Let it snow!

Ah, New Year. A time for fresh new beginnings, soon-to-be-broken resolutions, and the feeling that a new page has been turned, an opportunity to get fitter, get a better job, get to work on trains that run on time, and are not crowded. Ah.
I, like many of you, went back to work yesterday after a longer-than-usual break. It's delightfully quiet on the trains this week, I got a seat on the tube from Paddington this morning, which is unheard of. However, despite being delighted about arriving at work early, the only reason I did so is because the fast train from Slough that I usually miss was badly delayed, so I caught it. Everything was delayed at Slough this morning. It seems the system still isn't working, and they can't blame passenger numbers, because most of us aren't even there to get annoyed by it.
So, what has the New Year brought for First Great Western? Well, fare rises for a start. That got everyone talking on New Year's Day, probably because there wasn't much other news. I won't be getting all irate about that until February, when my season ticket runs out, but expect to hear some pretty loud bellyaching then.
No, I'm most aggravated by the fact that I'm really looking forward to the promised snow, and it hasn't come. Also, if it does come, I shall be forced to be annoyed about it messing with the trains, rather than stomping about enjoying it and throwing it and making it into snowmen as I did in my childhood. Being grown up is rubbish and forces you to be grumpy about things that used to be fun. Remember how cool it was to travel by train when you were a child? Perhaps we should try and recreate that innocence of youth, and be genuinely surprised every day when we arrive at the station and find that the train isn't there. Then we could all play clapping and skipping games while we wait for it to arrive. At least it would confuse the hell out of the staff, who seem pretty grumpy themselves about working on the trains, something they too would have thought brilliant as children.
Or maybe we should bring the age of steam back. Even adults think steam trains are cool. Choo choo!