Grumpy Old Man

23rd May 2012
08:55 Sitting on a train from Reading to Evesham for a meeting with the BBC. My mood already darkened by the ticket queue at Fleet station being a dozen people deep as not all of the machines were working. Now faced with the slightly risky process of buying a ticket on the train, as it depends on the mood of the guard and the particular fare enforcement policy being dictated from South West Trains head Office, I parked and bought my car park ticket from the "cashless" ticket machine.
These have to be amongst the worst example of technology implementation on the planet. It used to take a few seconds to pay with cash, which i concede, had to be collected and was at risk of theft and vandalism. The replacement however, which now doubt sounded great in the Boardroom. Takes a full two minutes from inserting credit card to printing a ticket. That time is only possible when you are used to the incomprehensible instructions presented to you when you insert your card. If you happen to be behind somebody just making a rare train trip who has never seen the machines before. Then I am afraid that you will miss your train or come home to a clamped car.
Anyway, the train changes at Basingstoke and Reading were on schedule. So now I am sitting in a carriage heading to Evesham. I didn't make the quiet coach, and am sitting behind a young woman talking in a loud voice, I assumed, to somebody on the end of the line on her mobile. It turns out that no, she was talking to her neighbouring passenger. Who happened to be playing Angry Birds on her iPhone, so was distracted. I guess this in part explained the loud voice.
Fortunately, they had reserved seats. So by concentrating very hard and catching the sunlight at just the right moment I could read through the reservation card sticking out the top of their seats that they should be leaving the train at Oxford.
Maybe I will relax and enjoy the trip a little more from there.





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