Reading on the Motherwell Express

I have been reading Philip Roth's novel, "The Plot Against America". A mixed review with everyone agreeing that it is an excellent novel but with flaws that leave it it in unsatisfactory mess. It cleverly invents a historical scenario that suggests that after Charles Lindbergh becomes President of the United States and is feted by Hitlers Nazi regime, Americas Jews become persecuted as in the rest of Europe. It is an epic journey that depends also on the readers understanding of American political history of the 30's and 40's.

However, the ending left me stranded. Although there was closure to the story, it was not dealt with in a satisfying way.

And if you have read it, did you also wonder what happened to Philips stamp album ?

Ticket examination

Interesting observation about the real purpose of ticket examination while travelling to work on the 7.24 at the end of last week. The Ticket Examiners machine had broken down so he just sat down at the end of the train and travelled into Central like the rest of us. As we approached the station he got up and walked to the front carriage, all the while saying that he couldnt sell any tickets. This obviously annoyed those who buy their tickets on the train because they knew that they would have to queue at the other end. But what interested me was the fact that the Ticket Examiner exposed the lie about ticket examination on the train. They are there to sell tickets not check to see if you have one ! Not once did he stop and ask to see tickets and I would estimate that half the passengers had season tickets and other passes. This TE knew that the army of colleagues meeting us at the other end would do his work for him.

About two weeks ago I was returning from Motherwell and a passenger who had obviously already shown his ticket became irate when asked for his ticket again by a TE who had forgotten that he had already seen it. I listened to the altercation which became heated only because the TE was not sufficiently skilled to let the matter drop with an apology to the passenger. The passenger was not abusive to the TE but did cuss a little and it was this that led the TE to warn the chap. I can only reflect on the robotic way I have succumbed to presenting my ticket 10 times a day. Although the Motherwell Ticket Examiners have done their very best to be courteous and polite they must sometimes wonder why I pass them by with a blank face and an automatice presentation of my zonecard. It should not surprise anyone that someone should occasionally lose the plot with the system. One flew over the cuckoos nest comes to mind. This is getting very sad when I start making comparisons with asylums !!

Smoking 2

This is a further observation in connection with my recent posting on this subject. I came out of the lower level at Central Station tonight and walked past an Italian cafe that has a small place on the concourse. They have a small number of tables and chairs outside and there was a chap sitting smoking at a table equipped with an ashtray. So it is a fact then that it is ok to smoke in the general concourse at Central but not on the lower level. No wonder this causes confusion and mixed messages. I wonder what happens in March when they introduce the smoking in public places legislation.

Music on the go

I have got into a rhythm when I take the car to work, this involves selecting a couple of CD's that reflect morning and evening. I need something relaxing on the way in and something that kicks me into going home mood on the way back. Naturally it will be from the jazz shelf and tonight was a treat. Rhasaan Roland Kirk was playing live at the Newport Jazz Festival and it was recorded as "Volunteered Slavery". It is really wild and he plays five instruments with every orifice on his head. At the same time. There is a wonderful sequence where Kirk talks to the audience and suggest that he has had a joint too much ........

we admit we started off too slow because I was looking at my piano player and I did smoke a little bit too much ... I was totally blind when I came on here ...Roland's Opening Remarks (Volunteered Slavery)

The joke for those not in the know is that Kirk became blind at an early age. Check out his website and learn a little more.

Week ending 3rd February

This has been a four day week for me. I have settled into my new routine of the 7.24 Cathcart Circle and the 8am GNER to Motherwell. I travelled on the QE2 on one day and I frequently catch Tam the Gun. The return trips are inevitably the awful service on the new timetable which do not seem to include any express trains. The perfect timetable for a Motherwell to Glasgow train would be a 5pm express that only stopped at Rutherglen, if at all.

My train book is a good read. "We need to talk about Kevin" is by Lionel Shriver and is a chilling account of a boy who becomes a schoolplace killer and whose life story is told by his mother in letters to her husband. I found an interesting link for this book which is a reading group site. It includes discussion questions that made it feel like an exam paper. I had not appreciated that reading groups operated like that, or perhaps they dont, only if you have to depend on a web site for your prompts.

Smoking

Interesting observation that I have thought about before but did not think vital until tonight. On the lower level at Glasow Central there are regular signs about no smoking on the platform and there have been occasions when I have stood waiting for a train and there has been a public announcement re-stating this. Obviously someone being observed having a puff by the CCTV system. I never hear these announcements on the main concourse of Central and yet folk smoke openly. Is this perhaps because it is open ended for the trains to come in and out thus exposing the sation to the open air ? Tonight it was particularly bad and I was surrounded by any number of smokers. This forces me to wander off somewhere else. I wonder if railway stations come under the new regulations that ban smoking in public places ?

GNER Heaven

Why has it taken me so long to discover the 8am GNER to London ? This week is three day week, have got today and tomorrow off, and on two occasions I have purposely travelled in on the 7.24 to Central Station to catch the 8am GNER to London which stops at Motherwell at 8.15. I notice that I am one of about a dozen passengers that use this train as their main train of choice and when I alight, there is always about a hundred people getting on for the next leg of the journey to Edinburgh. It is the best kept secret that has taken me three years to discover and it is giving me a new lease of life on my daily journey into work. It still takes an hour to get to my desk but it is totally reliable and hassle free ! I care nothing for the absurd delays waiting outside Central for a platform slot which used to regularly cause me to miss my lower level connection. The 8am leaves from platform 2 each day and I casually walk of my 7.24 and saunter off the platform with not a care in the world about the queues and ticket funnels because ih plenty of time to walk to the next platform and walk down the 8 coach train for a decent seat.

But this is now worrying me because I might not have anything to write about !