Returning to holidays and leisure trips - but UK or overseas?

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Hopefully "the railway" will play its part by running a full service of full length trains to holday resorts.

Yes indeed.  It comes as a great relief that Cornwall now has the capacity for the 30-minute frequency of service on the main line west of Plymouth.  That could be very important if the worsening situation in mainland Europe keeps people holidaying within the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) for at least part of the summer.

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) there were adjustments to the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) diagrams last summer to provide more full-length trains when it was at its busiest in Cornwall, and that might need to happen again this summer and perhaps be developed further.

Needs to work as advertised 7 days a week though, irrespective of BBQs etc on Sundays - there will likely be even more scrutiny this year and if the railway wishes to be taken seriously as an alternative to the M5 and A38 as a means of getting to the Westcountry, particularly the far South West, we can't have Sundays where 50% of long distance services are cancelled again because of "staff shortages".

A lot of people have lost faith for this reason, it's up to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to restore it - could be an opportunity for them.

[IndustryInsider]

Absolutely.  Let’s hope we have availability of crews like we did last summer when there were only three posts on the train crew shortage thread covering the whole of summer and early autumn.

Sadly it will be more of a challenge as very little training and route learning for drivers has been able to be undertaken and that will take its toll eventually.

[broadgage]

Agree, with TG.
 I have a rather cynical fear that much of the economy will re-open (pubs, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions in general) but that the railways will remain in "covid mode" for a year or two.

"We are working towards increasing services, but it will take time"
"We are short of rolling stock due to covid delayed maintenance"

And of course the inevitable staff shortages can be blamed on covid, for some years.

And let us remember that FGW^▸ (First Great Western), later GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had a very poor record of coping with holiday traffic long before the pandemic.
The new shorter trains  flexible train lengths wont help.

[broadgage]

With the coronavirus still rampant in many other countries, the government have announced that fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed for prohibited overseas travel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56493002

That is about the strongest indication possible that demand for holidays within the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will be substantial.
I hope that someone has told the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) that they need to prepare for increased demand.

And not JUST the railway industry.
Prepare for shortages of ice cream, beer, fish n chips and other holiday related consumables.
There is already reportedly a shortage of garden furniture.
And propane is in short supply.

[infoman]

All the items mentioned can be obtained at short notice.

Its the staffing I think will be more of problem.

[TaplowGreen]

With the coronavirus still rampant in many other countries, the government have announced that fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed for prohibited overseas travel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56493002

That is about the strongest indication possible that demand for holidays within the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will be substantial.
I hope that someone has told the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) that they need to prepare for increased demand.

And not JUST the railway industry.
Prepare for shortages of ice cream, beer, fish n chips and other holiday related consumables.
There is already reportedly a shortage of garden furniture.
And propane is in short supply.

Is there any word on how stocks of charcoal, burgers and sausages are looking for the BBQ season? 

[Lee]

With the coronavirus still rampant in many other countries, the government have announced that fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed for prohibited overseas travel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56493002

That is about the strongest indication possible that demand for holidays within the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will be substantial.
I hope that someone has told the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) that they need to prepare for increased demand.

And not JUST the railway industry.
Prepare for shortages of ice cream, beer, fish n chips and other holiday related consumables.
There is already reportedly a shortage of garden furniture.
And propane is in short supply.

The irony of course is that, over here in Plagueland, the one thing we are not short of is Fish n Chips...

[TonyK]

The irony of course is that, over here in Plagueland, the one thing we are not short of is Fish n Chips...

That looks very tasty, and extremely tempting. It might be worth getting a ferry over, and paying a people smuggler to get back home.

[Lee]

The irony of course is that, over here in Plagueland, the one thing we are not short of is Fish n Chips...

That looks very tasty, and extremely tempting. It might be worth getting a ferry over, and paying a people smuggler to get back home.

I wouldn't blame you in the slightest, TonyK. With the curfew having recently been moved from 6pm to 7pm, they have reinstated the Wednesday evening Callac session, and I will be partakimg myself tonight!

[broadgage]

With the coronavirus still rampant in many other countries, the government have announced that fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed for prohibited overseas travel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56493002

That is about the strongest indication possible that demand for holidays within the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will be substantial.
I hope that someone has told the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) that they need to prepare for increased demand.

And not JUST the railway industry.
Prepare for shortages of ice cream, beer, fish n chips and other holiday related consumables.
There is already reportedly a shortage of garden furniture.
And propane is in short supply.

Is there any word on how stocks of charcoal, burgers and sausages are looking for the BBQ season? 

Charcoal is in short supply, as is the propane used by gas barbecues. Not aware of any lack of burgers, sausagesor other barbecue foods.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Charcoal is not in short supply.  In our warehouse, I have vast amounts of it - clogging up the aisles. 

[JayMac]

And LPG^▸ (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) was in short supply in December through March, coinciding with the northern hemisphere winter which was particularly harsh in North America. Supply issues are easing and its unlikely that shortages will continue into the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) barbecue season. Said season usually only lasts for a few days in August anyway!

[Trowres]

Charcoal is not in short supply.  In our warehouse, I have vast amounts of it - clogging up the aisles. 

Would your employer be getting carbon credits for this pilot carbon capture and storage scheme?

(Search "biochar" if puzzled)

[MVR S&T]

looks like the holiday parks are gearing up for a bumper season, been delivering pallets of televisions, more later this week, to our clients just east of Bournemouth, thinking about it, if, as I expect France gets red listed for travel, we could be gridlocked and jam packed public transport, in Dorset and the west country in general over the spring and summer.

[broadgage]

Charcoal is not in short supply.  In our warehouse, I have vast amounts of it - clogging up the aisles. 

Glad to hear that, perhaps the shortage that I observed was purely local.
A neighbour wanted a bulk supply to re-sell via a farm shop/campsite shop and had trouble obtaining this.