Category Archives: Travels

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Snow saga

Picture of snow falling

A bad picture of snow falling this morning before the saga began

We had the first snow of the season in this part of England this morning. I hadn’t looked at a weather forecast for days (or more), so I was unprepared for the sight of snow falling as I waited at the station. I was waiting for my usual train, which was already late because it was broken and therefore going very slowly, and by the time it arrived it made more sense for me to get the next train, because I would have missed my connection on the earlier one and the later one goes straight through…well, usually.

The snow continued to fall (and indeed continues to do so until the end of this story), but the second train arrived only a few minutes late, so we all got on it. Everything was reasonably OK until we we were about five minutes away from a station which is one of those stations with very little shelter and no actual railway staff. At this point, we stopped, because (the mumbled announcement said) there was a “failed train” in front of us (the one I would usually have got on). So, we waited for said train to move out of our way. And waited some more. Worryingly, during our wait, the lights went out and the motors of the train stopped whirring, at which point I had to overcome a slight feeling of panic. (I worry about being trapped on trains if the power fails and the doors won’t open). It also got colder and colder as, understandably, the heating only worked when the power was on.

At last, after about 45 minutes, the guard said the train in front had moved so we could carry on, but when we tried to continue the journey it became clear that the train we were on wasn’t going anywhere very fast. The computer system was not working properly, and the train had “lost air” because of remaining stationary for so long. I’m not really sure what that meant, but it wasn’t something anyone wanted to hear! We eventually made it to the next station in little, halting steps, not getting any warmer.

When we got to the station, the nice Welsh Revenue Enforcement Officer Lady said our train had failed – which people had suspected for a while! – so we all had to get off and walk across the bridge to the other side of the tracks, with the idea that we could get a train back the other way to a more major station when we could catch a train back again towards our  original destinations. So we all went over to the other side of the tracks (across the slippy bridge and stairs which was a bit hazardous as no gritting or salting had been done, and you can imagine how much I enjoyed that given my love of snow and ice) and waited for the next train the other way. It took about 20 minutes to arrive, by which time we were all frozen.

While waiting for the train, I decided to go home. I was ridiculously cold, and I didn’t want to risk getting stuck anywhere en route again or getting to work and then not getting back again. The train that arrived was perfectly OK, and I got home without further incident. Fortunately, I’m able to do part of my work from home, and the Manager in Charge of Everything in the Library said it was OK for me to do this for half the day and take the other half as annual leave, which was good of  him. So, I’ve spent the rest of the day doing metadata for the repository, with the heating on, while wearing my extra-warm slippers, a blanket and fingerless gloves!

I’m just hoping the weather (and the health of the trains) will  be better tomorrow. The irony of it is that there wasn’t even all that much snow – it’s melted away here already!

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Some thoughts on commuting by train

As long-time readers of this blog may know, I commute quite a long way to work every day, by train. I’m not entirely sure how many miles it is from my house to work, but it takes about 50 minutes, give or take, depending on how long the train waits at the station where the train often divides into two parts, each going a different route, or attaches to another train. I have to change trains at this station in the mornings if I get the earlier train, which I do in term time in order to avoid school children and students who are more than I can cope with at that time in the morning.

I’m afraid I’m a very anti-social commuter. I don’t want to sit next to anyone else if I can help it, and I put my earphones in at the first possible opportunity, unless the train is very quiet. From my observations, these are traits I seem to share with quite a lot of people. It’s very rare that anyone will sit next to anyone they don’t know. It seems that some people would rather stand at the ends of the carriage than sit next to anyone, which is a bit extreme, even for me. I’d rather sit down than stand, most of the time, unless the alternative is sitting next to drunk or very loud/rude people – then I would rather move carriages.

I’ve been commuting for seven-and-a-half years now. When people say to me, as they often do, that [commuting] must be a bit of a pain, I usually say, well, I’m used to it now, because I am. I got used to it quite quickly, actually. It’s not like I really have any choice, anyway! I don’t drive, and I think even if I did I’d usually rather get the train, because at least then I can read a book or play pretend Scrabble on my electronic device, or whatever. In the winter I quite often find myself falling asleep on trains, especially on the way home. I have a slight fear of going past my station and on to London, which would be annoying.

There are things I dislike about commuting by train. Unsurprisingly, these are:

(a) the unreliability of the trains and the railway network

(b) the anti-social/offensive/threatening/downright unpleasant behaviour I witness on a fairly regular basis (and sometimes experience)

(c) having to share my space with lots of other people, especially early in the mornings

(d) the way it constrains social occasions (a bit)

I think possibly the anti-s0cial behaviour, etc., is the worst thing about travelling on trains a lot. It’s not so bad out of term time, and the earlier train is usually a bit better in this regard, but some of the stuff you have to listen to is appalling.  For example, travelling on  trains has made me realise how racist some people are. I have been shocked by some of the things I’ve heard people say – young people as well, sometimes university students. Ironically, some of the worst behaviour I’ve witnessed has actually been perpetrated by railway staff. I know they have to deal with difficult people a lot, and they must have a horrible job, but there’s no need to be rude to people.

In the past couple of weeks, the trains I’ve had to catch have been late almost every day, and my early Thursday morning train has been cancelled twice in a row. Most of the delays have been relatively slight, but any delay is annoying. I’ve spent more hours than I care to think about waiting on platforms, which are not the most welcoming or comfortable places in the world. They always seem to be cold, whatever the weather is actually like. Maybe that’s just in my mind. I dread winter, and particularly snow, because of the disruption it causes to train services and the difficulties it  creates in just getting to and from stations. I was stuck on a train for three hours when it snowed once. It was pretty grim. I remember sitting in the train getting colder and colder and watching the snow fall and thinking the longer we stay here the less likely we are to get home. But that same night my friend’s partner was stuck on a train for eight hours, so I felt like I’d got off lightly in comparison!

I haven’t mentioned the cost of train tickets yet, have I? They are Quite Expensive.

It’s not all bad, though. Most days, I sit with a library colleague on the way home, and we have some good chats and catch up on things – I think sometimes we find out more about what’s going on in the library during our train chats than we do actually at work! I’ve met quite a few nice people on trains over the years, including the cathedral archives ladies and their ever changing entourage; and the people on my station who say hello every morning. The only good thing about snow is that it seems to make people friendlier and more sociable. The funny thing is that people who were quite chatty during snow time often don’t chat again until the next round of snow!

One day, I would like to get a job nearer home, but the likelihood of this ever happening is quite small, so I will continue to try and make the most of the commute by reading lots of good books.

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Necropolis

The conference is only a one day event, so the next day we met up with Mr C’s brother and his girlfriend, who live in Glasgow. We spent quite a lot of the day eating (which is no bad thing!) but we also managed a walk around Glasgow Necropolis. This may not sound like the most cheerful afternoon activity, but it is actually a very beautiful, peaceful and interesting place, and it’s right up on a hill so affords really good views of the city.

I thought the lamb made an interesting contrast to the fierce-looking angels.
Cloudy view over Glasgow
A bit sunnier
John Knox looks over Glasgow.
Cathedral & Glasgow Royal Infirmary from Glasgow Necropolis. The necropolis is just across the way from the cathedral. It is connected to the cathedral grounds by a bridge I wish I’d taken a photo of!
This angel is one of two on the monument for Alexander Allan, the founder of the Allan Line ship company.
There are lots of beautifully carved Celtic crosses in the necropolis.
A Weeping Angel? I kept a safe distance, just in case…
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Weekly photo challenge: Foreign

Shakespeare and Company bookshop, Paris

I always think it’s a shame about the scaffolding in this photo, but never mind. I thought this one would do for this week’s photo challenge, because the bookshop is ‘foreign’  (to me) in several ways. Firstly, it is in Paris, somewhere that’s foreign to me, and secondly because it’s an English bookshop in a French city, so in a sense it’s also foreign where it is, although it has become a well-established Paris landmark now – so maybe not so foreign after all.

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Happy (Chinese) New Year

It’s the first day of Chinese New Year today. So, 恭禧發財 kung hei fat choi -  happy new year!

As we’re only a quarter Chinese between us, Mr C and I don’t really do much to celebrate Chinese New Year, although we had a Chinese take-away for dinner tonight! We spoke to Mr C’s family in Malaysia yesterday, including his Chinese grandma, who was using Skype for the first time. It was nice to be able to see her via the wonders of the Internet, even though we couldn’t see her in person. Fortunately, Mr C’s mum didn’t make us sing the Gong Xi song (I quite like the klezmer feel to this version!) over Skype!

Last year, we were in Malaysia, so we did a bit more celebrating, mainly by eating lovely food and watching lion dances, which is a traditional thing to do at new year. Lots of shops, shopping malls and hotels in Malaysia host lion dances, as they’re supposed to bring good fortune to the business. Here are some pictures from last year’s CNY:

Last year was the year of the rabbit - there were lots of rabbits everywhere, including some rather large ones outside the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur.

The lions get ready to go into the Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

A lion dance in one of the shopping malls. This one was particularly acrobatic and impressive as the lions were dancing on little platforms.

Lion dances are often very loud - lots of crashing cymbals and ringing of loud bells.

Decorations in the shopping mall (of which there are many in Kuala Lumpur)

The lions go round the crowd giving out oranges, for good luck.

It's traditional to have a crysanthamum plant in the house at Chinese New Year.