Are you sitting comfortably?

Since my post about the Evening Standard article on Adelantes two days ago seems to have caused a fairly lively discussion, I would like to talk in more detail about what we actually want from our trains.

Personally, I want a seat on a train that runs reasonably to time. It's as simple as that. Other things are nice, like cleanliness, enough toilets that work and tea and coffee, but my basic need is to sit down and get home from work as quickly as possible.

I don't mind if the carriages are old- or new-style, I don't mind if they have a table, more leg-room or a place to plug in a computer. I can imagine these things are important to tall people and laptop-users. But to me, they're extra things are secondary to sorting out the

problems of capacity and delays, surely you agree?

Of course, in a perfect world, it would be nice to be able to have some input about what kind of mod-cons we would like in the carriages. I would nominate a referee in each one, who could "send off" annoying people who are behaving badly, ie: make them stand in the corridor, and if they carry on, make them get out at the next station.

It would also be nice to have a "gym-carriage" where out-of-shape commuters like myself could jog their way home, using the delays to tone up bodies made flabby by sitting at a desk all day.

Perhaps the gym machines could be used to generate electricity, thereby further reducing our carbon footprint.

And, of course, a selection of free hot drinks never goes amiss, perhaps served up by jesters in a "comedy-carriage" where commuters can forget their woes by being made to laugh all the way home.

Oooooooooooooooor, you could just run my train on time, that'd do me.

Now that's just not funny

Isn't it nice to see on the news that this train can go at a whopping 350 miles an hour? Isn't the French train service wonderful? Well, yes it is, but it makes me want to cry. The TGV can speed from Paris to Brussels in a mere 1 hour and 25 minutes. That's a distance of more than 200 miles. So, why do I have to get on a train at 8am to make sure I can arrive at my workplace at 10am, even though the distance is only 47 miles? Answers on a postcard. Imagine the glory of gliding past the inevitable signal failure at Burnham, flying past the wrong sort of snowflakes on the line at West Drayton, and slithering into Paddington station a mere 30 - 45 minutes after departure. I fear this may be an impossible dream.

But, hope is at hand, the badges have arrived, and I now await the cards that accompany them, and the campaign can begin in earnest.

Please let me know if you'd like one. Send your details to IhateFGW@yahoo.co.uk, and be sure and let me know how the badges are received. Wear them with pride!