CHRISTmas is coming!
It all starts at midnight tonight!
So here is a carol for us all to sing.
And Christina Rosetti's better known words don't quite scan either!
The News Is Indeed Bleak
The above is from respected transport journalist Simon Calder ...
... just a snippet from a long and depressing piece.
Another on-line article is from "Rail Professional".
So the Secretary of State (Minister Mark Harper) ...
... whom you have probably never hard of, is effectively pulling all the tangled strings of the troublesome marionette that is National Rail.
And that lovely "Castles" High Speed Train, bringing comfort and frequency to Great Western Railway (albeit one day without strikes!) ...
Don't you just love the privatised railway?
How We Love The Media
Blog readers may remember that this train changes its gauge automatically whilst in motion.
"Jump rail tracks," - mega twaddle
The article below is only slightly misleading. It was originally written for folk in the Bristol area where James Freeman was the GM of the First Bus operation. Unfortunately it has made its way into the national media without qualification.
Driving for the opposition, tut tut!
Maybe Janette will be in the cab sometime over the festive season.
Remember, she is the one who announced her mission to "Make First Bus great again". Sure thing Jan, by selling off East Scotland and Southampton! Where next?
South Yorkshire?
In amongst the bleak, at least we can prepare for tomorrow's Good News ..
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Advent Calendar Day 24
Xerxes and Xanadu
X is a bit of a struggle - especially on CHRISTmas Eve. But as the celebrations don't start until midnight, we can continue with the theme of Advent and take a further look at the Adventure of our future.
Like the immediate Public Transport future, it too looks bleak. The Bible and history both share that view of the on-going success of humanity.
Xerxes I was a king of the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia who lived from 486 to 465 BC. He was pretty much world ruler.
His mega luxurious palace was at Susa, quite close to the River Tigris; It was opulent. And all that is left of MrX's world empire ...
... are a few rocks, a few broken artefacts and a bit of a lavish glazed mural.
Likewise Xanadu, more recent and described in a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Kublai Khan was real enough ...
... living from 1215 to 1294 (AD this time). As Sam reported, his palace was a byword for luxury and a lavish lifestyle. Mr Khan deserved it, of course; he was one of the big cheeses of what we now call Mongolia.
It is difficult appreciate the scale, but look at the doors which would have been much bigger than domestic doors today.
And what is left?
Maybe the only reliability lies with the ultimate X of ...
Xmas
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Next CHRISTmas blog : Sunday 25th December
There was no sale in Southampton. First just gave up!
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