Transpennine Distress

Well, what can I say about the Transpennine Express or Distress as I like to call it. Its quite possibly the worst train in the world and I'm including the trains we have all seen in India as part of the Railway Children documentary. The Manchester to Newcastle return trip is just dreadful.

Not only is it dreadful, but the people who represent the company make the journey that extra bit special by adding to the depression.

Whilst this is my overall opinion, I actually enjoyed my recent 5am train to Newcastle on 13th July. I sat in front of 2 people who appeared to be Lawyers or Solicitors who were working on a Murder case - This certainly made the journey a pleasant one as the intrigue behind their deliberations, their thoughts and framework of questions they were mulling over increased and got me hooked, at least until they got off at York that is.

However the journey then perked up again when I suddenly realised that I had Superman hearing as if I had tuned my ears into everything that was going on around me and this amazed me. It amazed me as I was absolutely shocked at what some people share in public, whether on amobile phone, in conversation with people next to them and in most parts its not discreetly.

Here is an insight into what I heard:

• I heard a young ladies full credit card number, expiry date, name and security code as she booked something over the phone.
• I leant how much a lady who really should have been passed this type of activity enjoyed her Oral sex last night through her school girl giggles.
• A businessman sharing sales information and numbers which he said was not to go any further until they had released their numbers to the city, yet it was clear who he worked for, its was clear they were struggling and he openly talked about redundancies and how this would affect all areas of the country. All this information was supposed to be confidential - However, I know at least 3 people who work for the company he was talking about and I'm sure most of you would know at least one person who worked for the company.
• There is of course the Murder Case I heard details of, however, the lawyers had more sense than to mention names and were quite professional, however, this was still very interesting.

There were many more little insights into the people I heard but will stick with the above, it certainly kept me occupied. So next time your on a train, sit back, relax, and zone in on your hearing it will make any Transpennine express journey much more enjoyable and you'll be amazed at what you hear and learn about complete strangers, it certainly made up for me forgetting my Ipod.