Diary of a St Ivean

This week I saw in Fore Street a man I encountered recently on the St Erth to St Ives train. He and two companions were travelling on a train from London which was running a few minutes late and which I had boarded at Truro. As we arrived at St Erth, the branch line train departed.

The branch line train cannot wait for late mainline trains because it is now a twice an hour service which is a tight timetable.

The man I saw in Fore Street (I suspect he is a second homer and a Londoner), began to berate the ticker collector on the branch line train when it arrived. His male companion - closely shaven head, outrageous shorts - joined in. Only their woman companion seemed embarrassed by the inability of this pair to understand why their demand that the branch line train could and should wait for any late mainline trains could not be satisfied.

They informed us all that although they were supporters of public transport, this support might well be withdrawn if they had to wait for trains in Cornwall. (I rather assumed that where they came from, trains were never late).

If the branch line train departs as the mainline train arrives, it is certainly irritating but not quite the end of the world. It means a twenty-five minute wait for the train to return. Of course, if it were to wait it would be late on its return which might mean passengers missing connections to London, Glasgow - anywhere up the line. And that really would be cause for complaint.