Wednesday, February 29, 2012

To err is human but to really get on your tits it takes Network Rail

So I had to take my little black VW Polo hire car back to Enterprise. Good firm, good car and good service by the way. Rather than have someone follow me the easiest thing to do was to drop the car off at 10.00 and take a gentle stroll to Parson Street Station to catch the 10.29 to Nailsea. It is an unstaffed station with no announcements or computer screens although you can press a button to hear news.

The 10.29 was a no show. Button pressing gave us (the four potential passengers) the information that it was 18 minutes late. It didn't show at 10.47 so we pressed again. 28 minutes late was the news this time, not bad for a ten minute journey.

Someone phoned the helpline to be told the next train was the 11.29. The 10.29 had now been cancelled. I made a few calls to ascertain the phone numbers of the people I needed to call to say I was going to be late. This included my builders who had managed, during the short time I was away, to lock themselves out of the house. I told them to get a key from the neighbour, which they did, so if you want to break into my house just ask my neighbour for the key. I think my builders have become well known in my street this last three weeks since few of my co-residents have had their lives undisrupted.

I relaxed to read the paper when a train arrived at 11.02. I asked the conductor if it was going to stop at Nailsea and she replied in the affirmative. I got on and then phoned all the people I had rearranged appointments with to re-rearrange them.

My day is back on schedule, my car quota is down to one, my builders are building in the sun and God is in his heaven. Thank you. I feel better now.

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