(no subject)

[rhivolution]

I've booked a train to and from Birmingham to drop off the Overambitious Dissertation on Wednesday (at substantial cost to myself, but probably worth it for the lack of panic over Royal Mail).

And that, as they say, will be that.

It's become more overambitious than I could have imagined and it'll never be perfect, and I still have to write those 4K words about it, but yeah. There is heart and soul there.

Comments

[azuire]

*cheers*

are you going on Virgin Trains? They're fantastic.

[rhivolution]

I am--the other lines go through Edinburgh to Birmingham, which adds an extra hour and a half, so it's worth it to pay for Virgin.

Everyone here loathes them for some reason, though.

[futuransky]

I actually really like them now (apart from having nowhere to put your luggage), but for YEARS before they got the fancy Pendolinos, and then while they were organizing the Pendolinos, they were terrible and you could pretty much guarantee a significant delay. Those were the years when I travelled frequently between Glasgow and London, so I remember it well. I was on on once where the toilet didn't work, the heat broke and the lights went out in my carriage. We used to joke that you got stuck with Virgin, because every time you travelled with them the delay would mean you got a voucher for a free journey so you had to keep using them next time...

Also, many British people have a long term ineffectual bitterness about the privatization of the rail system, even if it is quite good now.

[littlebutfierce]

Heh, it's funny, apparently in Finland they hate the Pendolinos b/c they break down a lot! (although never when I was on one, at least) I tend to think all train companies are crap, but I have the most bad experience w/First Great Western & Cross-Country. :/

(rhivolution, congrats!!!)

[futuransky]

Yes, also congratulations Rhi! Sorry, got distracted by complaining about trains, apparently...

[azuire]

They have places above the seats to put luggage, but I can't reach them; I rode on a brand-new Pendolino on my way to Liverpool, and there were absolutely no hiccups at all (in fact only Virgin runs direct to Edinburgh, everything else goes through Glasgow, which makes me a grumpy bunny because that adds ninety minutes travel time and I could be at Carlisle by then!). Northern Rail, on the other hand... rather nasty culture shock for me there (the average annual delay for a train in Japan is three seconds, both public and private rail lines).

[jesse_the_k]

Congrats congrats congrats ...

[royalarchivist]

Woot! Grats!! ^_^

[brainwane]

WHOOOOO! And I look forward to hearing/seeing you share what you can. The Geek Feminism folks might want to interview you...