Sort of jumped the queue this little rant.
For the last ~30,000 years the UK have been slowly emerging from an Ice Age.
The ice has receded and land has emerged. Over a period of some 5,000 years forests grew up and eventually animals move into the area.
These trees were of two types, evergreens in the north and deciduous in the south. In the far south the trees are able to hold onto their leaves late into the year and quite often they fall only just before winter sets in.
And so it continued, even with the new fangled modern Homo Sapiens moving into the islands.
“Man” then set about clearing the islands of unwanted items, like bears, wolves, wild pigs and trees. The last was simply taking up too much room!
They did a good job and by ~300 years ago the southern forests had all but gone.
“Man” moved on and managed an astonishing pace of development in Industry, and of course more land was deforested.
They eventually get to the point of inventing the Train. But even from day one the pesky tree were against them. When they weren’t unreasonably picketing the routes of the trains they maliciously shed leaves. The fact that they managed to set several thousand years of precedence is just a pathetic attempt to create a legal loop hole.
All train companies in the south of England electing not to organise proper plans for the violent actions of trees. They have successfully proved that a condition in place prior to the invention of a service doe not have to be concurred or planned for within that service.
So when next delayed remember: Southern Railway aren’t at fault. It is merely the violently militant action of Trees! The trees are entirely to blame and It is with them that all commuters in the South of England should raise their complaints and aim their ire.
But Southern Railway have a plan! They intend to scare everyone off the East Coastway service and then concentrate solely on the Brighton line.
Guess I’ll use another railway service. No, wait, I can’t because Southern Railway have a monopoly.
Happy Happy, Joy Joy.
(Can u have my money back now please? Or should I chop down some trees to aid the “cause”, pulp them and print my own?)
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
harlekwin 
Yes, my heart goes out to Southern Railway. They always try to do their best, even though every type of season in England throwns something against them. Today, the helpful staff at Brighton station are again doing their best.
A train has become stuck across 4 lines at Gatwick apparently!! Sounds amazing to me, but it must be true, even the super intelligent Southern Railway staff couldn’t make that one up.
So what do they do in the face of this problem. They announce that all trains are delayed until further notice. I stood on the concourse for about 10 minutes, and then thought I would ask the staff for more information. I approached one and said ‘Do you think I should stay here, or go home and then come back later’. She said ‘you should probably go home, they are trying to resolve the problem, but it will be at least an hour and a half, probabaly more’.
I enquired why they didn’t announce this to all the hopeful passengers who were waiting for the problem to resolve itself.
Her reply – ‘It’s not standard procedure’.
The idiocy of the staff of Southern Railway knows no bounds. I know they can’t do anything to stop trains breaking down, but at least deal with it sensibly, giving correct information to the people who are paying them.
I am now at home waiting to see when I should go back to the station, but it’s pointless, I will have to go back up there to see what is going on, as Southern Railway have also decided it’s not worth while mentioning the extent of this problem on their website.
Thanks Southern Railway!!! You are doing a sterling job.
Posted by Tara | 2010/12/01, 9:42 am