England...and Spring Maybe ?

Posted Sunday March 14th, 2010

I was over in England this weekend. While my travel on Thursday and work day Friday were rainy, Saturday was lovely, a beautiful (almost) Spring Day. After my meetings in Cheltenham, I went to Susies for a short weekend by train.  The trip to Susies was interesting. Regular readers of this blog (all 8 of you..) will recall I have driven from Cheltenham to Bloxom a few times, and it is a grand total of about 50 miles. Well, by train, it is about 2 1/2  hours. First I had to catch a train from Cheltenham to Birmingham, a hour trip north. I then waited an hour (was supposed to be 1/2 hour but this being Friday...well, lets just say my next train was 26 minutes late).The 2nd train went south east and took about 35 minutes to get to Banbury, with 4 stops in between. I really need to think thru travel modes when I come to the UK.  I still have a romantic image of trains in England. I recall the trip Genya and I took on the Royal Scotsman from London to Edinburgh. It was about 5-6 hours, but I remember it as  very relaxing. I think we had a table seat, just the two of us, and the lovely english countryside went by as we read, dozed, noshed on biscuits, crisps and cups of tea.  That is vacation travel. Friday evening was commuter travel. Both trains were standing room only, getting into the aisle was impossible, let alone making it to the car with the snack counter. It was raining so everyone was dripping. And, my ticket was expensive, about  36 BP. 

 Add the 6-7 BP in both Cheltenham and Banbury for taxi and the total is over  50 pounds. I need to get more comfortable driving in this country. For what I am paying for train travel, (which I agree is way more eco friendly), I could rent a car for less, be there sooner and have a lot more freedom.

This week the government introduced plans for a high speed rail line linking London with what they call the north, Birmingham, eventually to Scotland. While the travel will be faster, unless they figure out a way to make it cheaper, I am not sure who will take the train. It is actually quite interesting reading the plans for the high speed rail. The press points out that England "invented" rail travel,  (I must Google that factoid), yet it is the last major country in Europe to have high speed rail. Of course, as soon as the government announced the plans for the rail line, and where it would go, immediately there was a reaction from everyone. As there is an election pending, the opposition critized the plan as it did not go to Heathrow. (The conservatives oppose expanding Heathrow). And as expected, every local County and Village Society for the Preservation of ___________ (fill in the blank), was up in arms as the rail line would go thru some rare gerbil habitat, old forest, historical site or cut across a 1000 year old footpath. In England it seems you cannot go 50 yards without coming across something that is historical or 1000 years old.


Cheltenham Station

 I have a lot of wonderful memories of March in the Cotswolds. When the three kids were in college, I had the opportunity to bring Geoffrey, Peter and Stephanie to England during the March break of their junior year. Each trip was different and each was very special for me. While each visit started and ended with time at Susies, they all were unique and different.  Looking back, perhaps now I think of  traveling with them to England (and France with Peter and Stephanie)  was the time I saw them as passing from childhood to adulthood. Probably because we spent a lot of time in pubs. We did a lot of sightseeing . How can anyone forget Stow on the Wold, Borton on the Water, Traitors Crossing, and of course...The Falkland Arms.

Thanks kids...I remember those trips well.

England, like Europe, has had a colder than normal winter, so I am told by Susie the flowers are later than usual.  However I did manage to catch a few pictures of snowdrops and daffadils trying hard to bloom. The picture above is some Daffys on a sunny corner neat the center of Bloxom. (Most of you know Bloxom is not very big, so, yes, there is grassy areas in the "center of Bloxom".

As I was walking by the Church, I noticed the snowdrops were really spectacular, and seemingly allowed to spread without tending or trimming. Crocuses in a sunny spot below.

My trip back to Paris on Sunday was mostly uneventful. I had forgotten that lovely phrase "Engineering Works"  In England this means we are working on the track and you may go from Banbury to London via Lands End.  In my case I only had to take a bus to station about 30 miles, away. Quite pleasant actually as buses travel the roads, and you see more than one normally sees from the train.

When I got to London, the London Underground was also engaged in Engineering works. As a result, my 3 stop change from Marleybone to St. Pancras took about an hour. The PA system in the subway kept blaring announcements that served only to confuse and panic tourists. It sounded something like

"We terribly regret the inconvenience to passengers but today we are upgrading the London Underground system. Today the (unintelligible)  from Paddington to (unintelligible) will be closed from 7:00 am until (unintelligible) and the Circle Line is closed from Baker Street to (unintelligible.)

I stopped to take a picture (below) of what I thought was an interesting sign in the subway. Not 3 minutes later there was an announcement over the PA System "The London Underground reminds travellers it is forbidden to use flash photography anywhere in the system" !  WOW. Big brother is watching.  I am not sure why flash photography is not allowed. Are they worried the flash will fade the lovely sooty , grafitti covered 100 year old brickwork???

Today (March 14th) in England is Mothers Day, or as they sometimes call it "Mothering Sunday". In England it is the 4th Sunday in Lent. As a result, the trains were full of young, and not so young, clutching flowers, cards, pressies etc.  heading to Mums for the day.  Felt a little sad, as I remember my mom, and not being able to do that anymore. The picture below left is my journey today.

Well, this blog is way too long, so I will close. Thank you Susie and Mike for a wonderful, and too short weekend.

Question for fellow bloggers "What happened to Spellcheck "?  I cannot find spellcheck any more.   Help !