Training for hours

Still better here

I would still contend after my experience of getting to work this morning that train travel in the Netherlands is still considerably better than travelling in the UK.

Cost, comfort, convenience and consideration are keys elements of why that service here is better, I have not had to travel 1^st class and share my leg room with a German shepherd dog or seen my full price ticket completely devalued by an announcement that anyone could upgrade with a paltry GBP 10 supplement.

However, when the trains get messed up in the Netherlands, they really do get messed up big time.

That 7:57 jinx

I have the choice of 2 direct trains to Apeldoorn from Amsterdam at 7:27 and 7:57 every morning; I prefer the first and sometimes end up on the second which also means I am able to pick up the morning paper without stress.

Looking back over 12 weeks of making this journey, I think the 7:57 seems to have the most problems, it is probably jinxed, I only have problems with this train being cancelled, the journey cut short, the train delayed and sometimes it takes 50% longer to get to my destination.

If I did my assessment of train services based on the 7:57 to Enschede which calls at Hilversum, Amersfoort and Apeldoorn my stop, and to other stations beyond, I could conclude that the service in the Netherlands is absolutely rotten, unreliable, and inefficient, below par and not value for money.

The fat train can’t move

Today, I got the 7:57 train and just managed to get a seat, something seemed to be wrong and how right I was, the train had fewer coaches that most people were standing, in fact, a lady or rather a woman was sitting on the floor. Perhaps, if it were a lady, chivalry would have allowed to give her a seat.

An announcement was made which had an excuse and an apology that the train is so full and advised people to get off at the next stop and catch that later train.

There are usually 2 stops to my destination – Hilversum and Amersfoort, but a few minutes later, another announcement expressed the danger in travelling on such a fully laden train; the fact that speed limits would be lower and hence cause backlogs for other trains – we were told we would all have to get off at a minor stop - Weesp, take a stopping train to Hilversum, then board another stopping train to Amersfoort and then change for one going on to Apeldoorn and further.

The colder breeze of Amersfoort

When I took the stopping train from Hilversum to Apeldoorn, I had to stand and even suffer the discomfort of standing in the rudimentary class carriages to an intermediate stop.

So, when I should have arrived in Apeldoorn at 9:04, I was waiting for the connecting service from Amersfoort which would have left at 9:10 but was running 15 minutes late.

In the middle of November, the weather is hardly sunny and warm so one would expect a short wait in the station waiting rooms only to find that some bird-brained idiot had allowed for a full floor buffing service in the middle of the rush-hour on a cold November morning.

We all had to stand outside for the 20 minutes it took for the train to arrive and it was just coasting 7ºC – Brrrrrrgh!

Red lighting taxi

I finally got to Apeldoorn at about 9:50 and took a taxi to the office which was without event till I had to upbraid the driver for running a red light – “That was a very bad thing to do”, I said, he laughed it off and much as it resulted in a cheaper fare, what is the cost of getting caught if it really went wrong?

I cannot bear to think of the consequences, but work resumes with the dramas that makes you feel you could not find a better place to get stressed out.

It is going to be a fine day – at the races.

My bald head, a perch

Blowing out my plans

Amidst the misdirected inferences to racism that has consumed the headlines in the UK and India about the reality show Big Brother, I could not have been met with a more interesting situation as I travelled to Antwerp this afternoon.

I had in fact planned to travel to Cologne after booking a hotel and checking the Internet for travel information, I packed an overnight bag and set out.

I should give greater heed to my deepest premonitions because I decided to check the departure boards before buying my ticket from the vending machines, well, no trains were running to Germany, the country is still suffering from the after effects of the severe hurricane that blew through Northern Europe on Thursday.

What hurricane?

On reflection, I should have stayed home on Thursday too, as I stepped out of my apartment block the wind blew at me, I had to hold down my hat as the wind sought ways of undressing me by tugging at my overcoat, blow at my briefcase and wagging at my cane.

I braved it to the comfort of the tram and then the metro which at times strained at moving against the wind, little did I know that we were braving wind speeds of over 100 km/h, Schiphol Airport, just 10 kilometres away from my office recorded 130 km/h.

By the time, I left for home in the evening, I stepped out and almost got blown off my feet, that was really scary apart from the fact that one had to walk by trees that were in danger of shedding branches if not getting uprooted.

I got home safely and did I breathe a sigh a relief.

All change for grafitti

So, on learning that no trains were running, I did not feel like returning home, so I sought an Internet café, cancelled my hotel booking in Cologne and booked another in Antwerp and I was on the train 40 minutes later.

I usually choose a seat in the first class carriage with a power socket just in case I want to do some work, listen to music or watch a DVD.

It so happens that I chose one where the back of the seat in front had some graffiti, I think I have to come to the acceptance that travelling first class no more implies the person is well-mannered, good-natured, considerate and reasonable, apart from understanding that you do not deface or damage communal property.

The writing said F*ck U Africa & Islam, with Islam being scrawled out. I did not know if I should ignore it, be offended, walk away or report it – just then, one of the conductors walked by and I showed him the message. He sighed, said “People, people” and moved on.

I probably expected him to say, “I would arrange to have that cleaned up”, but then we are all probably inured to racist graffiti, to act might be seen as feeble, the episode ended their.

The writer probably knows nothing about the continent with 887 million people in 2005, however, scrawling out Islam might be as instructive as recalled slanted views of Islamic militancy and the probable dangers of crossing that religion.

My bald head, a perch

Just when I thought everything eventful had already happened on that trip, just as we left Rotterdam Central station, I wondered who was so familiar and well known to me that I had been seen and I was being startled by caressing my head.

Just as I turned to look, I realised a winged creature had by happenstance gotten on the train and was looking for ways to get off, perching on my head in the process. At least, it had the courtesy not to deposit anything on the reflector-attractor my head is when exposed after a clean shave.

It was not a pigeon, it looked like a robin but without a red breast, one only hopes it can get back home and for once a visitor in the first class cabin did gain attention and some help in finding directions home.