I took the train up to London this morning from Pewsey on a Great Western service (the title of this blog should therefore give you an indicator that I am not happy). This is normally a good service and runs on time Luckily this morning the train was 15 minutes late: I had been delayed by having to deal with the consequences of an early morning mother-daughter conflict so this was a prayer answered.
Pewsey is a small station. Trevor who more or less runs the place is someone all the regulars know by name and he is very helpful. Its a pretty station in an area of outstanding natural beauty so on a frosty November morning with a clear sky, both the station and my drive to it through the West Woods is a delight. The sudden appearance of a ticket machine however bodes ill for continuation of personal service. In addition Great Western have started to modernise their trains.
Now it used to be that the trains had several seats with tables where I could settle down with the Powerbook (or in the days of my ignorance the IBM Thinkpad) and get a solid hour of work done. The absence of power in the seats was an issue on longer journeys and a constant frustration so it was far from perfect, but for an hour at the start of day with a full battery it was fine. The much decried (unfairly I think) Virgin Rail had power in all seats from day one and a better seat reservation service. They saw themselves as orientated towards the computer generation (it's not just business people who use computers on trains after all). Great Northern have power in all seats, and they have carriages with WiFi which is even better. Great Western, despite naming themselves for the Victorian Entrepreneur Brunel, lagging behind.
I sort of assumed that the modernisation would correct this. But regrettably it has not. From eight tables per carriage we are now down to four which creates an unseemly rush to grab one. The other seats have a drop down shelf that is not big enough for a lap top. The four tables do have power, but the socket is arranged not under the table (as in Virgin and Great Northern) but just above the top. This means that space is taken up with a socket (UK sockets being larger than anywhere else in the world for no good reason) and the closeness to the table means that my Powerbook adapter will not fit. So in effect the service has got worse not better. Oh, and needless to say there is no WiFi on the train and coverage of hotspots at the stations is limited.
One wonders how this sort of mess could happen. Looking round the carriage it seems that no one really thought from the perspective of a user of the service. It looks like the design brief was to fit in more seats, oh and if you can chuck in a couple of power sockets. Indifference rather than making a difference.
Of course the price is also a nonsense. This week I got back from Vancouver midday on Wednesday and needed to get down to Cardiff that night, onto Bridgend for a great seminar organised by DNA Wales the next day, then home. A day trip to London today, a return to Cardiff on Saturday to see Wales play South Africa and then to Heathrow on Sunday evening for the plane to Brazil to start a round the world trip that will take in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. All of that would be best to handle on public transport (i.e the train). However the total cost would have been around £300. Hiring a small car at Heathrow airport and taking the train to London today cost a total of £150 but with a much bigger carbon footprint. I am just costing a trip up to Leeds when I get back, and again it looks like hiring a car (unless I book two weeks in advance and commit to a specific train) will be cheaper.
In France, or Italy, or Germany I could do all this faster, cheaper and better on the train. In Britain the pricing, timetables and services seem designed to drive us all to roads, more stress, more pollution, most cost to society. It even applies to the new Eurostar between London and Paris. It's cheaper to fly, or drive down to Dover, get a ferry and then pick up a train from Calais. It is all a nonsense, and demonstrates the lack of any integrated transport policy. The issue of tables and power sockets on Little Western is symptomatic of a wider malaise.
Comments (6)
Dear Dave,
I can’t comment much on the sorry state of rail service in the UK, I’ve only once taken a train there (Virgin from London Euston to M’chester – good service, good seat, etc. No problems). My question is on your Powerbook/Thinkpad comment. I’ve used PC’s since 1981 and have a Thinkpad x60 with Windows XP, and recently I’ve heard from several colleagues that I should switch to a Mac laptop. What’s the big deal? What could I be ignorant about? I’m open to switching, but I’d like to know what will be better. (I’m a management consultant and do a lot of writing, spreadsheets, research, presentations and, of course, the web. I rely heavily on my Outlook Calendar.) Thanks for the insight. Safe travels,
-Ron
Posted by Ron Dimon | November 23, 2007 8:32 PM
Posted on November 23, 2007 20:32
Dave
For a viewpoint on how this could happen can I suggest you read, 'Thatcher & Sons' by Simon Jenkins.
I bought it the other week in Kings Cross (ironically) whilst waiting to board a delayed GNER service back to North East.
An interesting take on how we in 'modern' Britain have got ourselves into this muddle.
Posted by Stuart | November 23, 2007 9:35 PM
Posted on November 23, 2007 21:35
Ron, there are many reasons for switching to a Mac but they can be summarised in the phrase "they just work". You don't have to reboot the operating system all the time, anti-virus software becomes a thing of the past, you work with hardware and software which has been designed, rather than a set of added in features over time with increasing incoherence. Have a look at the results of this search to see the comments of a long term IBM person on making the switch (read all the blogs that search shows up)
If you have a .mac account then the calender features there can be shared, or use Google. If you really like Outlook then buy Office for Mac (it works better than on the PC with some interesting additional features). That said when I buy my second Mac next year I am going to move over the iWorks (under $100) and get rid of Office. iWorks reads/writes to office documents with ease. Keynote is a better design than Powerpoint, Pages better than Word (I estimate around a 20% improvement in productivity if you want to include images in documents.
If you make the conversion:
- Buy "The rough Guide to Macs" (in fact buy that to help you make a decision I did). It has lots of tips like the need to use a $ sign before passwords and the like.
- Take out an Apple Pro membership. This means you have your own IT department in Apple Stores around the world who will fix problems, answer stupid questions without patronising you and generally help out.
PS It took me around two hours to set up the Mac (After I had followed the advise on first use of battery overnight which I would recommend) including exporting and importing all data from Outlook into Apple Mail and Calendar. I think it was about a week before I was totally familiar, but that was mainly unlearning bad habits necessitated by the poor quality of Microsoft software.
Posted by Dave Snowden | November 24, 2007 8:29 AM
Posted on November 24, 2007 08:29
Dave, Many thanks for taking the time to share your advice. I'll read the blogs and check out the book.
Cheers,
-Ron
Posted by Ron Dimon | November 24, 2007 5:15 PM
Posted on November 24, 2007 17:15
Dave, a few comments:
It's called a laptop - not tabletop - because you put it into/on your lap ;-)
I still have a Fujitsu Lifebook (running Windows XP). This machine uses a Transmeta Crusoe processor. Transmeta was a brave company trying to compete with Intel for low-power processors. I have the extra battery in the CD bay, and it runs for 9 hours. No need to worry about plugs. Yes, the procesor is not THAT fast but I prefer low power consumption and good screen.
I always take the Eurostar to get to London. Prices vary extremly. The official rates are crazy, but there are discounts for various reasons. Depending on the connection, total costs from southern Germany to London and back are around 200 Euros, including wagon lit one way.
We're just having a fight in Germany about privatization of the railways/train system. And the UK is inded used as an example about how not to do it. In that respect: thanks for being the pioneers/fast movers, for allowing us to learn from your problems.
Posted by christianhauck | November 25, 2007 6:49 PM
Posted on November 25, 2007 18:49
Hi Dave, I just wanted to follow-up from my post of 24 Nov.
I was landing in Denver to prepare for a client presentation when my Thinkpad had a conniption fit. The screen became flakey and I couldn't take a chance on it dying. So I bought a MacBook at the Apple store in Denver. It's as you said: 2 hours to get up and running (using Office for Mac). Since I use MS-Exchange, all of my email, calendar, and contacts automatically came over. I've been using it for 2 weeks now (and a full week of delivering a customised class to Big 4 Partners) without a hitch. I too am unlearning a few things, but all-in-all a good experience. Bob's your uncle!
Posted by Ron Dimon | February 9, 2008 3:29 PM
Posted on February 9, 2008 15:29