I like the idea of starting how you mean to go on but, instead, I am going to get a grumble out of my system. Jane and I got up early this morning (at least relative to the late night that preceded it) to walk down to the station and buy the train tickets she needs for the rest of the week. When we got there, the office was shut, despite us being more than half an hour after the published opening time.
There was one member of staff at the station, who explained that the person running the office had to come in from Dartford and couldn’t get in until after the first train from there arrived. I think it is quite reasonable for rail workers to travel by their own network, especially in view of the parking problems round stations. However, it did mean that we had to walk back home again and return after breakfast (when there was another delay while the person who had now arrived in the office rang round to try and find out the new safe code).
I made a conscious decision not to get annoyed with the station staff. There are two of them, both relief workers brought in from other places, to keep the whole place running on what is bound to be a long and exhausting day (last time we went later in the morning and queued for an hour). However, I think there are several organisational failures apparent on behalf of the train company, for which they have now had a robustly worded message via their website, composed between trips. Perhaps anybody who works for the company, up to the Chief Executive, should be banned from having a car and forced to rely on the service that the rest of us have to use?
Ah well, at least it was good exercise on a bright, fresh day. Not everything about 2007 is turning out bad so far.
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