Had to go to Illford today from Liverpool Lime St and got a glimps of the other side of the commuting coin. Made me realsie just how good the GNER trains are in comparison to a lot of other opperators.

I caught the 10.42am One service from LL. As we got on, another service pulled in on the opposite platform though god knows where from. I'm telling you this thing was rammed like a cattle truck. And at 10.30 in the morning too.

Not only that the One trains are not what I would call a shining example of cleanliness. I watched and imagined how 60 years ago, the Nazis forcably rammed people against their will into cattle trucks. Here these people were willingly doing much the same. God only knows what it's like at 8.30.

Used my first upgfrade of the year and Sat in first class wih an old freind tonight. What a differance.
Free tea coffee, juice, nespaper and buscuit, reclinging seat, curtains. Needless to say I ruined the whole atmosphere with 2 cans of stella and the odd swear word.

Didn't go in to the office yesterday so didn't get the train. I'm told there weren't any problems though.

No probs this morning either. In fact it was a lot quieter than usual but that's probably people taking a long weekend with the Bank Holiday and all.

Whilst I usually get to the station on my Scooter, I had to take the car this morning. Can't really go to a big meeting in my usual bikers jacket can I. Staggered to find parking at P'boro station is now £5.50 per day. Not a bad little earner if you consider they have 2 huge car parks which are invariably full from 8.30am each day.

Still not heard anything about my lost boots or my complaint to GNER. Exceptional Customer Services are not words I would use in connection with GNER. More like 'Shambolly Bollox' or perhaps 'Bear Minimum'.

Finally I see the top 4 men at Network Rail (the people who run the track network) are to share a £1.1million bonus. Why? Meeting targets of course. What targets? Well there was reduce the number of broken rails, reduce the number of trains passing red danger signals. punctuality improved from 83.6% to 86.4%. Not bad for a company which has lost £232million. Let not forget the other 32,000 network rail employees who get a £954 bonus. That's another £30million to add to this years losses.