To Frankfurt for the day. It may seem crazy, but actually no crazier than going to Newcastle or Leeds when you think about it, especially as my meeting was in Frankfurt Airport.
I had, in fact, done this before, in December, and found a very convenient flight from City Airport at 0800 and a decent return in the evening. For some reason, though, this flight in the morning does not run on Fridays in winter so I had to go to Heathrow to catch the 0700 instead.
I can get to City Airport for an 0800 flight by public transport - albeit the 0543 from Ashford. But even on the 0513 I can't get to Heathrow before 0645 so I had to get Brian to taxi me to the airport.
The consolation is that the 0700 flight appears to be a proving flight for intercontinental 767s after maintenance. So, in business class we had lie flat beds with plenty of space. It's almost a shame the flight wasn't any longer.
A bus, though, at Frankfurt meant it was slow getting off but as I had plenty of time it didn't matter.
Coming home it was just an A320 with Club Europe seats - a bit of a let down in a way.
Friday, 21 February 2014
Water, Water Everywhere
Although we have had record rain this winter, we've not actually done that badly on the floods front. Further west in Kent has been hit hard, as has Wickhambreaux, where we used to live. But we have had high rivers but not much in the way of serious problems. That is, until Wednesday afternoon, when the railway line between Chilham and Chartham started to flood.
A bus was laid on between Ashford and Canterbury while SouthEastern and Network Rail were 'doing everything we can' to get the water level down and the line reopened. On Thursday morning they were forecasting a reopening at noon that day. Then it became 'not before Friday' and on Thursday evening, 'not before saturday'. Friday came and by Friday evening it was 'not before sunday'. The forecast date of reopening is going backwards faster than time is moving on. We could be in for a long haul.
Some of the Chilham regulars have taken to driving to Ashford. But the driving costs plus the parking costs add up, and the cancelled 0657 from Ashford means no London Bridge train between 0630 and 0722. I took a different route and drove to Selling, getting to London Bridge via the Medway towns.
The morning trains are not bad. The 0641 from Selling has a reasonable connection at Faversham into a train that actually arrives in London Bridge a little before my normal time. The timekeeping of this train is poor though. The flight of trains from Margate means that the London bridge train is regularly held up behind the late running Victoria train just in front. Thursday we were ten minutes late, Friday 20 minutes. But the train is less crowded than the train through Tonbridge.
In the evening it's not so good. The first train from London bridge back to Faversham is the 1649, and that involves a 15 minute wait at Faversham. The next train, the 1712, is even worse. This just fails to make a connection to Dover at Faversham and so there is a 25 minute wait. Only the 1734 has a decent Faversham connection.
But I wanted to get home a little earlier so the only way is to go to St Pancras and take a Faversham bound high-speed train. On Thursday this worked reasonably well to Rochester where I changed, with a six minute wait, to a Ramsgate and Dover train. This was advertised in its usual way with the Ramsgate portion in front and the Dover portion in the rear.
Just as we approached Faversham, the guard announced that the formation was to be reversed - with the front part of the train going to Dover and the rear part going to Ramsgate. The chaos this caused can be imagined with those in the front for North Kent coast stations trying to get into the back and those in the back trying to get ot the front and all mixed up with those wanting to get off at Faversham blocking the vestibules.
Worse was to come because at Faversham the platform staff were telling Ramsgate passengers to get into the front and Dover passengers to get into the back so nobody knew what bit of the train was going where. Eventually it all got sorted out but not before most people had had to change their seats at least twice.
On Friday it got worse. Arriving at St Pancras about 10 minutes before the Faversham train was due to leave I thought all was well. The train was duly standing at platform 11. Then cam an announcement that the Faversham train was cancelled because the line closure between Ashford and Canterbury meant they didn't have a train crew (?) There then followed an announcement that the train at platform 11 was for Faversham and that those wanting to travel should board. This came twice so all those that had got off the train when the cancellation announcement came got back on. Then a further announcement that the train was cancelled. Once more SouthEastern couldn't decide if it was Arthur or Martha
It turned out the train was well and truly cancelled and passengers were advised to take the Dover train as far as Ebbsfleet and see what turned up. With that, the Faversham train (the one without the train crew) duly left and the Dover rain arrived. A few minutes before that train left it was full in the Japanese sense and no-one else could get on and it left leaving passengers behind.
The next Faversham train turned up on time and also left leaving passengers behind, and also left passengers behind at Ebbsfleet - those unfortunates who had taken the advice to travel on the Dover train as far as Ebbsfleet.
What a shambles.
A bus was laid on between Ashford and Canterbury while SouthEastern and Network Rail were 'doing everything we can' to get the water level down and the line reopened. On Thursday morning they were forecasting a reopening at noon that day. Then it became 'not before Friday' and on Thursday evening, 'not before saturday'. Friday came and by Friday evening it was 'not before sunday'. The forecast date of reopening is going backwards faster than time is moving on. We could be in for a long haul.
Some of the Chilham regulars have taken to driving to Ashford. But the driving costs plus the parking costs add up, and the cancelled 0657 from Ashford means no London Bridge train between 0630 and 0722. I took a different route and drove to Selling, getting to London Bridge via the Medway towns.
The morning trains are not bad. The 0641 from Selling has a reasonable connection at Faversham into a train that actually arrives in London Bridge a little before my normal time. The timekeeping of this train is poor though. The flight of trains from Margate means that the London bridge train is regularly held up behind the late running Victoria train just in front. Thursday we were ten minutes late, Friday 20 minutes. But the train is less crowded than the train through Tonbridge.
In the evening it's not so good. The first train from London bridge back to Faversham is the 1649, and that involves a 15 minute wait at Faversham. The next train, the 1712, is even worse. This just fails to make a connection to Dover at Faversham and so there is a 25 minute wait. Only the 1734 has a decent Faversham connection.
But I wanted to get home a little earlier so the only way is to go to St Pancras and take a Faversham bound high-speed train. On Thursday this worked reasonably well to Rochester where I changed, with a six minute wait, to a Ramsgate and Dover train. This was advertised in its usual way with the Ramsgate portion in front and the Dover portion in the rear.
Just as we approached Faversham, the guard announced that the formation was to be reversed - with the front part of the train going to Dover and the rear part going to Ramsgate. The chaos this caused can be imagined with those in the front for North Kent coast stations trying to get into the back and those in the back trying to get ot the front and all mixed up with those wanting to get off at Faversham blocking the vestibules.
Worse was to come because at Faversham the platform staff were telling Ramsgate passengers to get into the front and Dover passengers to get into the back so nobody knew what bit of the train was going where. Eventually it all got sorted out but not before most people had had to change their seats at least twice.
On Friday it got worse. Arriving at St Pancras about 10 minutes before the Faversham train was due to leave I thought all was well. The train was duly standing at platform 11. Then cam an announcement that the Faversham train was cancelled because the line closure between Ashford and Canterbury meant they didn't have a train crew (?) There then followed an announcement that the train at platform 11 was for Faversham and that those wanting to travel should board. This came twice so all those that had got off the train when the cancellation announcement came got back on. Then a further announcement that the train was cancelled. Once more SouthEastern couldn't decide if it was Arthur or Martha
It turned out the train was well and truly cancelled and passengers were advised to take the Dover train as far as Ebbsfleet and see what turned up. With that, the Faversham train (the one without the train crew) duly left and the Dover rain arrived. A few minutes before that train left it was full in the Japanese sense and no-one else could get on and it left leaving passengers behind.
The next Faversham train turned up on time and also left leaving passengers behind, and also left passengers behind at Ebbsfleet - those unfortunates who had taken the advice to travel on the Dover train as far as Ebbsfleet.
What a shambles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)