Monday, December 08, 2008

Latest National Express news: 77 is the new 67

I arrived at Newcastle Central to catch the 7.52am to London, clutching my seat reservation for coach D, seat 67. Try as I might, I could not find seat 67. All the other passengers helped and we were defeated. No seat 67 existed, and all other seats were booked. So I went to the next coach and no seat 67 existed there either. So I went in search of a train guard, found one and brought him to the coach. He eventually found my reservation on seat 77. It was, he explained, due to a "set swap" (train industry speak for changing the train at the last minute). It does strike me as rather bizarre that seat 67 (and 68) do not exist on Intercity 225 trains. So, 77 is the new 67 with National Express. Just add 10 to your seat reservation!

It's a bit like buying a ticket from National Express. Try to book the £10 single fayre but all you find available are the fares that cost considerably more. All you have to do is add to the original amount!

Anyway, as you can now see, I am on the train to London. I am armed with a bag of food for colleagues. All home made, though the cake I have was not made in my home. It came from one of the 4 fayres I went to on Saturday in Blaydon constituency (Whickham, Swalwell, Ryton and Winlaton Mill).

The apple slices I have were made by me late on Saturday night. I have long threatened my Cowley St food guinea pigs with products made from acorn flour. These slices also contain apples we picked wild. They will be tested later today. More details will be on my self-sufficiency blog shortly.

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