Random Irritations

Rail fares. Not the actual cost, although that’s bad enough, but the ludicrous way they are put together.

Tomorrow is a classic example. I need to get from Warrington to either Crewe or Sandbach. Easy enough. But try and work this nonsense out on TrainPal.

I get the 9.22am from Warrington Central to Warrington Bank Quay and change. Warrington Bank Quay to Crewe, and Crewe to Sandbach.

Total price Warrington Central to Sandbach is £13. But here’s the bonkers bit. If I only go as far as Crewe it’s £3 MORE. So in the event I opt to finish my journey at Crewe, I will pay to do an additional leg to Sandbach and end up saving money.

Has the world gone stark raving mad?
 
Rail fares. Not the actual cost, although that’s bad enough, but the ludicrous way they are put together.

Tomorrow is a classic example. I need to get from Warrington to either Crewe or Sandbach. Easy enough. But try and work this nonsense out on TrainPal.

I get the 9.22am from Warrington Central to Warrington Bank Quay and change. Warrington Bank Quay to Crewe, and Crewe to Sandbach.

Total price Warrington Central to Sandbach is £13. But here’s the bonkers bit. If I only go as far as Crewe it’s £3 MORE. So in the event I opt to finish my journey at Crewe, I will pay to do an additional leg to Sandbach and end up saving money.

Has the world gone stark raving mad?
On occasion I’ve got the train from Basingstoke to Stafford, it goes via Reading but it’s one train with no changes.

If I book a direct train it comes in around about £62 non reserved seating, if I book a split fare Basingstoke to Banbury, then Banbury to Stafford despite it being the same train and me never get off of it I can book the total journey for £43 and that’s includes a reserved seat !

Guess which I do ! It’s ludicrous as it’s £19 cheaper and guarantees me a seat on a busy train !
 
Rail ticketing needs ripping up and replacing. It's overly complicated, frequently incomprehensible, and excessively expensive. If you started from scratch you would never develop the system we currently have.

Whilst I'm at it, every ticket should be allocated a seat number. Lumo manage it, the others can. You can buy an open ticket but you need to book your seat before you actually get on the train. If a seat isn't available, you wait until the next train. I'm fed up of people without reservations sitting in my seat and having to go through the hassle of getting them to move 🤬. You can't do that on a flight, you shouldn't be able to do that on a train.
 
Trying to sunbathe on my front. Obviously I want an all round bronzed look but find it so uncomfortable on my front
Surely, you have the classic golfers tan that you can spot anywhere at the beach.
1 Bronzed legs ankle to thigh, milky white above and below.
2 Bronzed arms up to just past the elbow but one hand is white with a white strip around one wrist.
3 Tanned face, white forehead, red 'V' at top of chest.
4 Top of the ears red and peeling.
You can see them nodding and mentally wondering "What's he play off?"
 
I was looking at trains from Bristol to Truro for tomorrow. Could fly to most of Europe more cheaply.

Not bothering.

I read earlier this year about a fella who lived down on the south coast, and who needed to get to the northwest to collect a new car.

It was cheaper for him to fly via the continent, somewhere in Spain I think it was, and then up to Manchester, than it was for him to get there on the train.

Madness.
 
Rail fares. Not the actual cost, although that’s bad enough, but the ludicrous way they are put together.

Tomorrow is a classic example. I need to get from Warrington to either Crewe or Sandbach. Easy enough. But try and work this nonsense out on TrainPal.

I get the 9.22am from Warrington Central to Warrington Bank Quay and change. Warrington Bank Quay to Crewe, and Crewe to Sandbach.

Total price Warrington Central to Sandbach is £13. But here’s the bonkers bit. If I only go as far as Crewe it’s £3 MORE. So in the event I opt to finish my journey at Crewe, I will pay to do an additional leg to Sandbach and end up saving money.

Has the world gone stark raving mad?
You can't get a train from Warrington Central to Warrington bank Quay. It's a 20min walk or a taxi outside the station. Ps. Make sure you get on the right Euston service, one stops at Crewe one goes straight through to Euston.
 
Rail ticketing needs ripping up and replacing. It's overly complicated, frequently incomprehensible, and excessively expensive. If you started from scratch you would never develop the system we currently have.

Whilst I'm at it, every ticket should be allocated a seat number. Lumo manage it, the others can. You can buy an open ticket but you need to book your seat before you actually get on the train. If a seat isn't available, you wait until the next train. I'm fed up of people without reservations sitting in my seat and having to go through the hassle of getting them to move 🤬. You can't do that on a flight, you shouldn't be able to do that on a train.

Try getting a refund for a late arrival. I booked 1st class Manchester to Doncaster - don’t bother, you’ll be lucky to get a seat. But after the very late arrival, it was running late so they announced it wouldn’t be stopping at Doncaster, and anyone wanting Doncaster should get off at Sheffield and get on the following train…

I put in for a refund with Trans-Pennine. After 2 weeks I got an email saying you didn’t book through us them, we’d bought the ticket at a machine at Piccadilly station. I contacted whoever it was that own the ticket machines… sorry, you’ve timed out for a refund…
 
You can't get a train from Warrington Central to Warrington bank Quay. It's a 20min walk or a taxi outside the station. Ps. Make sure you get on the right Euston service, one stops at Crewe one goes straight through to Euston.

My mistake - I was so caught up with the pricing nonsense I didn’t see the bit on TrainPal which said Central to Bank Quay was a walk!
 
The boiler repair man who thinks I'd appreciate a detailed explanation of what went wrong, why it went wrong, what he did to fix it and how boilers work and can't see that I have glazed over, tuned out and have installed my "Fascinating" face.
And he's a mate!
Just tell me the foofoo valve was jammed.
😅
 
During the hols, Went from Milan to Bologna.. high speeds hitting 300k.. 2 hrs in a clean first class .. paid a princely 77Euro.

I m not even going to compare to what we get here ..
 
Surely, you have the classic golfers tan that you can spot anywhere at the beach.
1 Bronzed legs ankle to thigh, milky white above and below.
2 Bronzed arms up to just past the elbow but one hand is white with a white strip around one wrist.
3 Tanned face, white forehead, red 'V' at top of chest.
4 Top of the ears red and peeling.
You can see them nodding and mentally wondering "What's he play off?"
I could be looking in the mirror now!! :ROFLMAO:
 
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