For three summers, and the months in between, I have been working for Hackney Learning Trust on an ad hoc consultancy basis. Today I announced on twitter
“Last remunerated work-day ever, probably…. Not with a bang but a whimper. Bon voyage.”
It has been convenient to zoom in on HS1 to Stratford International and walk through Westfield Shopping Centre to get the Overground service. This fulfilled my intention never to commute regularly to London requiring the underground – and that was when my train journey to London took twice as long as it does now.
Waiting on an Overground platforms I have often seen long freight trains going through always reminding me that these services can inter-leave with passenger services – and the freight is not travelling by road. That has to be a good thing, doesn’t it?
The high-speed train service was a government promise made in connection with the Channel tunnel rail link used by Eurostar. It provides England with the only hint of the speed and quality of train travel in continental Europe. In 2014 we took a train holiday to Nice and this year we have been to the Catalan Coast and later we are going to Rome and Sorrento. Long-distant train travel is efficient and enjoyable.
A new chapter of active retirement begins.
The full quote from the beginning of The Great Railway Bazaar is
“Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”
He continues to exhalt the virtues of train travel and concludes with…
“I sought trains; I found passengers.”
I once heard on the radio Passengers with Lou Reed reading this introduction to The Great Railway Bazaar.
Listen to it here… Passengers
The rest of the album is quite different, but interesting nevertheless.
Stephen Emmer – Recitement, 2007