Have I mentioned my feelings towards FirstGreatWestern? Maybe once or twice?

Another classic today. My train left Reading about 7 minutes late (no surprise there), and made decent time to Paddington (which is a surprise, no random slow downs so that we can all get a nice clear view of the Nestle factory). Why it then remained outside Paddington station for 15 minutes is a mystery. At least two other trains passed to get on to platforms, so I blame the way train operators are measured on performance. As I understand it a train is classified “late” if it arrives 10 minutes after it’s timetabled arrival time. This means that it is better for the operator to further delay an already late train if it means it can get other trains into their stations before the 10 minutes isup.

The fact that this delays travellers on the “late” train further appears to be of no consequence to them. Meanwhile, I get into work late, again, through no fault of my own and doubtless will now not be getting home tonight, but rather tomorrow morning (as with yesterday).

In other news, I would like to suggest a new class in schools: how to walk in a straight line and not drift across pavements into the path of other people.