It's probably a front page headline for the Express!

That's true, which is why it was a more general point, not just WECA. (And plenty of other examples in other places: M42, M25 explicitly so, etc).

It's not just the effect of joining and leaving traffic on the main carriageways, which can probably be minimised by slip-road design, it's also that placing junctions close together attracts local traffic using the motorway in preference to A or B roads.

Of course we can, but first we've got to fit them with special guidewheels.

As I'm sitting at my computer, supposedly writing about subsea cables (do.not.ask), and found this curious, I looked up trains from Southsea Hoverport to Clifton Down. Bizarrely, although it's listed in the National Rail database, it doesn't seem to be a station, just a bus stop. I'm actually a bit surprised to find the hovercraft is still running.

I didn't know there was a plan for a new motorway junction near Weston. I did know there are plans for one between Bristol and Yate on the M4 and one on the M49 between Avonmouth and the Severn Bridge. Which all leads me to a general comment (not specific to WECA at all, sorry): how many new junctions can be added, particularly in areas where there already are several, before the proximity of one junction to another interferes with the motorway's (supposed at least) primary function as a long-distance artery?

  But what actually is an FTN node? Fibre telecommunications network?

The set up shown in the Facebook photo, wherever it's from, looks pretty good. Easy to use, bikes probably won't fall over and looks as if it should accommodate the majority of bikes and riders, the only probable limitation being tyre width – and if someone's tyres were too wide (some "fat bikes" now have tyres 4" wide or more) they could always put it next to the holder thing (not sure what to call it) rather than in it. Perhaps Sheffield stands (the hoops commonly used for on-street parking) would be more versatile.

The Japanese scheme probably works very well for a Pinarello (the bike shown in the video, which weighs slightly less than the Tour de France winner's yellow jersey and costs a little more than your house) but is going to be a problem for any heavier bike or shorter, weaker, older or disabled person. Also unusable for longer bikes: a friend has a touring bike with typically long back end (the bike's not his!), a typical feature of any bike designed to carry luggage, and it won't fit in the dangly spaces on the IETs, so I dread to think what he'd make of this. It also looks rather close to the doors; I'd worry about passengers' shoulders and clothing getting bruised or oily banging against the bikes.

Judging from the temperature of the Bristly Post, what's raised the most ire – at least among some local councillors – are the changes within Westbury itself. I guess people value their own ability to drive through their area more than they dislike the through traffic. Then again, councillors might be reflecting local opinion or might be trying to lead it; or might just be misjudging it! I don't know...

This particular train turned round at Bath. In fact the helpful guard said "Just get the next train back from Bath and explain to the guard, but it'll probably be me anyway because... " (in fact a Portsmouth-Cardiff train arrived first). And it didn't stop at Stapleton Road either, for some reason. But places change: I don't know what Stapleton Road was like "in bygone days" but I'd say now there are a lot of people living nearby but probably not many commuter destinations, whereas Temple Meads has become the centre of many office developments.

That makes sense. And there were quite a lot of people who boarded at Filton, some in uniform.

To avoid closing the Rhubarb? I see. I had no idea there were closure procedures for individual bits of track in the same way as for stations. And I'd kind of assumed the Rhubarb was used for freight and for getting empty trains into the right place as well as whatever else might have a reason to avoid BRI.

Another thing which struck me as odd was that it called at Lawrence Hill but not Stapleton Rd. It was a remarkably well-used train for a Parly!

Well I became more knowledgeable about the Rhubarb today. I was at Parkway heading back to Temple Meads, oh look there's a train for Bath just about to leave, the 1554. Hopped on it and... oh, it goes round the Rhubarb rather than calling at Temple Meads. How odd. How inconvenient. How embarrassing. Fortunately the guard was understanding – actually said I was the second person on that very train to make the same mistake – as was the guard of the train I got back from Bath. Lesson learnt: always check the intermediate stations. 

Anyway, I don't think I'd ever been along that loop before, so it's an ill routing decision and all that... 

I thought compensation for airline delays was covered by the Warsaw Convention, but it seems that's actually more to do with death, injury and loss of baggage.

Thanks for the examples, Grahame.

So it's more like alighting short with an Advanced fare than a split ticket. Of course a practical difference is that on the train you always have access to all your luggage, there's no danger of it being sent on to your ticket's final destination without you.