Short formed train 17.07 to Paddington - Frome again. Absolutely rammed and like last weeks a late change in train/platform so I don't know if there was a fault.

Probably didn't help people's tempers that there was no announcement on the train that didn't depart.

There's no seat reservations either although I haven't looked at Trainline to see if I can reserve them on a standard ticket as opposed to my season ticket. Not sure I fancy my chances of getting people to move though if I did have a reservation.

Even with first class available its still pretty cosy and options at that time are limited as the train before it from Twyford is also an 5 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and just as packed as its the only non stop train to Paddington.

Absolutely rammed again although kudos to the driver (or train manager?) who declassified first class. I think this one of the first times I've seen this done outside of an incident or delays on a regular service. I think they did it yesterday as well but I had my headphones on by then.

If it becomes a regular thing I might go stand further up the platform but I'm guessing its dependent on the crew.

I was reading about a trial in the US by Amazon where you have a nominated delivery day where all your parcels are delivered on that day. As I work from home on a set day I do try to arrange my deliveries for that day but I still get multiple vans turning up. I haven't been able to find much about it (googling Amazon probably didn't help) but if everything is consolidated into one van then that might help a lot with all the white vans moving around.

And as I think Tony is alluding to not a lot is going to happen at the moment with the government being pretty much focused on a single issue. Lot of lost time and wasted opportunities (assuming the political will was there which I doubt).

I had a similar experience on the Frome train when the reservations only came down after we'd left the station. It makes things difficult as often reservations are ditched if trains are running late or very quick turnaround (you'd hope the new system makes things easier). There was a bit of a heated argument before we left with a couple demanding someone move as they had the seat reserved and the occupant arguing there were no reservations which was true at that point.

According to Wikipedia a 5 Car Set IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) had 45 First Class, 270 Standard.

The Turbos don't appear to have seating capacity listed but according to Angel Trains (so there may be regional variations) a 165 has 264 std, 24 1st class seats per 3-car unit and 170 Std, 16 1st class seats per 2-car unit.

So quite a big reduction although chatting to some  passengers at Maidenhead who complained to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) they were told the IET was an improvement.

Twyford is starting to resemble Maidenhead now with a lot more jockeying for position and bad behaviour.

I don't think the mixed messages from the government are helped by things like increasing VAT^▸ (Value Added Tax) from 5% to 20% on Solar panels.

This coming after the removal of feed in tariffs further reducing the attractiveness of Solar.

Last I checked they'd also reduced grants and support for Electric cars (although as I think someone mentioned earlier they'd not exactly environmentally friendly in their manufacture)

I've got to know a few people on my commute although it was several years before we progressed to nodding and a bit more before we actually spoke despite standing in the same spot all this time. The ice was broken by a spate of bad service from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and my fellows travellers amusement of how quickly I gave up, left the platform and worked from home.

It's also very hard to hit hard deadlines on a live programme. You may have allowed for 2'30" for that interview but if they talk for more (or even less) then it can be quite hard to make the time up if the rest of the programme is made up of pre-recorded elements.

When I worked in live TV I often tried to finish with the Weather/market updates/summary of the headlines - all things that can be of variable length with a capable presenter. Sometimes things just don't work out and Presentation have to run a trail or promo.

Other times it might just be the difficulty of trying to co-ordinate all the regional programmes and them all finishing at the same time. Similar challenges with News 24 (as it was when I worked there) and BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) World overnight coming together as well as regional opts and advertising breaks on the latter.

No idea about the One Show though.

Beginning to feel like that isn't it?

Ah well that answers my question about where to stand next week...

I think passengers on the 06.53/07.01 Twyford/Maidenhead to Paddington would disagree on that one.

As someone who worked nights for many years the travel costs were always a bit frustrating. Yes I could buy a season ticket but as I was always travelling against the general flow it never felt good value. I also worked 12 or 14 hour shifts which is a similar point to Taplow Green's about flexible working. And a purely self inflicted cost but it was always a faff buying tickets each night or in the morning when you're pretty much brain dead so I tended to play safe with a season.

In my current role my annual season is borderline value but often its the convenience of always having a ticket as well as not knowing what days I might be working that wins me over. While an Oyster card type system would be great for me I can't see what's in it for the train companies?

Actually I thought the station announcer did a great job of people informed. He also made clear that there was no point in asking GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff as at that point they knew no more than he was announcing.

He also explained why some of the decisions such as blanking the screens were happening.

It did all start to fall apart a bit once the trains started running but up until that point I'm not sure much more could be said.

Is that all? I assumed it would be more but I think then there's going to be a lot of unhappy passengers at Maidenhead/Twyford.

Be interesting to see if people start reserving seats (which I'm guessing you can do now as its an IET?) as I think that will only make things worse.