Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2005-10-19 05:49:09 - Graham Ellis
I've been tring not to "go on" about our Save that train campaign too much here - we've a separate web site for that, and it's much more a Melksham than an Open Source subject. But I have to tell you how fabulous it was to have a 20 litre urn of boiling water at the station at half past six yesterday morning. Yes, I know that sounds odd but I AM serious about it!
We served teas, coffees and literature to travellers joining the 06:56 and 09:12 Southampton trains, and the 07:45 Swindon train - we were so busy in the few minutes before the train stopped that the only pictures I managed to grab were afterwards :-/ Ah well - the event and publicity were more important than having the record.
On a more serious note, the more I learn about the politics and actions of the decision to slash the Melksham train service, the more disenchanted I get with political systems and decision making. We've discovered that the decision to cut the service was made PRIOR to any public consultation, that the public consultation was deliberatley set up in a way to minimise inputs - or at least there were minuted discussions as to how it could be minimised - and that ticket sales for journeys to and from Melksham have increased 8 fold in the last five years,yet still the decision is made. Hmm - don't get me going. But do visit the save the train blog and forum (link under the campaign above) if you would like to hear more.
We served teas, coffees and literature to travellers joining the 06:56 and 09:12 Southampton trains, and the 07:45 Swindon train - we were so busy in the few minutes before the train stopped that the only pictures I managed to grab were afterwards :-/ Ah well - the event and publicity were more important than having the record.