The summer holidays have been full on and by the time this reaches your doormat I expect I shall be glad they’re over.
However, we did have a wonderful trip to Suffolk during the break. As it was only three of us going (me, my daughter and her friend) and we had the use of a car at the other end I thought what a jolly jape it would be to start the holiday by train. Calming visions of being helped into a lovely shiny carriage whilst our colour co-ordinated luggage in varying sizes was loaded on by an obliging fellow in a flat cap, and settling down to tea and sandwiches whilst the sunny British countryside raced gleefully past our window, all came to mind. Imagine my horror when I searched for prices. The cheapest off-peak fare for three of us was £200, took three days and you had to change the points yourself. No obliging loading of luggage – oh no – a roll of duct tape issued with your ticket and you took your chances on the roof. If you wanted to be inside the train and arrive before the end of your holiday or, god forbid, in daylight so you didn’t get mugged at Ipswich station, the fare doubled to nearer £400! In comparison, I can fit all our luggage in the boot of my car, choose my radio station, not sit next to the resident weirdo (yes, it is me they sit next to every time – or maybe they say that too?) and be at my destination in under two and a half hours. It costs me less than £30 in fuel and goes door to door without deviation.
Now, you will be aware that we are in the grips of decision-making for HS2 – a high speed rail link that will make all our lives quicker and more efficient, unless you happen to live in its path in which case your house is going to be flattened. And I’m not sure I have the capacity to be quicker or more efficient without turning myself inside out in the process but no one actually asked me so I can’t judge. Because of this, rail travel has been very much in the media of late.
So whilst the romantic images of the beauty of train travel disappear limply from my over Agatha Christie-ed mind like that famous British Rail sandwich, I wonder, with some concern – if they do manage to build this new high speed link, no doubt costing millions and millions of pounds, who in heaven’s name is going to be able to afford to travel on it to recoup the investment? And will it mean that the lines at the other side of the country become more and more neglected, and are in more need of funding to maintain them, and then where will that money come from – passenger fares? Here we go again!