UK Rail travel

We wanted to go to our grandson's 4th birthday party in south London at the weekend just past. Firstly we worried about the heat. Secondly we worried about the cancelled trains after all the news broadcasts about timetable chaos and the local rail staff just unable to be reassuring when asked on Friday. Thirdly we worried about doing the trip all in one day.

In the end we just got up early and went. Texting son to expect us by 11.  In fact in all went reasonably well considering!

We caught an early local bus just 500 yards down the road and walked 500 yards to the station.  Kings Lynn station is one end of the line and Kings Cross the other end. 

First problem - the information board only had information for the later trains, not the one standing at the platform and there were no announcements.  Husband refused but I insisted and asked a man - yes, it was the right train (not the one stopping in Hitchin etc) and we jumped on board and secured a seat.

Three small stations later and all the seats were taken.  Ely - people standing.  Cambridge they add 4 more carriages but they let on 8 carriage worth more passengers.  Now the aisles were packed. I spent the next 50 minutes looking at some young Spanish man's bum in close fitting shorts from less than 24 inches.  I should complain? They had paid good money to stand all the way to Kings Cross!! The air conditioning was set to "freeze" so it was not sweaty at least.

Trailed over to St Pancreas and tried to get in the Ladies loo - waited in same place while husband went in and out and I had not moved. Gave up. Went down the steps to Thameslink. Read the info boards. Read them again. Asked again.  "Engineering on south line just going to Brighton the other way." Ran back up the stairs, pausing briefly to suggest to the staff on the barrier that they needed that information at the top not the ...... bottom.   Back down the underground to Victoria and then to a light airy, empty south east train.  Our day tickets letting us through all barriers without any problems.

Party started by the time we passed Dulwich, so at our destination we decided to walk to their house via the high street and a park. Not a real problem except it was then husband realized he had no hat and had to scuttle from tree shade to tree shade.

Good party. Son arranged an Uber taxi to the station and we took the same route back.  Was the train crowded?  Of course it was! To get to Kings Lynn you have to use the first 4 carriages, so you have to run up the whole length of the platform to get to those carriages and it was standing only for the first 3 carriages we went through. I squeezed by families settling in to stand or squat to Cambridge, till I got to First Class.  I would have paid the extra to sit there (not that we have ever seen a ticket collector dare get on board on this service in 3 years).  But the door would not open.  A lady informed us there were a few seats in the bit beyond First Class.  We banged the door (politely) and got through eventually. In the very, very front of the train we found half a dozen people occupying 2 seats each.  After some negotiation someone moved and gave us seats.  Practically everyone got off at Cambridge. But our part of  the train refilled quickly. Some people had come from London on another service so they would not have to stand, and then waited there for our train to go on,

Back by 9 pm but long past the last local bus, so taxi home. Though we have now found a cheap car park just beyond the station that seems little used at weekends now.

Sorry this is a long, rambling blog post but I wanted to share what it is like to live in a rural UK area and want to use public transport as you get older. Conclusion?  Its not easy,