It is not a complicated journey from Bristol to Birmingham but it is ffing expensive. Had I got up before 6 AM I would have saved £8 but for the sake of a bit of a lie in I caught the 8.30 and my return ticket cost a whopping £117.80. adding insult to injury Cross Country trains is making me pay an extra £2 for an hour’s internet access. To put this in perspective, I can get to London and back from £75 which is about the same distance and the wifi is free.
I do not want to go to Birmingham. I grew up close enough to Britain’s second City to know what a shit-hole it is. But sadly it is the closest Greek consulate and I need a document stamped to help keep useless Greek state employees busy in their bogus non jobs. As such I resent my visit to the grim post-industrial North all the more.
What with taxis at either end, today will set me back by around £150 for three minutes at the consulate getting a piece of paper stamped. Grrrrr.
I know that British Rail was useless. I can remember, as a child, journeys to and from Kent which took all day in slow and dirty trains. Jeremy Corbyn’s ideas of wasting taxpayers cash on renationalising the railways are bonkers. But on a day like today, as I contemplate my money wasted, I find myself almost thinking “to hell with it, let Corbyn punish the greedy rail companies and see if I care. Feck you, Cross Country rail”