- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
For reasons we needn’t dwell upon, I’ve been subjecting myself to the torture that is trying to book rail tickets online. And I’ve got to say, there’s more pleasurable ways to pass time…hitting myself on the head with a brick comes to mind. I suppose I’m never going to be the best at such stuff, given it involves technology I can’t fix with bale cord. However after an hour of trying to navigate counterintuitive sites, I was given to wonder if perhaps government are barking up the wrong tree with the railways. They’re fixated on improving UK rail service with colossal new infrastructure projects …. huge schemes making rail lines that might whizz you from London to Birmingham in 8 minutes less than the current network, or up into the northern cities before you’ve read the paper. I even saw some Brummie bigwig on the TV news simply adamant that the future commerce of his fair city absolutely depended on this nonsense, to the extent that I thought he might be some satirical comedian.
So, instead, here’s a thought. Instead of new hi-speed lines, and vanity projects, why not just make the current system work. I eventually ascertained that buying the complicated permutations of tickets needed to get to and from where I was going would cost me over £260 – just finding this out cost an hour of my life. By contrast, I discovered, I could subject myself to the tender ministrations of a national express coach, spend the same time travelling, save myself £200… complete the booking in 10 minutes. Now I’d surely prefer to travel by train, but to the tune of £100 extra each way? No maister…not that much.
I also note from recent experience on the continent that train travel elsewhere, including between different countries, can be a doddle, dirt cheap, and takes seconds to arrange. With scant language skills, you can walk up to a counter, tell em where you want to go, and they print out a ticket, and clear list of changes and platforms etc. I don’t wish to be churlish, but the staff over there generally spoke better English than the helpline staff I tracked down here.
To say the way the rail system in this country is a dysfunctional confused and overpriced disgrace hardly brushes near the fact. Ironically the only train I have been on in the UK of late was one of those restored historic steam ones, and that was as simple as could be, and a real pleasure. You might say I was chuffed!
Onwards then. With the house-martins all set sail for warmer climes –and we saw loads of them raised this year to my unending delight- and the weather steadily heading into another season, we’ve started on the long list of autumn stock work. The first bunch of tibby baa lambs will be having a wash this week, although to my great pleasure, I’m going to be leaving this task with my highly skilled operatives – the boy reminds me he’s as qualified as I am, so I said knock yerself out son! In fact, I’m increasingly letting him run sheepish operations, given he’s a better stockman than I’ve ever been.
Then there’s the first round of pre-movement Tb tests, so as we can start getting some young cattle sold. This involves fetching them in from their summer pastures, where they would rather remain happily frolicking in the meadows they’ve enjoyed since spring. Happily, with a bit of aforethought, and a kindly word, they’re mostly coming to heel satisfactorily. There’s also a tonne of spring calves to start thinking about weaning, with a few of them to sell as well. There is talk of putting some creep in front of them for a few weeks first, but that mightn’t come to anything. We have been giving one group of first calved South Devons a few kgs of hard feed all summer, mothers and calves together, as well as the young SD bull Solomon. They’ve had to summer on a pretty poor newtake for logistical reasons, and I didn’t want any of them kept too hard. It looks to have worked on all counts for once.
I haven’t PDed anything, but have a suspicion that those cows that didn’t bring forth young in the spring could well be calving to Brucie the Angus later, after he was given a run out during the winter months. We’re likely going to have a lot of cattle to winter, which is fine by me. I generally prefer the company of beasts to that of people.
-------------------------
Anton's articles are syndicated exclusively by TFF by kind permission of the author and WMN.
Anton also writes regularly for the Dartmoor Magazine and the NFU
He has published two books; the second "The Complete Bullocks" is still in print
http://www.anton-coaker.co.uk/book.htm
So, instead, here’s a thought. Instead of new hi-speed lines, and vanity projects, why not just make the current system work. I eventually ascertained that buying the complicated permutations of tickets needed to get to and from where I was going would cost me over £260 – just finding this out cost an hour of my life. By contrast, I discovered, I could subject myself to the tender ministrations of a national express coach, spend the same time travelling, save myself £200… complete the booking in 10 minutes. Now I’d surely prefer to travel by train, but to the tune of £100 extra each way? No maister…not that much.
I also note from recent experience on the continent that train travel elsewhere, including between different countries, can be a doddle, dirt cheap, and takes seconds to arrange. With scant language skills, you can walk up to a counter, tell em where you want to go, and they print out a ticket, and clear list of changes and platforms etc. I don’t wish to be churlish, but the staff over there generally spoke better English than the helpline staff I tracked down here.
To say the way the rail system in this country is a dysfunctional confused and overpriced disgrace hardly brushes near the fact. Ironically the only train I have been on in the UK of late was one of those restored historic steam ones, and that was as simple as could be, and a real pleasure. You might say I was chuffed!
Onwards then. With the house-martins all set sail for warmer climes –and we saw loads of them raised this year to my unending delight- and the weather steadily heading into another season, we’ve started on the long list of autumn stock work. The first bunch of tibby baa lambs will be having a wash this week, although to my great pleasure, I’m going to be leaving this task with my highly skilled operatives – the boy reminds me he’s as qualified as I am, so I said knock yerself out son! In fact, I’m increasingly letting him run sheepish operations, given he’s a better stockman than I’ve ever been.
Then there’s the first round of pre-movement Tb tests, so as we can start getting some young cattle sold. This involves fetching them in from their summer pastures, where they would rather remain happily frolicking in the meadows they’ve enjoyed since spring. Happily, with a bit of aforethought, and a kindly word, they’re mostly coming to heel satisfactorily. There’s also a tonne of spring calves to start thinking about weaning, with a few of them to sell as well. There is talk of putting some creep in front of them for a few weeks first, but that mightn’t come to anything. We have been giving one group of first calved South Devons a few kgs of hard feed all summer, mothers and calves together, as well as the young SD bull Solomon. They’ve had to summer on a pretty poor newtake for logistical reasons, and I didn’t want any of them kept too hard. It looks to have worked on all counts for once.
I haven’t PDed anything, but have a suspicion that those cows that didn’t bring forth young in the spring could well be calving to Brucie the Angus later, after he was given a run out during the winter months. We’re likely going to have a lot of cattle to winter, which is fine by me. I generally prefer the company of beasts to that of people.
-------------------------
Anton's articles are syndicated exclusively by TFF by kind permission of the author and WMN.
Anton also writes regularly for the Dartmoor Magazine and the NFU
He has published two books; the second "The Complete Bullocks" is still in print
http://www.anton-coaker.co.uk/book.htm
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Take the National Express when your life's in a mess
