Bike/train hassle today = high
Check this: I was sat on the 4.30 train from Swansea by 4.20. Announcement- “Apologies but this service has been cancelled because we’re shit”, or words to that effect. So I haul my arse, my crap and my bike off the train, back out into the rain and waste an hour in Starbucks waiting for the 5.30 (total cost 3.80ukp for a grande latte and a rocky roads).
Back at the 5.30 I kick my heels waiting for the train manager because you can’t get into the bike storage bit of these crappy new Intercities without a key. Then he charges me 3ukp for the privilege of having my bike hung from a rack for 50 minutes. It’s the only one in there. I’ve been biking it for a week and he’s the first train manager to make me pay. He won’t let me off even though I complain that my 4.30 was cancelled. Save the planet my arse. His suggestion when I whinge about having to prebook twice a day at least an hour before each train for a pound a time (2ukp per day, right?) is to buy a weekly ticket at 15ukp (that’s 3ukp per day).
Oh, and they’ve increased the cost of a day ticket suddenly by 1ukp, which is an increase of 12 per cent and explains the confusion of last week.