 2013!
It's warm in the carriage - I'm in shirt sleeves - but there are clues that it's very cold outside. Water in the fields fills the gaps beween the ridges indicating winter rains. Except that it's ice, and I can see that even at over 100 mph. And the land remains flat or near flat. An announcement offers to sell us tickets (20% discount) at the buffet for Disneyland, Paris. If this were the Disneyland train, or even going to Paris, I could understand it. But we're for Lille of Brussels. Perhaps there's an opportunity on London to Bristol trains to sell discounted tickets for "The Victory" in Portsmouth!
Our French lady has been on walk-about and just trying to find where she's left her handbaggeage and coat. Ah - she's found then. and sat down in the seatacross from them .... which is her allocation seat in the fist place. No - wait - butterfly; she has picked them up and walked off, and we've slowed for our Lille stop. I suspect she's getting off here.
Announcement tells us that this is from a "very short stop", so I guess we can't go signtseeing. And we're told there wll be crew swap. More people getting off than staying on board ... I suppose I should not be surprised, based on the French voices I've been hearing all around me. "Very Short stop" turns out to be 5 minutes. If all stops on the TransWilts line were for 5 minutes, the journey from Swindon to Salisbury would take 30 minutes longer.
French Double Decker 2 coach electric trains with a pangograph ... reminds me of a book I got for Christmas covering unusual railways, and including the double decker trains that were built experimentally for London to Darford services, declared impractical when the took far too long at the stations (too many passengers per door). I went on their final, sad run when I lived in London. Yuk - I hate closures / departures and I weap for history that was life in it. Two sad condition motor coaches remain, I understand; the remaining six having been cut up.
[We have turned left after Lille, and been told that the buffet closes in 10 minutes]
When in the Netherlands, I'm going to reach article number 4000 in my blog. And I'm wondering what I should do for this milestone. The blog has metamorposed into a way of feeding new content into the web site, with article being categorised by topic and providing an automated system of updaing far and wide. It remains a good discipline to keep up this feed, but transient daily notes and life comments are much more suited to Twitter and Facebook these day.
The writing of an article takes time. The proofing and adding links and pictures can take as long again. So do I post this at the first opportunity, or do I wait until I;ve had a chance to add in all those extras? They'll make it more intersting, but then the delay will make it more stale for any handful of key readers who may be following.
The countryside around where we're going has a forrest of wind turbines. I may be out of step with many people in Wiltshire, but I really don't see the problem in having them around - even in my own back yard!
I'm going to stop writing, shut down, and get prepared for arrival and change in Brussels.
There's a follow up story, Brussels to Zoetermeer ... I'm going to download images, clip, upload and add, and post the above then grab some food.
I'm giving a course, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, in the Dutch town of Zoetermeer. 9 a.m. start on Tuesday, 17:00 finish on Wednesday, and I have heavy baggage beyond what's practical on a plane - manuals and laptop computers to take with me. I could have driven all the way - taking the ferry or Eurotunnel - but I would rather sit back and let someone else do the driving, so I'm doing the trip overland. This first installment is being written in a tunnel somewhere under north London; I'm on Eurostar.
Arriving at St Pancras, trains show for Disneyland, Paris and Brussels, with no indication as to wether they were on time or delayed. Just "check in at least half an hour before scheduled departure". Trains coming in ... a different story; over 3 hours late from Brussels due to "Power problems in Belgium" and I wondered if we were going to be late out based on delays to incoming services. Turns out we're fine, but I do wonder if this means that Eurostar have luxuriant turn around times and how efficient that can be. An excess of trains for a service that's not running as frequently as they originall planned?
[Ebbsfleet, and a few more people have joined. We're perhaps 40% loaded.]
I need some Euros. But I'll wait; I have a few, and the rates on offer at St Pancras were poor. They well selling at 1.01 and buying at 1.30 - my goodness - that's a 15% take on each transaction. And THEN they had a commission charge on top. Is that a ripoff, or what? The ATM was out of order - perhaps it offers a better rate ;-)
My hair is thinning ... seeing myself on TV last month showed that, with skin colour showing through on top. And I've just been reminded when the chap (or chapess) in the seat behind refolded a newspaper, and it brushed close to my head over the seat top and a felt the whaft of air. I don't know if I'm taller that most, or if others are slouching in the train ... but I'mone of the very few looking over seat tops. Much more pressing work to do, important things to write, but somehow the concentration won't come and I'm going to defer that to my hotel tonight. And it may also be the aftereffects of a couple of pints last night - my first 'drink' of 2013!
French Double Decker 2 coach electric trains with a pangograph ... reminds me of a book I got for Christmas covering unusual railways, and including the double decker trains that were built experimentally for London to Darford services, declared impractical when the took far too long at the stations (too many passengers per door). I went on their final, sad run when I lived in London. Yuk - I hate closures / departures and I weap for history that was life in it. Two sad condition motor coaches remain, I understand; the remaining six having been cut up.