It was never my intention to spend every Bank Holiday this year in Paignton. However, thinking about the progressing plans to replace the currently locomotive hauled services with cascaded units, and since the UK doesn't have another weekday holiday this side of August, I thought this could be the last chance I get! Add to this the chance to finally get a snap or two of 'celebrity' loco 67018 in it's DB colours, and it seemed a sensible way to spend the day. Fantastic weather also helped.
The issue of what to do once I got to Paignton was solved by the opening of a new Costa Coffee. I swear this branch wasn't here just under a month ago when I visited, and bemoaned the lack of decent coffee in the town. I queued up behind a long string of locals who hadn't quite figured out how to use the store yet. After stifling a chuckle at someone who complained that her latte was "too milky" I began to experience a degree of middle-class guilt, and sat quietly writing and sipping my coffee. Back to the station for a much more honest bacon sandwich from the excellent little cafe at the station, then a quick but rather warm dash back home on the loco-hauled service. Why don't they use the air-conditioning on these sets?
So, after a brief break at the seaside it's back to work - and the nail-biting wait for tour timings to come through for the rest of June's entertainments. As someone recently pointed out, this site seems to be obsessed with weather, food and trains. Guilty!
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
