Spring has not sprung

So, there I was, having a lovely Sunday walk, admiring both the snowdrops and the daffodils, and all the while pushing aside the nagging feeling that this might not be the right state of affairs for the beginning of February.

I shouldn't have worried. Things came right this morning. I walked to work amidst the freezing fog rolling across the Thames, which was making the swans go fluffy as they tried to keep out the cold.

And, bizarrely enough, I rather enjoyed it. Really cold weather has been so rare this winter, that I quite enjoyed the feeling of being properly dressed in a coat and scarf, rather than feeling a bit too bundled up for the clement weather.

Normally by this time of year I'd be at my most miserable. In fact, if I look back at my posts from February last year, I see that I was considerably less cheerful, although this might have been due to the rather longer commute I was undertaking when I started the blog. But I think the only thing I'm enjoying about the cold weather is the fact that there's only been a very small amount of it.

I'm off up a mountain next week, with planks stuck to the end of my legs in a most unnatural way. I expect this will bring my love affair with the winter to an abrupt end, as I'm really much more of a summer person.

In fact, if this is global warming, it's very pleasant. Maybe I should increase my carbon footprint rather than doing the opposite. Back to your cars everyone!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

I imagine most of you will be settling back this weekend and enjoying Christmas already, so in the spirit of the tradition of playing word games whilst slumped on the sofa after a massive roast lunch, I thought it would be fun to give you a few anagrams of "I Hate First Great Western" that I've been slaving over whilst at the office today.

Not really, the part about being at the office is true, but I found a brilliant anagram-making website, so here are the best five:

Reintegrate a Fresh Twist

Sweethearts a-Frittering

A Teenager Writes Thrifts

Thereafter is a Grits Newt

Twit Rehearses a Gift Tern

Very silly, but made me laugh. And if you'd like to have a go, visit http://www.angelfire.com/biz/WLAW/anagram.html

And here's the best one made out of the letters of my full name:

Red Jellies, Ooh a Nun!

Have a great Christmas everyone, and come back with your gripes and grumbles in the New Year. It'll be the blog's first birthday in January, so I'll have to think of something special to do to mark the anniversary.

Hallelujah! The cheque arrives

Well my friends, here's proof, finally, that you can obtain a refund from First Great Western, if you really try hard.

Thanks to some timely intervention from the Insider, a priority cheque was dispatched, and my claim from the 28th of April is finally settled, thank goodness. I do wonder how long it would have taken had the Insider not stepped in and performed magic, but let's not dwell on that, on such a happy day.

In other news, starting the week after next, my run of late shifts comes to an end, and sadly therefore, so does my first class upgrade, as I'll be travelling during peak hours again.

I have so much enjoyed the peace and quiet, and occasional cups of tea that go with a first class upgrade, that I can understand why those with First Class tickets are so loath to let any of us cattle-types in. But to be honest, as long as I've got my bum on a seat and the train runs to a reasonable schedule, I can live without the occasional free biscuit.

And in a month's time, I move into my new abode, which is considerably nearer to London, and therefore begin a whole new commuting experience, from the branch line in Windsor. I can't wait to tell you about all the Slough-based adventures I'm sure to have.

As the summer (what summer?) comes to an end, and things begin to change in work and home life, perhaps its time to reflect that things aren't quite as bad as they were when I began this blog back in January, and perhaps there's room for hope that they might get even better in the near future, with a favourable wind and a bit of luck.

Or maybe the arrival of the cheque has given me a rose-tinted moment, I'll probably be back to my normal grumpy self tomorrow, so that's something to look forward to, I'm sure you'll agree.

The blog celebrates its 2000th visitor!

I'm delighted to announce that at seven minutes past two this afternoon, the I Hate First Great Western blog received its 2,000th visitor. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's visited the site, ordered badges, and made helpful comments (I sound like I'm making an Oscars speech). And, to mark this momentous occasion, I'd also like to thank the 2000th visitor with a bottle of bubbly. So, if it was you, get in touch. This is all I know about you - you appear to work at Star House in Maidenhead, according to your IP address, and you spent 32 minutes on the site, finding it through a Google search at 2.07pm on Friday the 15th of June and exiting by clicking on the link to a BBC story called "Rail passengers want lower fares". Is this you? Can you prove it by visiting the blog again from the same IP address and then e-mailing me your details to IHateFGW@yahoo.co.uk? If you can, I'll reward you with not only champagne, but your very own shiny I Hate First Great Western badge, you lucky lucky person.

Yes! Success!

I'm delighted to announce that, following my second letter of complaint, First Great Western have decided that they should in fact refund the £12.00 my friend and I were forced to spend on a taxi because we were left stranded at the side of the road in the early hours when a replacement bus service never arrived. That'll serve them right for directing my attention to their now notorious so-called "Conditions of Carriage" (CoC), which, following a quick read, proved that they did after all have some small semblance of responsibility to get me home. Fancy that.

Since writing my second complaint letter, I have also read First Great Western's Complaints Handling Policy (another interesting document available on the company's website), and I feel I should give you a bit of a tip - it's always worth complaining twice, because the second complaint is handled by a manager, ie: someone who has the power to actually give you a refund rather than parrotting you sections from the CoC which go something like "I'm sorry, we actually don't give a monkeys whether you had a bad journey or not you prole. You mean nothing to me. My company made billions of pounds in profit last year, so I'm off for a dip in the champagne hot tub, so there." I think it was something like that anyway, I've mislaid the first letter, so can't go back and check. Anyway people, get complaining. There's nothing like several tonnes of paper hitting the complaints desk to raise attention that we're not altogether happy with the way things are. And they really really want us to be happy apparently. I quote: "We believe that customer service is key in everything we do. We know that it is the little things we do that make all the difference in delivering excellent customer service". Yes, those little things, like not providing enough carriages on the trains, or bothering to try very hard to run them on time, that kind of thing. Put pen to paper, immediately!