8 posts tagged “train”
So another top secret file has been left lying about for any old joe unscrupulous to find. What sort of idiots are we employing to look after these things? Don't they have a section on the recruitment questionnaire to tease out the forgetful and scatterbrained:
You have a top secret document you need to read, do you:
A) Leave it safely locked up in your highly secure office
B) Lock it up in a brief case which you keep with you at all times and take it home to read
C) Put it in an orange envelope with a copy of a magazine you happen to be reading earlier and leave it on the seat of a commuter train
Honestly, what a fuckwit.
So the Cannes carnival of indulgence and shameless display of wealth and one-up-manship is over for another year.
It was great fun but bloody hard work. I think it is going to take me a week for my liver to recover and to catch up on sleep, thank criminy I've got Monday off work.
Highlights:
Getting the train
Beautiful sunny, hot weather
Chocolate souffle
Hotel room
Chauffeur driven boat ride across the marina
Guitarist in band at Brum do - see picture collection ;0)
French policemen helping people cross the road
Lowlights:
Sleep deprivation
Pissed up, pot-bellied, sweaty, middle-aged men invading my personal space and generally being slimey dick heads
The restaurants of Cannes ability to completely redefine the concept of slow service
Getting the train
And then there were the more bizarre ways companies chose to entertain and draw attention to themselves:
Considering that at one point this evening I thought I might end up spending another night on French soil I'm actually quite impressed that I've made it home a mere four hours later than expected. Rather than the two hour train journey from Lille to Waterloo followed by a short cab ride I had to catch two trains, a cab, a shuttle bus, a ferry, another shuttle bus and then another cab which cost £170 (shared with three others) because the last train from Dover to London had left.
What I don't understand is why a track fire in Clapham/Battersea can affect trains in France. Perhaps its the answer to illegal immigration problems: just set fire to a bit of track and put the transport system in two countries up the spout.
Obviously running the Eurostar through the tunnel to Ashford and putting on a bus/rail replacement service into central London would have been far too sensible and helpful to all those stranded in Lilles. As would actually giving out some information as to what the hell was going on and alternative routes homes. There is something wrong when you have to find out what is going on by phoning home and getting someone to look up news and travel pages on the web.
I'm finishing me calvados then I'm off to sleep for a very, very long time.
Progress. Am sitting in the travel-lodge style lounge of a P&O ferry and have just left France. I have a large glass of wine and the Dunkirk spirit is winning through.
Not sure what the train situation will be once we arrive in Dover in 90 mins time but at least I'll be on home soil.
Tomorrow is D-Day, I'm heading off to the south of France for the annual trade fair for the industry I write about. Some 20,000 people attend and more champagne is drunk during this week than during the Cannes film festival.
I'm not sure what the primary purpose of the event is except to be seen and to drink and eat as much free stuff as possible. Except the food is never that good because there are 20,000 people needing to be fed and it's not exactly like they have somewhere else to go.
People launch stuff, the private sector blow their marketing budgets and local governments from all over Europe spend tax-payers money to be there and wine, dine and entertain people in the hope of attracting investment and press coverage.
One British city is flying out its 'best' Indian chefs to cook at a beach side restaurant, another has, according to a good source of a colleague, booked ELO to play. Last year they had Squeeze, the year before the Stranglers.
Now the private sector can spend all they want but I can't help but wonder if it the best use of tax payers money. I'll do my best to enjoy myself, for their constituents sakes if nothing else.
I'm getting the train down this year for the first time which I'm quite excited about as I've never been on such a long train journey. Managed to wrangle myself some cheap first class tickets otherwise I'd be straight on the ozone killers of the sky.
I've also lucked in on my hotel and been allocated one that is both central and not a shit hole, although I believe it when I'm safe in my room. Normally some of Cannes worst rooms are reserved just for the journalists and some are in a town up the coast half an hours cab ride away.
It all sounds very glam and it is I suppose but the pay off is that I will inevitably end up doing three 18-hour days. Still at least the weather is forecast to be good.
Am sat on a train and the lights keep going out, there is a hot metal smell but at least its moving.
The 90 min journey to Bristol this morning took 3 hours which mucked up my schedule. Now I'm trying to get home and the two previous trains were cancelled. The speed restrictions are still in force and stations and routes are falling foul of the stormy weather all along the route.
Nadia is stuck in Cambridge - no trains and the main roads are closed - so it could be worse.
I have discovered Glasgow through visiting the city for work. I look forward to my trips there and this year our annual Glasgow reception was an evening event which meant an overnight stay.
Normally I would fly up without a second thought but this year when Nadia and I were planning the trip it wasn't long after the attempted terrorist attack on UK flights was foiled. There is no way I'd let something like that stop me from travel but what put us off taking the plane was the prospect of having to check in hand luggage and the general security hassle.
So we decided to look into taking the train but only if we could get cheap first class tickets - it is a four/five hour journey after all.
The tickets were cheaper than the flight and the more we thought about it the more we thought we'd made the right decision - no hassle getting to the airport, queueing, waiting in the lounge, queueing, sitting on a cramped uncomfortable plane, more queueing and then travelling back from the airport.
Timewise, there probably isn't much in it either and we'd be able to plug in our laptops and get some work done.
I've already booked train tickets for my next trip up to Scotland.
And Glasgow? It was a brief visit but I fell in love with the city all over again. Here are a few piccies that don't come anywhere near to doing it justice...
Had to go to Cardiff for work yesterday which meant travelling with First Great Western. Currently not my favourite train operator following an awful journey to Bristol, back on the hottest day in July, on a packed train with no air conditioning. Now the company has added to its notoriety by having the most ridiculous rule I've come across in a long time.
