Oh,

I forgot to mention. If there is anybody who'd like to keep up with GNER's service offering while I'm away, check my fellow commuter bloggers site at http://www.gnersucks.co.uk/.

Well apart from the number of people, yesterdays trip in went very smoothly indeed. In fact so did the journey home last night and the trip in this morning.

I think GNER are trying to lull us into a false sense of security. That or they've finally found the secret to running an efficient train service. Having said that I'd put my money on the former rather than the latter.

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks becasue I'm off on my hols from lunchtime today. No train journies = No posting. Check www.gnersucks.co.uk. Looks like I'll also miss the Signalmans strike as well. Oh, there is a god though sadley, he's not often present on GNER trains.

Cheers for now.

Fentyke

I caught the 17:50 from KK home last night and wished I hadn't. There wasn't anything wrong with the trains punctuality but there was a problem with the aircon in one or two coaches. Needless to say the train was cooking the occupants and Icouldn't wait to gt off.

All GNER need do now is install free showers at each station and that's a brand new service introduced for the first time onto Britains railways.

It makes a nice chage to be able to say that my last 2 journies with GNER have been totally event free.

Trains have left and arrived on time.
Nobody has sat in my reserved seat last night or this morning.
The Trolly Dolly was seen and heard making her way through each carraige.
I didn't loose anything.
No passengers threatened or tried to intimidate me.

Of course I have found one nugget of information worthy of a mention here. It could be wrong but I'll post it anyway just in case it turns out to be true.

Not long after GNER's franchise was renewed last summer, they made a promise not to increase their prices over an above inflation. They did this because people like me read reports from a number of analysts who beleived GNER had paid over the odds for the franchise.

GNER were kinda true to their word in that Ticket prices have not increased disproportionately. However, not long after the franchise renewal they put at least 10p on everything sold from the buffet or trolly. This took the [price of a coffee or tea from £1.00 to £1.10. Now 10p is not a massive amount I agree. But when you consider this equates to a 10% increase and inflations is running at what, 3%, I was convinced GNER were clawing back the money they've over spent retaining the franchise. And who's paying for it? Yep. Passengers.

I've now heard that GNER intend to increase the price of a tea and coffee to £1.50 or a whopping 36%. Apparently it's becuase they now intend to serve us free trade coffee and tea and the extra money is to cover the additional costs or the raw product.

Sorry Mr GNER spokesman, I don't beleive you. The difference in price of fair trade tea and coffee in the shops is significantly lower than 36% and you trying to tell me GNER aren't on the make here. As far as I'm concerned it's just another attempt to increase revenues by stealth.

Finally I'm not the only person blogging about GNER. Check this fella site out if you have an active interest in the company and services etc - http://www.gnersucks.co.uk/

Tatty bye. I'm off to save up for a cup of tea on the journey home.

GNER weren't the problem this morning, it was another passenger! I caught my usual 07:20 only to find some guy sat in my reserved seat. As it was a Monday morning the train was busyier than usual so I had no option but to ask him to move.

As I approached the seat I could see the fella was wearing earphones and staring straight ahead. This is the usual sign of somebody hoping against hope that the person whose reserved the seat doesn't turn up. I got to the table and leant behind the bloke in the aisle seat and said, 'Excuse me mate, I'm sorry but that seat is Reserved.' Probably , though not certainly, he duidn't hear me becasue of his music so I tapped him on the shoulder and said it again when he took his phones outta his lugs.

It is at this point where I started getting a little bit nervous about what he was going to do next. Slowly and deliberately he turned to look at me. He stared straight into my eyes and said 'I know it is. I've been sitting in it since York'. A quick 'So what' flashed through my mind as he sat there for what seemed like an age but I just stared straight back and didn't say anything. There then followed about 20 seconds of silence and staring.

I stood there thinking what the fuck is this guy going to do. As I see it he had 4 options. 1. Refuse to move, 2. Move or 3, Try and Intimidate me to give up and find another seat or 4. Smack me. I beleived and hoped he was trying option 3 and I wasn't in a mood to take intimidation too well. However I sensed from his manor and the look on his face that he was going to take the last option and by the smell of the alcohol in the area, I thought this was a realistic possibility. My fellow commuter Steve obviously thought the same as me as he started readying himself to help out. Eventyually matey boy looked at his mate opposite, looked at me again, turned and said nothing more than 'I'll move.' in a reluctant tone.

The bloke in the aisle seat let him out, me in and I sat opposite his mate who was cracking up laughing at his mate. By this time there were no spare seats at all and matey boy went to stand in the vestibule. Eventualy his mate got up and joined him.

Firstly I hate being put in the position where I have to ask somebody to move because an individual feels they have a right to do (or in this case sit) what they want regardless of everybody else. Secondly I hate intimidation whether it be real or imagined. It took me a good 10 minutes for my heart beat to return to normal and another 20 before I could get the event out of my mind and settle down for the journey.

All in all an experience I don't want to repeat too soon.

Well, after a nice pleasurable weekend it's back to the commute for me tomorrow morning. Not too fussed this week as I'm of on hols for 2 weeks on Friday so I've got one less day of GNER than usual.

As expected Friday turned out to be quite eventful. For those that haven't read my least entry, the misses and I were off to see Keane on Friday night which meant I had to come into work in the morning, travel back to P'boro at lunchtime, head off back to Londinium at tea time and catch the last GNER home at bed time.

Wasn't too bad on the 07:20 but on the way back at lunchtime, I just missed my train so jumped on one of the bone shakers which stops ar vitually every stop between KK and The Boro. Other than the fact they're not air conditioned, it ran on time and did the job. I could see why they're cheaper than GNER though.

Anyway the misses and I went for the 18:20 at tea time which arrived 25 minutes late. Luckily we just got to the gig in time to see the end of the first track and caught the rest of the gig no probs. On the way home, by now my 4th train journey between tinsel town and KK of the day. I have to say my memory is fairly hazy here because I wasn't what you would call on top of my game by now. I have a vauge recolection of some guys behind us having a debate about the Thatchers years and if her policies were good or bad, (The misses said the Thatcherite lost by a long shot) and an old fella sat the otherside who asked me to wake him at P'boro if he fell asleep and I asked him if he'd return the favour. However there's one thing I'm absolutely sure about and that's that we arrived over 20 minutes late.

In summary I've had quite a poor week with GNER but what has been particularly surprising is that I have caught the last train north on 2 separate nights and both have run late. As far as I'm concerned I find it amazing that natwork rail and GNER can't even manage to get a train which is running at a time when the amount of traffic on the lines and in the trains is at it's lowest.

TOSSERS.

No problems with GNER this morning. The only thing of note was no buffet trolly and as the Tea is like dishwater, I only buy the occasional beer on the way home.

However despite GNER's slightly improved performance there was a lady in my reserved seat this morning. Instead of removing my reserved ticket, she moved it into the aisle seat so she could sit opposite whoever it was he was travelling with. I stood for a moment and thought about asking her to move but I'm not precious about my seat as long as others are available, so, because it was quiet today, I sat in the aisle seat and said nothing.

Anyway today should be an interesting day on the trains because I'm due to go back to Peterborough at lunch time and then back down to londinium again at 6pm for a gig and then back to Tinsle Town on the last northbound GNER at about 11.30 ish.

I wonder how we'll get on with 4 train journies in one day? I'm giving any takers in our office 2-1 that one of them is going to cock up in some way shape of form.

Farciful is the word I'm thinking of GNER's efforts with this evenings 17:03 to Leeds.

I arrived at Kings Cross somewhere between 16:45 and 16:40 to a mass of people outside platform 1, 2 and 3. I looked at the departure board and the 17:03 was allegedly on time. Arseholes was it! It was due to leave in just over 15 minutes and they hadn't even announced the platform let alone let the hoards on.

At 16:56 they announced the train would leave from platform 2 and the stampead began. Why people at the front of the que have to sprint up the platform as if the everyone behind them were a Zulu warrior intent on disemboweling them is beyond me. I was very near the front and strolled up to carraige C and virtually had the pick of the carraige. It's a good job the face isn't so descriptive that we can all read each others minds because all the sprinters would see on mine as they ran past would be the words YOU WANKER, in beg black captals.

Needless to say though the train did eventually fill up to overflowing and left nearly 5 minutes late. As we pulled out there were still a number of people wondering up and down looking for a or their seat. Suddenly a lady with a strange south africanish voice announced over the tanoy that because the train was late into kings cross the buffet wasn't ready to open yet and they trolley was still being replenished.

Not too bad I suppose. But it got worse. That Lady came again with another announcement - Unfortunately there was no coach F on this service afterall. Customers with reservations in coach F would find their reservations in coach H if you were in seats 1 to 41 or coach D if your seat was 21 or above.

This initiated another stampead and I'm told (but didn't see so take it with a pinch) that when these people with reservations for coach F got to their seats they found somebody occupying it becasue the train had left and they were empty. Arguments flared and the guards had to deal with the resulting flack and flying insults.

A short while later we all noticed the train had slowed down. A few minutes later still we'd stopped. The same lady as earlier came on the tanoy and told us what we already knew - we were running late. On the plus side, and I might add unusually for GNER, she did offer to ring through to Gratham, Newark or Doni (can't be sure which) if anybody was worried about missing connecting trains.

So all in all another crap day for me on GNER.

Night folks.

ps. Wish they had a spell check on this thing.

Another bad start for me this morning but at least a third of my trouble were of my own making.

Firstly 07:20 was 5 minutes late arriving into P'boro and 4 minutes late into kings Cross. Not too bad I agree but late all the same.

Secondly it was particularly busy this morning and for the second time this week, there were no seat reservations. Aparrently the printer broke down. I got a seat without any problem so I wasn't too bothered however had I been one of the few season ticket holders with a reserved seat who didn't manage to grab one, I would not have been as understaning and forgiving as they were.

Finally, because I wasn't sat in my usual table seat and there's less room at the double seat with the fold down tables, I knocked my cup of tea off the little fold down table thing with my newspaper and soaked myself good and proper. As I did it about a half dozen people around me went Oooooooo, in sympathy which even at the time I found quite amusing just to hear the Oooo's. Thankfully nobody else got a drop on them otherwise my embarassment would have increased ten fold. Thanks go to Steve and his emergency pack of tissues too.

I must have had a good nights kip because I was able to look on the bright side even at 7;45 in the morning. I'd still make it to the office on time despite the train running a bit late, I had a seat despite GNER's best efforts and despite my own best efforts I'd and because it's a nice sunny morning, I'd dry off on the walk from Kings Cross to the office.

And that my friends, is the end of this mornings tale.

Bugger all happened on they way home other than a realisation that I don't know what the fuck i'm doing with this blogging business. When I say I don't know what I'm doing I mean I don't know what all the functions on this blogging web site thingy are supposed to do or how they work. It's not that I'm too bothered about knowing what or how it all works but as I dosed my mind wondered and I so because it's been a quite day by GNER's standards I thought I tell you why I'm so confused.

As I type I can see 10 tabs at the top of the page. I know what the Home, Blogs, Profile and help tabs do but other than that I've no idea what the other do or why they're there. The tabs in question are Bloglists, Media, Feeds, Freinds, Get a Pro account and search.

I see there are a couple of other tabs underneath each entry I make too. Other than the message tab, i don't know what they do either. Only reason i know there there is becasue some kind person dropped me a message the other day following my post about our smelly companion. (They had a similar experience for those that havent read it. Come to think of it I don't know if it's available to the outside world). Sorry, can't remember your name but whoever you are, I don't know how you did it, but thanks anyway.

I'm off in my blessful ignorance of this blogging thing. Hope GNER have a good day again.

Got what I wanted last night - an uneventful journey home. This morning wasn't too bad either though the 07:20 pulled in at 22 minutes past, it made the time up and arrived 3 minutes early. Well done fellas.

There is one thing that I've noticed this week which is worthy of a mention and that's the sudden increase in the number of Motorbikes and Scooters appearing at the station on a morning. All owned no doubt by fair weather riders who, unlike me, can't bring themselves to ride to the station and home all year round. It's funny how the sun always brings them out but what's really unusual is how they always know how to get to the station just before the all year round riders and take the best parking slots.

I ride a little 100cc Pegeuot scooter (though I'm on the look out for a nice Vespa) between the station and home for a number of reasons: -

1. GNER charge £5.50 per day to park your car at p'boro station.
2. There's no charge for Motor Bikes.
3. Bikes are cheap to run and economical. Road TAX - £15, Insurance - £150, Petrol - £3 per week, 2 stroke oil - £3 per month, CBT - £90 for 2 years, Scooter - £600.
4. It's too far to cycle unless I set off 3/4 hr before the trains due.
5. It's way too far to walk.
6. The bike therefore is the most enviroment friendly.
7. The only down side is that parking facilities for M/Bikes and Scooters is pretty poor in comparison to our paying colleagues who use their cars. Not too fussed about this because what facilities there are, are free

So to all you fair weather riders out there who may be reading this I say - Get out of your cars you fucking lightweights, get yourself a pair of water proofs, a good pair of winter gloves and a winter jacket and get out there and do the enviroment and your pocket a favour and help us pursuade GNER where it hurts at the same time.

Personally, I won't be leaving any earlier or changing my routine at all because I know that the heavens will soon open and the temperature will fall and all you softies will be back in your cars.

And on that note - I'm off to do some work.

Seat reservations was the problem this morning, or at least the lack of them. They did say why they hadn't put seat reservations out but I wasn't listening properly. I think it had something to do with Doncaster, though how a whole city can be held responsible is beyond me.

Thought I'd got a whole table seat to myself only for a fella and his tax return to plonk himself opposite and then 2 ladies in their mid thirties ladies sat down and talked drival all the way in. They smelt good though.

After yesterday mornings mamouth delay and our smelly friend last night, I hope this evenings trip home is uneventful. I don't think i can stand any more excitement.

Should know to expect the unexpected but this evening took me by surprise.

I made my usual 17.20 departure but as I boarded there was this rather plump, oldish lady with a pushchair in the vestibule. 'Does this train go to Peterborough?' She asked in a nice Irish accent. 'Yes love, first stop'. I replied in my usual northern tounge and wondered off to find my seat. Now I didn't notice anything untoward at the time but with the benefit of hindsight, the warning signs were there for those that were on guard.

Anyway, just after the platform staff had shut the carraige door and the guard made his usual 'anyone not wishing to travel leave the train now cos were off' type thing, we heard this bansee type wail from the vestibule, 'Oi. Stop. I want to get off. How do you open the door? Stop? Oi! You. STOP! I haven't got a ticket. I only got on to use the toilet. This is going to sound horrid but half the carraige were in creases. I can't explain how she sounded but it those that have watched it would understand if I said the whole episode wouldn't have looked outa place in an episode of Father Ted.

One fella did get up to try and help her but by this time the doors were locked and it was too late. She abandonded her pushchair and went running off down the train in search of a guard. He returned to his seat half laughing, half smiling and off we went to Peterborough.

Eventually she returned to her pushchair still muttering how the platform staff had ignored her, how she hadn't got a ticket and how she only got on to use the toilet. Then she realised she was on for the duration and decided she might as well take a seat. That's when the smell hit us all. There was no escape either. As she'd run half way down the train. Every carraige stank! You know the smell? Vagrant, unwashed type smell. The sort you lingers in your throat so you can smell it hours afterwards.
Fucking great.

I decide I might as well stay where I am becasue the lady opposite is wearing a rather strong perfume which masks most of the stench and start to read my standard. Bad mistake. I can't ignore somebody who's talking either directly or generally to me. Everyone else did though. Sadly the conversation went something like this
'It goes to Peterborough you say?'
'Yes Love'.
'How far is it? Ah, It's not far, 10 mile or so I think. is that right?
'No love. More like 80 mile or so'
'How long does it take'?
'3/4's of an hour to 50 mins'
'A half hour and a quarter you say. Where is Peterborough anyway, have you been there?'
'I've been a few times yes'
'Ah, I've not. Don't want to go there either. I only got on for the toilet'
'Yes, I heard'

I won't go on but eventually she did leave me alone but but then the ticket inspector arrived. 'Got your ticket love?' Has she fuck.
10 minutes later we've all heard the story again together with the odd plea for us to back up her story. Bollocks to that. The ticket man disappeared and returned with an off duty Transport WPC. Quite where or how he found her I've no idea. I thought 'there's going to be trouble here' but our WPC lady is in abenevolent mood. She pursuades the GNER man to put the lady off at Peterborough and she'd deal with her from there. Sorted.

It would have been had our lady friend not fallen asleep. As she dosed she started leaning further and further until I was convinced she was going to keel over into the aisle. I nodded to our WPC who jumped up and woke her in the nick of time. Poor love then decided she'd sit next to her all the way back to Tinsel Town. (She must be used to odd smells cos I couldn't have sat there for 20 minutes).

Eventually got back to The Boro and so I didn't have to got another nostril full, I made sure I was up and at the door well before the old lady. Despite everything, her presence made for a memorable journey.

Didn't make it in on Friday thanks to a rather excellent gig by the Editors and a 3am bed time the night before. Consequently I didn't hear the alarm until 8am ish by which time it was kinda too late to go in. Wish I could say the same thing had happened this morning, but it didn't.

Had an 8.15am meeting this morning so left 20 minutes early to catch the 07:00. All was well until we reached Welling when the train came to abrupt and unscheduled stop. 'Just a slight problem with the overhead power supply' said the guard, 'the drivers in the process of fixing it and we should be moving again in a few minutes'. The seasoned travellers took this statement with a pinch and the unseasoned amongst us moaned like buggery.

Needless to say 1 1/2 hours later we were still there. Whilst the driver was able to fix the original problem he found another he could fix and had to call for a loco from Kings Cross to tow us in.
If that weren't bad enough for GNER, we'd stopped at one end of the Welling viaduct where there are only 2 lines - 1 north and 1 south. Needless to say every southbound train behind us also came to a complete halt.

I'm going home in 30 mins time. I wonder if they've pulled it back from the brink of disaster? I'll let you know.

Yesterdays journies started badly for me a finished in much the same way.

Arrived in good time for the 07.20 and parked the Scooter. As I'm taking the lid off I hear the dreaded announcement 'GNE|R would like to appolgise to passengers waiting for the 07.20 for London Kings Cross. Unfortunately this service has been delayed in the Thirsk area due to signal failure and is running aproximately 20 minutes late'.

I take it all in my stride. Been here before and I'll be there again.

However I didn't catch my usual 17.20 home. As mentioned in my previous post I met the missus at Kings Cross and as we were going to see the Editors at Brixton Academy. I arrived 10 minutes early and so looked at the arrivals board to check 1 her tain wasn't in and 2. It wasn't late. Needless to say it was running 18 minutes late as was every other GNER train due in to Kings Cross. What else could I do? I went for a pint.

20 minutes later I'm 3/4 of the way down my pint chatting to a mate of mine I've met while commuting. All the time we've been talking I've been checking the arrivals board so I don't miss her in doors. it's still running 18 minutes late. 5 minutes before the 18 minutes are up I glance at the screen and it's showing as arrived. Bastards have done me a gain. Lukily I find her quite easily.

After the gig we made it back to Kings Cross for 11pm and walked onto the last north bound GNER train - the 23.30 to Newcastle I think. Had a good long chat with a fellow commuter from Granthem who'd been out on the beers after work. Talked a lot about what it's like to be a commuter and GNER and where they're good and bad etc.

As we talked I couldn't help noticing that on the entire journey we slowed to I'd say somewhere under 50mph on 3 occasions, stopped completely twice and ended up 15 minutes late.

So. All in all I'd say GNER didn't have a very good day at all. It may or may not have been their fault, I don't know. Either way, I'm Glad I don't work for them.