This morning a friend of mine nearly got caught out at Paddington when she boarded a non-stop Bristol train to get to Reading, having become used to getting on any "fast" train. (I had warned her about the new timetable.) Luckily she heard the on-board announcement, gathered together several bags (including my Christmas presents
), got off just in time and caught the next train for Bristol (and Reading).
She's a delightful European but given to "blondeness"...
Marlburian
To go off track for a moment, I'm trying to persuade her that it's not a good idea to travel by train from Stansted to Earley for an unimportant meeting at 1600 on Christmas Eve - and then get back to Stansted.
Usually Paddington-Reading-Earley would be her best option, but there are no trains from Paddington. The amended
SWR» timetable shows a half-hourly service back to Waterloo, but on previous Christmas Eves I've experienced rather more cancelled trains than usual. And would an attractive woman on her own really want to hang around an unstaffed Earley Station at 1730 on a dark night?
Marlburian