Reading Roars!

This post has been fermenting in my head for some time.  At last, here are my top 10 tips for a better train journey.  Please submit your tips.  Care and share, as they say!

1. Avoid the Monday morning queue(s).  These can be very long indeed at Reading Station.  Buy your ticket the day before.  Or get a season ticket.
2. Location, location, location.  You need to be in the right place, at the right time, on the station platform, in order to board the train first and win that seat.  Don’t stick with the herd.  Keep your eye on the incoming train. Move slickly this way and that.  Timing is everything.  And practise.
3. When boarding the train, grab the first vacant seat that you see.  There may not be another one.
4. There may be vacant seats marked as reserved.  Check the reservation labels.  Take one of the seats anyway.  You will probably be ok.
5. MP3 players are very handy.  On occasion, you may have to sit next to an irritating loudmouth talking on their mobile for the entire journey.  Laptop users can be similarly irritating. 
6. At Paddington, loiter around the barrier and keep an eye on the departures display.  You will have less distance to cover once the platform number is announced.
7. Invest in a comfortable pair of shoes and improve your level of fitness.  At Paddington, walking briskly, or even running, helps if you want a seat.  Wheely cases are de rigeur these days, but they also slow you down. 
8. Common sense helps.  If the Paddington platform number for the next Reading-bound train is unnannounced but there is one train waiting, at Platform 1 for example, it’s probably going to be that one.  Stay close to the platform.
9. When boarding the evening train at Paddington, walk through First Class and help yourself to a crisp copy of the Evening Standard.  Because you’re worth it.
10. And finally, act selfishly.  It’s a terrible thing to write.  However, it’s something, regrettably, that you absolutely must do as a train passenger these days.  Make sure that you get on that train.  Make sure that you get that seat.  And then blame the system.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Transport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.