wed 10th April. Interlude

Wednesday 10^th April

So no boating  today I have to get the train to Bristol for the day. Up early for the walk to the station. I passed five or six men, separately, walking the other way; each one said “good morning”. At what point in the day does this common courtesy stop and people start looking at their feet?

 I was the only one waiting for the 0746. “Passenger numbers up by 25% at this station last year” said the optimistic poster on the platform. I held up my hand to summon the train to stop as this is a request stop. The train stopped, not so much for me as to drop off two passengers. One seemed to be off night shift and one with a dusty cement covered jacket on; presumably a supporter of an “extension to the cement works here.”

Coming back I was the only passenger who got off. No one got on.

“…no one departs, no one arrives, from Selby to Goole from St Erth to St. Ives, they have all passed out of our lives” I was reminded strongly of these laconic song lines by

Flanders and Swan in The Slow Train.

Got the train back ok the 1825 from Shrewsbury. A single coach stopping train to crewe stopping at delightful Shropshire stations of Yorton-pub and 5 houses, Wem-small village, Prees-even smaller village, Whitchurch-fair sized town, Wrenbury-my lonely stop, Nantwich and Crewe. The train had a surprising complement of passengers on board-about 20. The conductor came down the train checking tickets. A little character with a woollen hat pulled over his head and a high woollen collar adjacent to me pretended he hard of hearing. The guard made it clear he wanted to see his ticket. "Aint got a ticket" said the chap."You need to buy one said the guard "
"Where you going to"
"Crewe"
"You need to buy a ticket"
"got no money"
"You will have to get off at Wem" said the guard and continued down the train. I wernt to speak to the guard to see if he needed a hand as I didn't think the chap would get off. "He is always on the train" said the guard. "He will get off at Wem then wait two hours for the next train and be told to get off but he will have travelled a bit further and eventually he will get to where he wants to go" And right enough the chap got off at Wem and I saw him sitting on a seat waiting for the next train to take him a bit further.
I was the only passenger to get off at Wrenvbury and walked back to the boat, past the post office, through the church grounds and across a field getting back to the boat at half past seven.