  Since the start of last year,  due to Mrs.  A- MOL’ s change in job,  I’
ve been catching the train from Dewsbury to York.  This is a 45- minute trip direct or an hour with a change at Leeds.  The length of trip has given me time to read the newspaper in detail instead of half- arsed flicking through.  I have also read a great number of books in this time which I probably would not have bothered with;
 without forcing myself to get past the dry start to His Dark Materials one morning commute,  I would not have finished this rather excellent series of books ( Sidenote:  Why do the Christian Right get pissed of with Harry Potter and not a group of books where The Church are the bad guys,  God is physically killed and the world is saved by the love,  in all senses of the word,
 between two 13 year olds?  However,  this is where the advantages of train journeys end.  The service I use,  run previously by Arriva and now by First Transport,  is appalling.
 Punctuality is non- existent.  However,  what really pisses me off is their lack of ability to inform the customer of when their train is going to turn up.  The standard tactic is to add two minutes to when the train is due,  wait until that time has passed then add ANOTHER two minutes onto it.
 Twats.  Trains are cancelled for no reason –  my favourite being the train that disappeared.  One minute it was on the board,  the next gone and the staff at the train station had no idea what had happened,  even after several phone calls.
 Another problem is overcrowding.  A train between Newcastle- York- Leeds- Manchester is probably going to be very popular on an evening,  even more so on a Friday.
 Considering that on a moderate day,  3 carriages are needed to seat everyone comfortably,  it is moronic the number of times that they provide two or even one carriage.  This is their busiest line –  you’ d think they’
d notice.  It got so bad in a morning that I catch the 6: 26 from Dewsbury,  which gets me into the office a full hour before work starts,  just so that I can sit down and relax instead of being crushed in the aisle.  There are other problems on trains that fuck me off that aren’
t really the companies faults.  The number of kids that are allowed to run around or JUST SCREAM CONSTANTLY THROUGH THE WHOLE FUCKING JOURNEY BECAUSE THEY WANT JUICE is frightening.  There is also another class of people –  insane twats.  A few examples.  ·
The man who sat next to me and started eating yoghurt.  May not sound odd,  but his method of eating was to eat it without a spoon,  just bring the pot to his mouth and slurping it down as fast as possible.  · A regular –
 a man who stands with a hunch,  mouth agape,  tongue hanging out,  who starts snorting if you end up in front of him in the queue to get of the train likes he’ s going to attack you.  ·
The woman who started asking us why we were catching the train,  and then declaring “ I’ ve gone to visit my husband.  He’ s in jail for murdering a girl”
 and then spent the rest of the journey detailing about how his case was a miscarriage of justice ( It wasn’ t,  from what she was telling us.  · A woman who read people’
s newspapers from the aisle –  just stood behind your seat and started reading.  Unfortunately,  she choose to do this on the day I was feeling really ill,  tired,  depressed and fucked off coming home from work (
the suspected glandular fever period)  and I threw the paper at her and told her she could fucking well buy it off me.  My days on the train probably aren’ t finished,  due to the fact I’ m studying in Leeds,
 but 10- 15 minutes is infinitely preferable to 45- 60 mins.
