"This is the best time to drive" says the cabbie who brought me to the ferry port in Portsmouth, from where I'm posting early this Sunday morning. I'm off to train in Germany this week, and I'm traveling overland, by public transport. Something of an experiment; I'll be writing up as I go.

Yesterday - home to Cosham where I stayed overnight with good friends (thank you for putting me up). Tonight .. I don't know exactly where I'll be, save that I'm on the 08:30 boat, and I have an "InterRail" ticket with two days to get to Numerberg. I'll post as I can.

We were talking last night about the cuts imposed by the new government on the rail industry - the 1300 new carriages not happening, then looking to tighten budgets which already threatens rural railways. Yet at the same time there's increasing overcrowding - here and now - on many lines. A real picture when a lot of sensible things could be done, but we know and fear that a lot of rather unsensible things could be done. There's only a small saving that can be made by reducing services but maintaining infrastructure anyway - so the fear is that we may be looking at proposals for a new Beeching or Serpell - and indeed the boss of Network Rail has hinted at this, pointing at the green (rural) lines on his route maps. And if you close down these green lines, instead of scrapping the relatively small number of 30 year old trains that you release, you can use that stock to bolster other services which have been growing in double figures rather than at the 1% to 2% forecast. It's a depressing scene that's set to be a real issue from Xxxx to Xxxxxxxx (but I am not going to fill in the Xxxx es). Railway finances (in a very odd system that we have) are one thing - the effect on areas / communities served are quite another, and don't effect the Train Operating Companys, nor Network Rail's , bottom line.
(written 2010-06-06)

 Z201 - Holidays and Business Trips
  [3681] Kicking up a stink, the Victorian way? - (2012-04-02)
  [3381] Report - day trip from Swindon / Chippenham / Melksham to Weymouth - (2011-08-07)
  [3372] Wearing the new London uniform - (2011-07-28)
  [3346] Gibraltar - said to have a few residents less than Chippenham - (2011-07-05)
  [3345] Cruising - (2011-07-04)
  [3321] Travelling around - (2011-06-09)
  [3306] Photogenic Place - (2011-05-28)
  [3303] Flying tonight - (2011-05-26)
  [3300] Wildlife and other pictures from holiday - (2011-05-24)
  [2803] Travelling across Europe - (2010-06-12)
  [2797] Sur la T.G.V. - (2010-06-07)
  [2759] Touching base - (2010-05-10)
  [2469] Beyond the Pale - (2009-10-22)
  [2313] Seeing Guadalajara - a first glimpse downtown - (2009-08-01)
  [2306] Melksham to Mexico for the week - (2009-07-27)
  [2269] Sipping at York - (2009-07-05)
  [2265] A chance to do the tourist thing - (2009-07-01)
  [2208] A beautiful coastline - (2009-05-30)
  [2200] England, Scotland, Northern Ireland - (2009-05-26)
  [2198] On the road, at a Service area thats a cut above the others - (2009-05-25)
  [2101] A B C D of GA and TN - (2009-03-23)
  [2100] Visiting Family - (2009-03-23)
  [2098] A room without a view - (2009-03-22)
  [2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
  [2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
  [1992] A good time to travel - (2009-01-14)
  [1868] Liverpool - a friendly city - (2008-11-03)
  [1746] London for the visitor, for free - (2008-08-09)
  [1740] Vertical London - (2008-08-06)
  [1657] Farewell, Newcastle to Stavanger, Haugsund and Bergen - (2008-05-29)
  [1457] A day in Ljubljana - (2007-12-04)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1308] Good to be home - (2007-08-18)
  [1299] In the USA for a few days - (2007-08-11)
  [1293] Weymouth - Sunny Summer Sunday afternoon - (2007-08-07)
  [1291] Day trip to Weymouth - (2007-08-05)
  [1231] Sur le Continent - (2007-06-13)
  [1150] Helsinki - what comes naturally - (2007-04-15)
  [1143] A course in Helsinki - (2007-04-11)
  [1120] 1200 miles in 3 days - (2007-03-28)
  [1025] Tomorrow's keywords - London, Training, Course, PHP, Ruby. - (2007-01-08)
  [1004] Old dog, old tricks - (2006-12-22)
  [878] Easy criteria to meet - (2006-09-25)
  [684] Staying in the country - (2006-04-13)
  [620] Familiar names, close to home - (2006-02-23)
  [548] San Francisco - (2005-12-30)
  [518] Passport office - a much improved system - (2005-12-05)
  [420] Towards Tebay - (2005-08-20)
  [374] Instant availability - (2005-07-11)
  [373] Vik, Iceland to Melksham, England - (2005-07-10)
  [370] From Iceland - (2005-07-06)
  [368] Vacation Week - (2005-07-04)
  [81] Cafe keyboards - (2004-10-10)
  [65] Ireland - (2004-09-27)

Z521 - Navigable waterways - Canals, Rivers and Sea
  [3483] Canals, watererways in the Melksham area - (2011-10-16)
  [3482] Taking a boat down Caen Hill Locks - (2011-10-15)
  [3282] The future of canal management and charities - Kennet and Avon Canal bias - (2011-05-08)
  [3266] Easter on the Canal - near Melksham, Wiltshire - (2011-04-26)
  [3183] Redevelopment on the banks of the Avon in Melksham - (2011-02-25)
  [3157] A new monopoly on the ferry to Northern Ireland - (2011-02-04)
  [3023] Autumn walk from Bowerhill - (2010-10-31)
  [2950] Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, turns first sod in Melksham Link Canal - (2010-09-09)
  [2807] Canal through Melksham - the options and issues - (2010-06-13)
  [2730] Bird Watching on the Melksham Avon - (2010-04-18)
  [2588] Freddies Wood and the K and A Canal - (2010-01-17)
  [1986] Walk to Bowerhill - (2009-01-10)
  [820] Robert and William Whitworth - (2006-08-01)
  [793] The Wilts and Berks Canal - (2006-07-05)
  [776] Naming Rooms - (2006-06-24)
  [708] Linescapes of Mull - (2006-05-03)
  [598] Should we cruise around the world? - (2006-02-09)

Back to Simon says

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Sur la T.G.V.

The Merchants And
Nuremberg - some pictures
Perl - skip the classics and use regular expressions
Sunday - waiting for the ferry.
Simon says
The Farming Industry pictured around Melksham
They do weddings, we do courses.
Should Government compete with private industry?
Bath to Melksham buses - times