Not stopping at Reading

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

On topic, I haven't yet used one of the new ultrasuperhyper-fast straight through services and I'm not entirely convinced by them. I mean, skipping Swindon is eminently sensible, but Reading is a place people actually go to... < >

Steady on now.  The traffic figures for Swindon Station would suggest that Swindon is a place people actually go to.  Now when did I last go the Reading umm...

In point of fact, I've been to Swindon more recently than Reading. 

I’m planning to go when it’s finished

Oh, I think it'll be finished in 2021 when they turn out the lights at Honda.

[Marlburian]

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^» (South Western Railway - about) 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