Not Quite First Class

The other weekend I travelled to Manchester for the day for an event - I'd planned it for a while, and as I was taking the train (so I could have a beer if the fancy took me) I decided to treat myself to first class on the way home.  I do like going first class on a train, especially on a journey home - I find that on the way to a place there's often a vague frisson of excitement that you're going somewhere, which helps you overlook being jammed in a seat with a hundred other people, trying to avoid having your feet run over by a snack trolley, whilst on the way home you're flagging somewhat and tempers can be frayed so a little bit of comfort can be very welcome.

That was possibly the best pork pie I've ever eaten - top marks to Beehive Food for making it, and to Piccadilly Tap for stocking it.

So I got to Manchester rail station after a couple of pints (and an absolutely amazing pork pie, as shown above), and decided to check out the first class lounge for a complimentary coffee and perhaps a decent biscuit. (As an aside, if you happen to have a train change at Doncaster, they sometimes leave the first class lounge unattended, so even if you haven't got a ticket, you can get in and raid the posh biscuits, to snack on when on the train, or even to save as impromptu gifts for friends and family)

 However, after exploring Manchester rail station twice to find the first class lounge, when I finally did discover it, it turns out that in Manchester rail station the first class lounge is apparently for Virgin Trains customers only, and I wasn't on a Virgin train.  So nothing complimentary there.

Still, I boarded the train at last, and looked forward to a couple of hours of stewards regularly approaching me with food and a selection of delicious drinks.  In the past I've found that, given a sufficiently long train journey, that you can more or less make your money back by just eating and drinking everything they offer you.

It was a good thirty minutes when I discovered (thanks Google) that apparently the train in question didn't offer refreshments.  So essentially I'd paid for first class to get a slightly nicer seat.

And a desk lamp.  With an on/off switch, no less.

So all in all, although it's a bit middle-class to complain about it, I was disappointed in the lack of provision offered for first class. It's entirely down to my fault for not checking the website to see exactly what "first class" meant for my particular train, and I'll make sure to do that in future.

I'm not really sure why I took this picture, except that the disembodied hand reaching for the baby seems large.

Speaking of which, part 2 of my middle class struggles (aka #FirstWorldProblems) is online, why not watch it (and even part 1 as well if you really feel like it...)

Water, Burritos, and Train Drivers chatting in Selby

So, I was in London yesterday.

The day started off with a touch of bloody-mindedness.  Before getting the train I stopped in at WH Smith to grab a bottle of water.  I selected my favoured bottle (the cheapest one I could find, which was fairly small - good to put in my bag), and went to the checkout to pay.  The guy at the checkout, kindly trying to save me some money, advised me that the bottle of water would be £1.49, and I could buy a copy of the Telegraph for £1.40, which came with a free, bigger, bottle of water.

I'm afraid my bloody-mindedness reared its head at this point, because:
a) I had already spent several seconds of my life choosing a bottle of water, and I didn't want that time to have been wasted, and;
b) I don't read the Telegraph.

I don't actually have anything against the Telegraph, except that it's a broadsheet i.e. really big when you open it, which is fine at home on a weekend when you can spread it over a large table, but totally useless when you're under some sort of space restriction (like being on a train).

The train journey both ways was fine, I got some work done which was good, the meeting in London was useful and interesting (although for some reason there was a toilet roll jammed between two of the legs supporting my table - I never did work out why), and, most importantly, I got to King's Cross station in time to get a burrito.

There's a place called Benito's Hat at Kings Cross station in London, I understand that they have a number of places open across central London but I've only ever experienced the one at Kings Cross. The food is absolutely excellent with the burritos being the best I've ever tasted - whenever I see burritos on the menu at places I'm eating I always try them, but they're never as good as the ones at Benito's Hat.

(In fact in general Kings Cross is a great place to get fed, I'd recommend Wasabi and Leon too)

I also got a free bottle of Lipton's iced tea from someone them handing out on the way to the train, so I was very pleased.

An excellent way to start a train journey.

On the way back, one of the stations stopped at was Selby.  Selby is a town roughly in the middle of Yorkshire, situated such that you can probably get to most cities within the county from Selby within an hour.  It has some decent shows on at the Town Hall, and I bought a car from Selby.  That's pretty much everything I know about the place.

Actually, there is one other thing about Selby.  At Selby train station, the train drivers stand outside their trains and chat.

I don't know why this is so remarkable, but it is.  I never see train drivers out of their trains just chatting anywhere else.  At smaller stations the trains never stop, and I guess at bigger stations the drivers perhaps have a break room or somewhere that they go when taking a break?  I have absolutely no problem with them having a break - indeed I doubt that it is up to them anyway, it'll be that the train has got to Selby (probably from Leeds, stopping at all the little villages on the way), and it isn't due to return towards Leeds for a while.

Busyness!

It has been a busy day - well, it's been a busy week, to be honest.  This week I'm doing a training course which I am enjoying, but it does come with two exams and a fair chunk of revision each night, so I am a bit tired.  That said, I did enjoy seeing this page in the revision material:

If it isn't clear, it says "This is a blank page", hence making the page not... blank.

Another picture I thought that I'd share with you was from a train station the other day.  At the train station there is a stall selling cards and flowers.  Nothing wrong with that, I can quite imagine going to jump on a train to see someone, and needing to grab a card and/or fauna en route.

All that stood out to me was the blue sign visible above the stall that advertised their wares.  It starts off with "Flowers for any occasion", which is fair enough - they sell flowers, and I'm sure that many occasions indeed would be positively impacted by the inclusion of flowers.  No argument there.

They then decided to list some of the events that flowers could be suitable for - again, perfectly sensible.

Now, how did they start off this list of events?  Well, let's think, they're in a rail station so you're likely to be buying them either to take on a train, or, and probably more likely (because I wouldn't want to carry fragile flowers on a train) they are for giving to people that get off trains - your loving partner who has been away on business, your aunt who has travelled from somewhere to visit - so, bearing this in mind, the very first event listed on the sign is:

"FUNERALS"

The sign in the picture again is a little small, but "FUNERALS" absolutely stands out.

It just seemed a little pessimistic somehow.

If you haven't already taken part in Wiki Loves Monuments, this is the time!  If you're in the US go to http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/ (or if not search on Google for your countries relevant website - for example the UK one is http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/) and upload some photos of a local monument or listed building, especially those that Wikimedia don't have yet.  I've been down to a Whiting Mill on the bank of the river Humber for photos - I should say that I walked around and around the mill for about ten minutes because it wasn't where I thought it ought to be, according to the description, but I got there in the end!

Finally, the good people at find.com have let me loose on their website, if you would like some tips on losing weight then check my blog out - I might even follow them myself one day!

Now, I'm off to sleep - night!