No sign of Sean on this mornings 07.20 and consequently no explanation for the lack of seat reservations yesterday morning. No shock there then.

Also heard that last nights 17.50 was cancelled but no explanation given and this mornings 07.00 was running nearly 10 minutes late. The 07.20 arrived and left on time but for reasons unknown arrived into KX 3 minutes late. God knows what the problem was. All I can tell you is that from Stevenage onwards we ran slow and at one point almost caame to a complete stop. At this rate the season ticket discounts will soon be re-instated.

Seans replacement was a guy I haven't yet come across. His tannoy announcments we great though. The first thing I noticed was his accent. To me at least he sounded like he'd been transported straight out of the WW2 movie 'Reach for the Sky'. It wouldn't have surprised me if he came on the tannoy shouting 'Bandits at 12 o'clock', 'Oh no Gingers caught a blighty one', 'You've got one on your tail Basil'.

The other thing I noticed was the detail in his announcments. Firstly he gave us the usual run down and appologised for the lack of a trolley servcie which was due to staff shortages (The atomic watches can't be having much of an affect). He then went very quiet until, as we passed through Potters Bar he came on to request passengers leave vua the nearest door and not to walk through to first class so they can exit from the front. This was becasue they had a quick turn around at KX and such passenegrs would get in the way of his staff as they were trying to prepare the train. Then he gave us an update on the situation with the Tube and advised passengers on route to Heathrow to find an alternative route as the Picadilly line was closed between Acton and Hyde Park Corner. Finally as we pulled into KX he told passengers where the taxi rank and tube was. Shame he didn't explain why we ran slow or appologise for being late.