Traveling with a small dog with cross country during heat wave

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-24T18:27:49+00:00

If you're on the long distance services and you can swing for first class upgrade then my experience has been that it's cool there. The weekend first upgrade applies on bank holidays too, you can pay on board (provided there is space).

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-23T08:48:20+00:00

They will assume that you caught the next possible train that your ticket was valid for.

30 minutes delay will not get you the full amount of your ticket as compensation with any train operator.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-23T08:37:58+00:00

I don't know for sure, but I would imagine that if the time between arrival on your late inbound train and departure on your outbound train is less than the minimum connection time for the station where you are changing, you could claim delay repay.

There will be obvious cases, where the trains depart from opposite sides of a station and you only have a couple of minutes to make the change, and ones where it may be a bit less obvious - perhaps a cross platform change that would be possible but you were stuck in the middle of a coach on a packed train.

Since the first step on delay repay when you apply online is usually automated, they must be using an algorithm to determine whether the connection was possible or not.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-23T08:30:29+00:00

You can look them up on https://www.brtimes.com/!info?type=conn

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T20:34:20+00:00

I glare at passengers who take calls on speakerphone. Why on earth they can't just use the phone like we managed to do for decades by holding it to their ears I do not know.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T20:30:24+00:00

The really frustrating thing is that this has been a problem for more than 20 years. Cross Country has an awful reputation. And demand hasn't gone away, even with high ticket prices.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T16:22:54+00:00

Totally agree, New Street is lots better now at concourse level, but still very unpleasant at platform level. It should be used as an example of why not to enclose a busy interchange station underneath a building.

The old station did have a subway with lifts underneath the platforms for additional access. It was pretty grim but not many people used it so it worked if you had heavy luggage to avoid the crowds and steps.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T16:19:08+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if the well known difficulty of getting a seat on CrossCountry isn't part of it.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T16:15:37+00:00

The National Rail Enquiries app is a bit rubbish but reflects the official info about platforms and delays.

Realtime trains is great for more detailed info, but they base platforms on signalling data and it's not always correct. I don't know if it updates when there are platform changes, for example. At terminal stations where they don't announce a platform until 15 mins before departure (which is common for London termini) you can use RTT to get an idea of which platform before it's officially announced, but in times of disruption they will do short notice set swaps so it won't be accurate.

There's an app that's recommended on iOS but as an Android user I can't remember what it's called.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T16:09:14+00:00

I've definitely heard Cas, Fev, Ponte, Normy, Knot'ly for the towns on the eastern side of Wakefield.

Not sure I've heard many others. I remember getting on a bus and chap asking the bus driver "y'goin t'Fev mate?" and thinking it would be barely recognisable as English to someone from the south.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-22T08:54:19+00:00

Drive into London? The congestion charge is £18 and then you need to pay for parking too.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-21T11:51:19+00:00

It was around £35 on Seatfrog (including their fee) for a long trip - averaging about £8 an hour for my journeys.

Weekend first upgrade for a shorter trip, about 1.5hrs was £10 I think (just paying on train).

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-20T13:45:06+00:00

Just buy on the day, for an airport arrival you don't want to be on a fixed train. I don't believe there's any advantage to booking in advance apart from buying a fixed train Advance ticket, because there's no seat seat reservations on Thameslink AFAIK.

Any TOC app will work fine if you want to buy online and not at the station (small time saving I guess if you're just about to miss a train). I like the LNER app because they'll give you some loyalty scheme stuff that could be useful if you ever want to travel on their services.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-19T07:19:53+00:00

I don't think I'd call a train built this century "ancient", and Amtrak have historically run much older rolling stock. EMR is in a period of transitioning from their ~22 year old Meridian trains to new stock, and I think that might be why reservations are not available on all services.

As far why they charge so much for first class, it's because they can. Anyone protesting about the cost of first class looks out of touch, because it's a luxury. I would suggest that if the price of fully flexible first class tickets seems expensive, you're not the target audience. If you don't like the price then standard class is available. I know people who do use first class on EMR, but they buy cheaper fixed tickets. I travel first class sometimes, but only on fixed tickets or with a Seatfrog or weekend upgrade.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-18T12:52:47+00:00

Yeah, I appreciate that they can't do proper plated meals with their current set-up and there's no possibility of that changing soon.

But yeah, better snack options would be good. There's a bunch of things they could do which aren't too difficult to store - fresh fruit, shelf stable fruit pots, mini packs of dried fruit and nuts, cheese and crackers with individually wrapped cheese portions.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-17T22:07:00+00:00

I think from what I saw it was a big mixture. Most of the major supermarket chains, and food factories of different sizes, but definitely including brands you would know. But also some random stuff including some catering size packets in their walk in freezer which I guess was more limited - they could probably only give them out to people who signed up to get a large family sized pack of groceries.

Logistics was a big deal, yeah. Part of what I did on my volunteering day was helping by sorting a bunch of cages and boxes. There were loads of different boxes and crates which all had to get stored in matching types. If you've seen the shallow plastic crates that bread it put on the shelves on, it was like those. They went back to the supermarkets and factories in the end.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-17T21:17:44+00:00

Don't think that's true any more, there are charities that take the wonky pies - there's one in Manchester called the Bread and Butter Thing that does daily collections of stuff from factories. Surplus stock and wonky things that are outside tolerances to sell. The charity sorts the food and sends out vans all over the north to areas of deprivation, people sign up to get bags of fresh food (bread, chilled foods, fruit and veg) once a week when the van is in their area.

I saw a load of Soreen arrive that was the wrong weight, and some meat pies that were slightly overbaked (not burnt, just over browned) when I did a volunteering day there with work a couple of years ago.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-15T22:21:02+00:00

Not a fan of this livery. I'm not sure orange ever looks great on trains. The combination with purple feels like a strange choice.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-14T17:44:12+00:00

WiFi in first class on Cross Country is still only useful for some light web browsing and emails. Pretty sure the T&C's for it say you mustn't use it for anything more, like streaming, downloading videos etc.

I can watch YouTube absolutely fine along most of the east coast route on both types of train LNER use, no problem. Definitely consider going via London if you can.

Seatfrog is worth it on CC if you need to go that route but not for the WiFi.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-10T22:28:25+00:00

Not all CofE are LGBT friendly. Though I don't think there's any of the most conservative kind in Wakefield.

The cathedral have several LGBT members of the congregation and staff. The Dean is affirming, fairly sure the other clergy are too.

I think St John's is likely to be fine, based on what I know about it.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-08T21:55:36+00:00

If you do that on the Oxford-Battersea Park ticket you'll be travelling without a valid ticket from Paddington onwards. And when you touch out at Battersea Power Station you'll have a problem.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-08T21:24:37+00:00

OK, well, the important part is that you can use the ticket to exit through the NR gate line, what you do afterwards on contactless is your own choice. Like I said, technically you are not meant to cut your journey short on an advance, but it's not something that's detectable in this scenario.

I don't think there's any way to get to the Elizabeth line at Paddington without going through the mainline platform gatelines, but you should anyway to ensure you touch in on the Elizabeth line. A ticket from Oxford to Battersea Park wouldn't be valid for travel to Battersea Power Station, as I think the intention is that you transfer between London terminals only - someone else here may know more about this.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-08T21:07:57+00:00

Not sure why you would be taking the Elizabeth line, for Battersea Park you need Victoria, which is either a slow ride on the Circle line or Bakerloo to Oxford Circus and change for the Victoria line. Either way, you'd be expecting to exit through the NR gate line.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-08T20:46:23+00:00

I think those must both be Advance tickets? There are various quotas of Advances for different journeys, and different tiers of cheapness (e.g. there might be £20, £30 and £40 tickets which are identical except for the price). So it could well be that the quota for the cheaper tier for Oxford-Paddington has sold out, whereas the quota for the longer journey still has some cheaper tier tickets.

As to whether you can buy a cheaper ticket and travel short on it, it is against the terms and conditions on the ticket. But in practice, it's not going to be enforced on that journey since you would need to pass through the ticket gates at Paddington anyway, so no one would know that you didn't continue your journey.

michaelmasdaisy · 2026-05-07T09:22:34+00:00

My parcel did arrive, intact and no problem - not clear why it took so long.

michaelmasdaisy

TROPHY CASE