Enjoyed a pleasant, seated journey to work this morning. Minor delays on our way into St Pancras, but nothing too bad. On the whole a good start to the week. It's 'Meet the Managers' at St P on Thursday, so FCC are on their very best behaviour.
On to this evening. I'm waiting at Farringdon for the 17.57. There's a whispering noise, something glides into the platform and stops in front of us. What is it? It can't be a train. It's all lovely, smooth and shiny, purple and pink. It's quiet, like it rides on a carpet of air. It's bright and clean inside. It's like I've been transported into an episode of the Jetsons. The people inside are all smiling and happy (now stop it, you've gone too far).
I pinch myself. No I'm not asleep. The doors slide gently open (remember cassette players? It's like comparing the eject mechanisms on the cheap, crappy machines to the lovely, damped, mechanisms on the posh expensive ones). I step inside onto the thick shagpile. A steward takes my coat and shows me to my seat. Actually, it's still got a plastic floor, and there's no seats, but it is clean, climate controlled, and it doesn't smell bad.
FCC have really messed up big time today. How could this have happened? I've seen these new trains (or should that be this new train) before. I've even travelled on one once, into London, in the middle of the day (and the doors didn't open at St Pancras - a deign fault apparently). But in rush hour I've only ever seen them travelling in the other direction. I have sometimes wondered whether all of FCC's 'scheduling problems' have been caused by a desire not to allow their nice new train(s) to be soiled by too many grubby commuters. But not this week, not 'Meet the Managers' week. Coincidence?
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