My Evil Plan

15 Aug

We're scheduled to take a trip down to Devon this weekend, so I get a week off kitchen duty. I think we could do with a weekend out of the house anyway. We haven't done anything as a family in weeks. Oh, and it's our wedding anniversary on Monday. That will be three years and I can honestly say, I still enjoy being married and love the old Dragon as much now as I ever did. Strangely it will also be my parents wedding anniversary on the same day. They've been married 41 years, which is much more of an achievement. Anyway, I expect we'll all sit round a table together in Devon and celebrate the occasion.

16 Aug

A level results are out today and guess what, the pass rate has improved again. Yes, for 25 years in a row now, students have been getting consistently better marks each year, but still we're told that standards are not slipping. It's still just as difficult to pass the exams today as it was when I did them. I therefore think it strange that calculus is no longer mandatory for A level maths, since it was mandatory for my O level. If you're not British of course, you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Sorry about that.

OK, I have to tell you something about First Great Western, the worst performing train company in the the country and possibly the world. They sold me a weekly season ticket recently. It started a day later than I asked for, so I complained. I must add here that I only realised that it was wrong a week after I bought it, because it expired before I expected it to. Anyway, they said they wouldn't accept responsibility or refund me for the lost day, despite the fact that they made the mistake. I have to take responsibility apparently, because I didn't spot their mistake.

However, I have a plan. They are bound by the terms of their franchise, which I sincerely hope they lose, to refund travellers who have been delayed by 30 minutes or more. Since I buy a season ticket every week that covers trains running all day, all I have to do is look at their website until I find a suitably late train, and claim I was delayed by it. It shouldn't take long to find one, since they run about 25% of trains late. I'll then submit a claim for that instead. I'll let you know how this goes.

Also I've noticed that FGW are bloody liars (yeah, go on, sue me, I dare you). Yesterday my train was delayed, though sadly not by 30 minutes, due to "kids throwing stones at the train", according to the station announcer. However, according to the train manager who made an announcement on the train, it was due to a signal failure. One of them lied and I'm fairly sure it was the station announcer since "kids throwing stones at the train" is a standard excuse they give on an almost daily basis.

It seems Dumpy has a cold, so I think we probably won't be going to Devon at the weekend after all. We'll go when we're less infectious.

I just got an anniversary gift from my wife. It's a most beautiful briefcase. I'll show you a picture tomorrow.