Friday March 11th

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Well this morning was fun.. if not interesting..and more than a little frustrating..

I always check the national rail departures board now to see if all is ok before I leave home as the service was very bad for quite a while (but has been a lot better recently).. The 8.34am departure from Maidenhead to London was initially showing as 20 minutes late but, due to padding I guess, by the time I left home at 8.10, was only showing as 5 minutes late.. I kind of believed the information I was seeing.. Silly me..

When I got to the station 15 minutes later it was cancelled as it was so late (so running but not stopping at Twyford or Maidenhead).. Does anyone know how that can happen in such a short time? Did it just stop between stations as soon as I left for the station.. it really doesn't make sense unless the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) website wasn't showing correct information?

So anyway, these things happen... And so I had to get the 8.41 which only stops at Slough and is then Non-stop (apparently) to Paddington although it's timetabled to take half hour from Slough to Paddington (non stop would usually be 15 minutes..)so.. I discovered that non stop means going very very slowly the whole way so as not to stop...

We finally arrived at Paddington (concourse.. via platform 14 so a few minutes walk) at 9.25.. about 3 minutes before the 9.03 fast train from Maidenhead was due..

I just love the fact that I rush (via 3 schools) to get to my train to find it's not running (at the last minute) and that I'm going to be take to London as slow as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) can possibly manage to drive a train.. Marvellous huh?