I have been working away from London for part of the year, enjoying the sights and sounds of the North and Scotland. I even tried a deep fried Mars Bar for the first time...probably the last too, each to their own.
Now I'm back and perversely despite the consistently delayed and poor service finding my commute more enjoyable than it was. And this has absolutely nothing to do with anything FGW have done...well they do a little bit, as I'll allude to later.
How you may ask?
Well first of all there are the views of the Thames Valley between home in Cholsey and Maidenhead. The sun rises can be spectacular.
As can the sun sets, like one I caught between trains at Reading station.
However the greatest reason is that I have discovered the joys of the various Twitter accounts which 'monitor' and comment on FGWs service. For example I'm proud to be part of #Teamhipflask as I follow @FGWKMC (FGWkickedmycat.) Also others like @LastWorstWestern make me chortle.
And to be balanced, here's where FGW come in, the genuine @FGW team are good sports, with the likes of the legendary Ollie, Elias, TJ, Heather and others willing to enter into a bit of fun when it all goes Pete Tong, which it often does. A fellow travel weary commuter @the_bald_man and I have passed many a journey in the evening with a session of #askOllie. We cover a range of very important issues, like "Cheese & Onion or Salt & Vinegar?"
I still write to Mark Hopewood, when journeys are particularly tedious, and now have the joy of following him on Twitter too....he likes posting pics of a nice cooked breakfast.
Now this doesn't make me a fan of FGW, far from it, however I am sharing the joys of social networking as it may well ease the sense of ennui of a delayed or even cancelled journey of a fellow commuter or two. Who knows one day you may well Favourite or RT a comment by @dougprop as part of a #Teamhipflask thread.
Happy commuting people...now I'm back don't expect the happiness to last, normal ranting blogs may well resume
