There is of course a certain something about long journeys by train. You may not have met the Man in Seat 61 – take a look if you haven’t
So having taken almost 90 minutes to get from Perth to Edinburgh, things are improving a bit. And we’re going to try out the high speed line from St Pancras en route to Dover tomorrow. I can’t imagine that this particular train is very green – East Coast’s now elderly diesel trains are well past their best. But I suppose it is better than the plane.
It’s also sort of sociable in a way that the plane never seems to be. The lady next to Alison – she comes from somewhere in Ireland of course – is showing pictures of her grandchildren and the atmosphere is becoming something like a rural bus journey in the midlands of Ireland. Certainly there is none of the pressure which led the Jet Blue flight attendant to inflate the escape slide and go for it. Tho’ I’ve pondered the meriots of such an exit myself now and again.