|
Kittybriton
|
 |
« Reply #30 on: 19:26:59, 14-08-2007 » |
|
Well, we're planning to be in Paris next spring but don't know the date yet! - does ths help?
I can get to Paris more quickly and cheaply than I can get to London! There is something fundamentally wrong with this country but I can't quite put my finger on what...  ) "There is something terribly wrong with this country..." ( V for Vendetta, Wachowski Bros., 2005) -- Alan Moore, writer of V for Vendetta, describing the Wachowski Brothers' screenplay. Perhaps now that Gordon Brown is running the show he can come up with a better script? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #31 on: 21:25:34, 14-08-2007 » |
|
and even Brussels and Aachen - which is only one stop over the border so you just have to pay a few euros supplement on the train from Liège. Köln/Cologne/Keulen isn't a million miles from Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle...  Indeed. I once decided to use my Eurostar ticket to get me to the German border and travelled on to Düsseldorf. What I hadn’t noticed was that I had to make my way back to Brussels on Rosenmontag. How I survived the Düsseldorf to Köln part of the journey with all my luggage intact I still don’t know. Talk about sardines! Köln must have the top Karneval in the region, though, because the train emptied out there and remained empty all the way to Aachen. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ron Dough
|
|
« Reply #32 on: 21:39:00, 14-08-2007 » |
|
Quote:Perhaps now that Gordon Brown is running the show he can come up with a better script?
Sadly, I'm not so sure, at least so far as the railways are concerned; the ECML franchise was today awarded to National Express, ahead of the other bidders the First (a.k.a. the Worst) Group, Arriva, and a consortium of the present GNER management with backing from Virgin and Stagecoach.
What worries me is that there are strong rumours amongst transport companies that First is hoping to buy-out National Express some time soon. Anyone who's on NE's board could expect to make a pretty quick killing (as, I believe did the original Great Western's board following their company's buy-out - also by First - not all that long after Privatisation). Furthermore, the cost of the franchise can probably only be met by further above-inflation increases in fares, which have already been given the go-ahead.
There'd be another issue, too: monopoly. First already have the Scotrail franchise, as well as a considerable bus presence: this would mean that apart from the few routes duplicated by Virgin, the vast majority of rail travel within Scotland would be in the hands of the same company that now has about the same proportion of rail travel in the West of England - and what a mess they're making of that, as I'm sure Mr Hinton will testify. The Gravy Train for the few means a sloppy residue of service for the majority...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
oliver sudden
|
|
« Reply #33 on: 22:14:26, 14-08-2007 » |
|
Köln must have the top Karneval in the region, though, because the train emptied out there and remained empty all the way to Aachen.
If you think catching a train through it is fun try walking through the Hauptbahnhof a couple of days into the carnival period. Your feet stick to the ground. My top carnival seems likely to remain Basel. I was there for the drey scheenschte Dääg this year. My God. All those drums. All those piccolos. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
tonybob
|
|
« Reply #34 on: 08:16:00, 15-08-2007 » |
|
so, erm, a meeting that's not in london...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
sososo s & i.
|
|
|
|
Jonathan
|
|
« Reply #35 on: 12:52:47, 15-08-2007 » |
|
Clearly...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Best regards,
Jonathan
*********************************************
"as the housefly of destiny collides with the windscreen of fate..."
|
|
|
|
Lord Byron
|
|
« Reply #36 on: 14:48:16, 16-08-2007 » |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
IgnorantRockFan
|
|
« Reply #37 on: 11:10:34, 17-08-2007 » |
|
The Sage in Gateshead has a big foyer with a coffee room that you can use even if you're not attending a concert. Easy walking distance from the train station...
(He suggests, helpfully.)
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Allegro, ma non tanto
|
|
|
|
John W
|
|
« Reply #38 on: 18:06:46, 17-08-2007 » |
|
The Symphony Hall in Birmingham has four pubs across the road that you can use even if you're not attending a concert. Easy walking distance from the train station...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Reiner Torheit
|
|
« Reply #39 on: 21:38:39, 17-08-2007 » |
|
Well, I've just (an hour ago) arrived off a 10-hour rail trip in Siberia, for which a sleeper berth (in a 4-berth cabin) cost me 1039R - that's 22 quid, plus a further 1 pound on board for freshly starched bedlinen. We left on time and arrived 7 mins early Woken with coffee this morning (we are 8 hrs ahead of GMT here so it's already tomorrow) although it was admittedly bitter instant stuff..what do you expect for 15 pence? If anyone would like a Forum Meet at Lake Baikal, the weather is super in August (+34C forecast today) but a bit chilly in Feb (-45C). |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
|
|
|
|
Kittybriton
|
|
« Reply #40 on: 23:46:28, 17-08-2007 » |
|
Oooh Reiner! You make Siberia sound most inviting!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
|
|
|
harmonyharmony
|
|
« Reply #41 on: 22:55:18, 19-08-2007 » |
|
I'm not going to recommend Durham because I'm not planning on being here for very much longer.
York sounds like a very good idea it gets my vote yes it does.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
|
|
|
eruanto
Guest
|
|
« Reply #42 on: 23:43:42, 19-08-2007 » |
|
From a Lunduner's point of view, Leeds would be cheapest, as Megabus does it for ... £1
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Tony Watson
Guest
|
|
« Reply #43 on: 00:01:40, 20-08-2007 » |
|
Manchester or Birmingham for me. (I can't imagine Shrewsbury being very popular.)
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Janthefan
|
|
« Reply #44 on: 11:09:33, 20-08-2007 » |
|
What about Bath?  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Live simply that all may simply live
|
|
|
|
