I was on the Pendolino train from Penrith to Glasgow a few weeks ago like the one that crashed last night.  I was hugely impressed by the experience and it would be my preferred mode of transport if given a choice.

 

I have to say that having watched the coverage, i'd happily travel on on one of them next week.  They're faster, smoother, quieter, more comfortable, more luxurious and SAFER than equivalent travel by air or road.  Richard Branson & Virgin Trains have done their best and were let down by the track.

Did they test it on a HUMAN? let alone a scottish one?

 

Its truly dreadful.  Interesting from an experimental "have a quick play of it for an hour" point of view, but COMPLETELY not fit for its purpose in any way at all.

 

Vista in general is impressive, with some very clever features, but it definitely has a few rough edges still showing, and things like the speech recognition should just have been left out altogether.

 

I can't imagine what accent the virus has got that they claim can hijack your computer by speaking to it....

 

- R

I was talking to a friend, saying how I really think that i'd feel guilty for flying somewhere now.  Its by far and away human activity with the biggest damage to the environment, and the one that is the most easily fixed.

 

His attitude was that the plane was going whether he was on it or not, so he might as well be on it.

 

Unfortunately this is an incredibly selfish self-centred view of the world.  If everybody thought like I do now, and didn't fly, the number of flights would get cut back... if everybody thought like he does (and everybody does think like that) air-travel will continue to boom, and we're just buring jet fuel all the way to the death of our planet.

I've been using the train to get to work for the past week, while my car is in being overhauled.

 

Each station platform has a nice monitor displaying the departure time and route for the next train.

 

These signs are crucial... and often, when you're in a rush or trying to catch a connecting train, you need to see the information immediately.  Which is why its very annoying when they sit, tell you not to leave your bag unnattended, for 10, 15 seconds or more.  it can actually be enough to cause you to miss your train!  People have to stop walking and stand, waiting for the sign to show what its MEANT to be showing and then digest it before it changes back to the security warning.

 

So, 100000s of people are inconvenienced every day for the 0.0000000000000001% of the time when a terrorist leaves a bag lying (has this ever happened?).

 

Its annoying.  very annoying.  One of the many ways in which the terrorists won on 9-11.

 

We never had these bloody stupid signs when the IRA was bombing the UK over and over... with, yes, unattended bags.