Feb. 16, 2020

Transportation

At this point, I can say that between weekly flights to Manchester, regular flights to Nice, and occasional flights elsewhere my carbon footprint is a big as the footprint of a Yeti. I should be ashamed and be a better climate change warrior and I will, I promise, just as soon as I finish my Masters in December. In the meantime, I also travel a lot on trains, which is a real treat. I train in Ireland, the UK, France and Germany. The double pleasure is my free travel as a pensioner and discounts by booking on Apps, in advance and as a senior citizen. I couldn’t help noticing in recent months in my travels how, inexorably, trains systems everywhere are running into reliability difficulties.

Constant delays and cancellations on Oxford Road Railway station in Manchester have resulted in Northern being nationalised. I have been in those maelstroms frequently and witnessed many passengers on their way home finding trains cancelled without notice and having to wait or find alternative ways home after a long day. So I couldn’t resist the opportunity to capture some of this in a poem.

As usual, read, enjoy, share and give me some feedback.