It's become traditional to try to squeeze some sort of railway value out of the holiday period, but often proves tricky for a number of reasons - confusing timetable changes, later starts to service and generally unpredictable passenger loadings to name but three areas which have scuppered things in the past. So, for this extended break I decided to do things a little differently, and get a Freedom of the South West Rover ticket. By combining this with a Southern Daysave on one of the days, I could get deep into the South East for a bargain fare, and could use the other days to wander aimlessly about fairly locally. Day One started with some local rambling - a spin down to Plymouth from Bristol on a CrossCountry HST, then up to Westbury via First Great Western, missing a connection into the rare Melksham service by literally seconds - seeing the tail-lights heading off as I opened the door of our train. Instead, headed for Bath then back to Swindon on a London service, only to find the next Cheltenham train was the continuation of the service we'd missed! An interesting day, with some surprisingly good weather.

Movebook Entry

An early start for the second day, and happy to find some timely retail outlet opening at Bristol so I could get coffee and breakfast before setting off on the 07:22 to Cosham. A brief wander around this station and it's environs which I'd not used since about 2004 by my reckoning revealed that much was the same - including the takeaway and burger van which provided necessary sustenance on the return from the fateful Southwick failure. before collecting my Southern ticket at Chichester and pressing on to Brighton. Loadings weren't as bad as they were on the Coastway a few weeks back, but there were still a good few on board, as evidenced by the wedged Platform 1 at Brighton on arrival. Here, took a Seaford bound train which headed out to Lewis before turning south onto the coast. Noted the remains of Newhaven Marine, still technically open if not served by trains any more. Some splendid views of crashing waves in the English Channel too. Time to wander around Seaford a little before heading back, feeling it was a bit like Swanage in some respects, if rather smaller and quieter perhaps. I'd last been here in the mid 1990s to deliver Christmas presents for a work colleague to an elderly aunt. In many ways, little had changed - but of course the slam-door stock was now missing! Returned via a change at the curious complicated Lewes station with its mysterious in-filled platforms, then directly into Victoria via an attachement at Haywards Heath to bring us to 12 carriages. Home was a long but fairly relaxing slog down to Portsmouth for the unit home. A very productive and nostalgic day.

Movebook Entry

Finally, today. I woke with an aching right foot much exacerbated by yesterday's exertions, and a developing case of tonsillitis. Medicated myself and set off early, feeling reasonable a little later. Decided not to go for too elaborate a route given my disadvantage, ending up heading up to Cheltenham on the 07:00 then heading down to Swindon on the 08:00. Took a call suggesting I was somehow embroiled in other's business which I simply ignored. A brief early lunch and a read here, before heading into Wales. Could have managed a run out to Salisbury, but that meant more waiting around, and the 11:00 to Taunton beckoned. It had been a much shortened day but given how I felt, I think surviving this long wasn't a bad outcome. I'd still managed well over 1000 miles over the three days, and kept the cost within the magic 7p/mile band. Slunk home early, feeling sorry for myself. It's odd ending the year on a bit of a dull note, but it's back to the rails on Tuesday for my annual winter Merseyside pilgrimage. Taking stock of the last year though, I've had a fair number fine days out, and managed about 35,000 miles by rail. And all this despite a litany of railtour cancellations during the summer. Here's to many more such excursions...

Friends and regular readers will know my views on how charity organisations work here, but I feel I must post a link to the Disaster Emergency Committee which is accepting online donations in connection with recent events in South East Asia. Several organisations including British Telecom have donated their services freely to provide this service, and donating this way avoids frustratingly busy phone lines and maximises the amount of your donation which reaches the areas in need.

This got me thinking about the role of the internet in such tragic circumstances. Certainly, I've found myself turning to the net for news over the past five years when world events occur - naturally September 11th 2001 springs to mind. This however is a global tragedy of an unprecedented scale - the vast area affected by the tsunami, and the many thousands of tourists from all parts of the world visiting the area guarantees that no nation will be unaffected by the events.

I urge everyone who is part of the uniquely global internet community to participate in the relief effort for this global disaster.

Forced back into normal routine by return to work - and probably not before time, because I was feeling very strange indeed. Managed to get a decent sleep last night. Had to answer tricky 'have a nice christmas?' type questions today. Hard to explain the mixture of sad, happy, panic and disbelief which constituted the few days since I was last in the office! Seem to have an annoying cough. Work is all reports and audits now, as the 2002-2003 academic year fades slowly into the next one. Next Monday seems to be shaping up to be a bit of a watershed day. Fixed httpd and redhat-config-*/python stuff.

So this page gains another (and very dedicated!) reader. This results in me spiraling back through the Daylog wonder just exactly what I'd written. Actually, life hasn't been so bad this past year, despite some random calamities (which weren't even all my fault in most cases!). More messing about with CVS versions of stuff - finally got a new bonobo up and running late tonight. Had lunch with a long-lost (to me at least!) ex-colleague yesterday which as ever resulted in lots of amusing tales of confusion and gerontology. Somehow this reminded me just how desperate my work situation had become before I took decisive action. Preparing for more of the same next week... Later, watched "It's a Wonderful Life" - a corny festive season thing to do? Maybe, but still one of the most moving films ever made.