What seems extraordinary to me is that there was one survivor, whose injuries are not in any way life threatening.

Is this pure luck? Was his seating position, next to the emergency exit, likely to be the prime reason for his survival?

Regarding the 9th photo, the herons along the Bath section of the Kennet and Avon canal are extraordinarily accepting of humans walking close by them. I assume this is one of them, probably the one that hangs around midway between Bathampton and Sydney Gardens.

On our Interrail trip last March my expectations were definitely upset by our experiences.

We traveled on trains in the following 8 countries:

UK^▸ (United Kingdom), France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium.

Obviously in many of these, we were on trains that crossed international borders (so delays may have been caused elsewhere). But of these 8 countries, only in one did all the trains we used run to time.

And that was...






The UK!

I would feel extremely vulnerable on a platform like that one in the penultimate photo.

Doggie footpaths don't tend to follow the same routes that our ones do - they often involve charging across whatever is in the way and then circling around and weaving all over the place - and no doubt have their own coding system. 

City Dulas in Anglesey would be a good contender for our smallest 'city'.

Is 20 St Erth?

Yes, I should have recognised the weather!

As we go to Anglesey a lot, I have wondered in the past if any grey squirrel has ever attempted to make a dash over either of the bridges to reach the island. I doubt whether they could achieve that on either road bridge, but a clever grey could follow behind a train, because they could be fairly certain not to encounter another one for some time. Obviously grey squirrels aren't that clever to figure that out, but nevertheless, one day one might sneak over.

I hope they don't, as Anglesey's red squirrel population would then be at threat.

Makes me wonder whether the train companies have policies allowing red squirrels to travel while banning the greys? 

Yes, Bath Spa's one advantage at present is that its platforms are relatively wide, so can cope with large numbers at present. Getting them all on and off the trains is a challenge, which the staff there do their very best to cope with.

My biggest gripe with the current station layout is that the lift on the London-bound platform is exceptionally poorly located and also too small. Its location means that passengers wishing to use it from the entrance have to 'mix' with many of the passengers who are getting off trains from both platforms (via the subway fro those who have arrived on westbound services and from the stairs from those arriving on eastbound services). This leads to huge congestion at the pinch points here, which can lead to considerable delay and no doubt to bad behaviour as people try to get through. From there the route to the lift is then ridiculously contorted and very difficult to negotiate with large luggage/bicycles etc. And the lift is far too small to cope with the demand, and in recent times has had notices requiring no more than two people use it at any time (which many people ignore, especially groups of tourists who may not understand what the notices say).

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which is all of... 4 days! 

I have had a very similar experience to this incident as well (which I think I have related here before). We were on a very crowded train from Newport to Temple Meads, which had its first stop at Severn Tunnel Junction. The guard was also standing where we were, and when I asked, he said the front carriage was much less crowded, and agreed that we should get out at the first stop and walk down the platform to get back on that carriage. We did that with our luggage, and just before we got to the door in that carriage, it closed, and the train started moving off. He could obviously see what we were doing, so I can only assume that he had forgotten what he had said to us. We had to wait half an hour for the next service.

I had similar experiences with my last remaining aunt. It is several years since I went as a passenger in her car, but every time I have, it has been terrifying, as she drives right alongside parked cars at speeds that must be well over the speed limit. Her sons have made many attempts to get her to stop, and she finally has, but only at the age of 98(!) when she had an accident that shook her up (fortunately nothing worse), which has coincided with her health deteriorating.

But strangely, the tickets do work in a minority of barriers. When I have had FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent rover ticket) tickets, I have found that each time at least a couple of different stations have had barriers which accepted them quite happily.