Great Western Coffee Shop

monday 7th November in connnection with the suspension of the rail strike.

And the BBC were at EUS this morning

at 07:00am on tuesday 6th december reporting on the up and coming rail strikes.

News are OUTSIDE london bridge train station and OUTSIDE Birmingham new street reporting on the rail disruption.

Not sure where ITV news are.

Friday 16 december 2022 reporting on the rail strikes.

The report of the family turning up laden down with luggage for their Christmas trip and unable to travel due to the strike was particularly poignant I thought.

Simon Calder outside Upper crust reporting on the rail disruption,seems very quiet.

Probably no great surprise in the quietness;  it's a Bank Holiday and strike day restart, with people (and especially none-regular leisure users) warned away by rail industry publicity, magnified by the press filling its pages and feeds with disproportionate dire warnings.

An opportunity missed - "The Great New Year Sale" - why not visit London and take in Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Berwick Street ... three adults for the price of two, super-off-peak travel cards valid all day until January - just £23.30 a head including all the buses and undergrounds from Didcot ... buy separate day returns to Didcot such as an extra £13.20 from Melksham ...

The "opportunity missed" today is for just about all involved  -  the sales have started, so shops, restaurants, pubs etc will all be losing revenue thanks to the rail strikes - as well as the railway itself - although other businesses of course don't get bailed out by the taxpayer in these circumstances.

reporting on the rail dispute,looks very quiet at 06:05am

Normally is at 06:05am since the demise of Royal Mail, Newspaper, Parcels, Fishguard Fish etc Trains

..and no Sleeper service this week.

Tuesday 17 january 2023 in celebration of 40 years of the launch of BBC Breakfast News.

in connection with the on going problems at Trans pennine express.

on wednesday 1st feb in connection with on going disputes

wednesday 1st february but Sky news are outside in connection with the on going disputes

in connection with the on-going rail dispute.

conducting an interview approx 07:40am

Not sure IF BBC might have done their interview already or about to do the interview.

piccadilly interview with the ASLEF leader in connection with the strikes

Not sure where ITV are.

saturday 13 may 2023,other TV stations might have interviews as well.

reporting live if your out and about

BBC also have a second reporter LIVE at London Euston

Very well balanced BBC article from Huddersfield on ticket office closures  - passengers, RNIB and a chap from a Rail magazine interviewed - variety of views, all very objective and refreshingly free of ideology.

Saturday 30 September at approx 07:00am

LIVE interview with Mick Whelan of ASLEF union at approx 07:15am on BBC news

Wednesday 1st November 2023,about the cancellation of booking offices closures.

monday 18 december reporting on the Kings Cross and Paddington station closures over Christmas.

friday 22 december reporting on thursdays disruption at London Euston

on thursday 28 december reporting on various rail delays around the country.

They do love sending reporters to stand inconveniently in a place that's vaguely pertinent to the subject but the pictures add no information, when the report could more easily and cheaply be done from a studio. There was one yesterday from a wet and windswept motorway bridge, with traffic underneath clearly heavy but flowing steadily.  It added nothing to the report but I ended up feeling sorry for the crew.

Its the same with articles about the ministry of defence that break over the weekend,

 when they are stood outside the MOD on Sunday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reporter that was over the bridge was very busy as she ended up at Preston train station on the same day.

"Multiple exclamation marks... are a sure sign of a diseased mind."

"And all those exclamation marks... a sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
 :P

Well the boring answer is because you can. Improvements in connectivity mean no longer having to send a truck and bunch of engineers just so the reporter can stand in the rain.

Occasionally though there can be good reasons - the reporter and camera person are there anyway as they've been filming and can't get back to base in time, they can cover multiple outlets (think 5Live in Salford, Radio 4 and BBC1 in London and say Local radio) and occasionally because it lets you move cameras around in the studio and get other guests in and out of seats more easily.

Mainly though because you can  ;D

I have often wondered ... but actually I'm coming up with another reason here in Wiltshire.  From personal experience, I have dragged myself out to various places such as Imber and Bradford-on-Avon on wet, windy mornings.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/bbc_boa_1.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/bbc_boa_2.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/bbc_boa_3.jpg)

What it does - in this Wiltshire setting - is to get them a whole series of interviews with people who wouldn't make it to the studio nor be easily reachable on the phone.   So Karen gets a wide variety of voices and opinions - in the pictures here from the ticket office campaign with the rain peeing down.   Passengers, Stations Friends, Coffee Vendor ... also as an interviewee, it helps set the atmosphere and help both the BBC and myself; we ended up chatting (not sure if it was on air) about the unreliability of the ticket machine and how you had to stand in the puddle in order to try to do so.

My first thought from that was why did I never get a branded waterproof when I had to go out stand in the rain ???

There use to be some umbrellas but they were much prized as leaving gifts so tended to be in short supply.

Are they a 'thing' these days?

Only if it's raining.

Good one!
Typed in haste.  Are company branded brollies given these days as retirement gifts?

I gave a GWR branded one as a Christmas present.

It was probably the most popular request for gifts when most of my age group left over the last few years. BBC News or BBC Weather. Most had to settle for a mug as the brollies were really meant to be for the on air talent to use so in short supply. There use to be a regular supply of branded pens, pencils, mugs, floppy disks etc when I started many years ago but cost cutting means they are no more.

You can still get a GWR one though https://www.gwrsouvenirs.co.uk/GWR/p-GWR127 (https://www.gwrsouvenirs.co.uk/GWR/p-GWR127)

reporting on the disruption caused by the severe weather.

MONDAY 22 January 2024,in connection with the severe weather disruption.

Wednesday 28 February

1)Widening commercial Road at Penryn for the Falmouth to Newquay direct service

2)Truro replacing signals etc.