I read Disgruntled Commuter (see link) with a certain smug satisfaction as with GNER, Virgin and Scotrail we seem to generally (touch on Amazon Rain Forest) to enjoy a good service. Today was a rare excursion to Ould Reekie-train four minutes early despite being full of mostly Japanese who may have decided to bring forward it is Monday so it must be not London bit of their itinerary in the wake of 7/7 and G8/8. Coming back however was a different story. I decided on Virgin as it is usually empty and the Loos are fun with the exciting possibility of being electronically locked in and not released until Bournemouth, 25 'station stops' past Ber- Wick. The platforms were unusually full-soon clear why. 'We regret to announce that the trains to and from Glascow have been cancelled because of EXTREME WEATHER. Scot Rail apologise for any inconvenience this may cause' Inconvenience? No worries mate. I just bought this ticket on a passing whim and there are plenty of flights from Prestwick to New York next week. Or something.
In the meanwhile the Virgin to Birmingham (via Carlisle) had disappeared. 'All those seething with rage on Platform 20, please await another announcement.' My Virgin (via Newcastle) came in dead on time by Virgin's flexible and pro-active standards-ten minutes late and we set sail undeterred by the extreme weather which was eventually translated as ' unseasonably warm conditions' Summer not being a warm season in these parts.
Curiously although our Virgin train was also going to Birmingham en route to Bournemouth and there was no sign of anything arriving on Platform 20 before nightfall not a single Birmingham bound passenger crossed to platform 21 to join our train. Perhaps no one on platform 2o wanted
to go to Birmingham-perhaps Virgin knew this and had lost a train for economy reasons. But there were a lot of people on Platform 20 wanting to go somewhere.
And they are probably still there.
