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Etruria 3

Got a reply from my MP the other day. Enclosed was a letter from Tom Harris, Minister responsible for rail.

The work to upgrade the track in the vicinity of the now closed Etruria station, including removal of the platform, is currently planned by Network Rail to commence in late 2007. This is part of the work to upgrade the West Coast Main Line in time for further improvements to be made to services, with effect from December 2008.

Far from neglecting the provision of train services at Stoke-on-Trent and indeed the wider catchment area, there have been substantial improvements. There are two trains an hour towards Birmingham, a further half hourly service to and from London and four services an hour to and from Manchester. The area now receives an excellent range of inter-city and inter-regional services, providing the scope, for example, to attract further inward investment.

The proposed West Midlands franchise will also contain the provision of a new hourly semi fast service between London and Crewe, via Stoke-on-Trent. This will provide new journey opportunities and further enhance the quality of public transport for the area.

A considerable amount of investigatory work was carried out by the then Strategic Rail Authority and Rail Passengers Committee along with the local authorities, in connection with the closure of Etruria station.

All relevant issues concerning its potential value were considered and given the objective of making best use of the railway, there was no case to retain this lightly used facility.

 What rubbish! So I've written back.

With regards to the letter you received from Mr. Harris, and forwarded to me, it still appears that the DfT have no real interest in, or appreciation of, our area.
The removal of the remains of Etruria station and the realignment of the track will make no real gains to the people of North Staffordshire.
Trains will still have to slow down before they reach Stoke and the extra acceleration gained when travelling North will be negligible.
The proposed new semi fast service between Crewe and London via North Staffordshire is an interesting and exciting one. However, as I understand it, the service would not start until at least 2009 (a long time to wait for a train!). It is proposed that it would stop at Alsager, Kidsgrove and Stoke but not Longport (Longport, is of course, the nearest and most accessible station to a lot of people in the Borough). This is particularly relevant to the service level at Longport which with its present level of dilapidation and lack of promotion, not to mention Travellers camps, is rapidly going the way of Etruria!
As I wrote in my previous letter, it is very difficult to travel Northbound without going to all the extra inconvenience of going to Stoke first.
I hope the Minister can be made aware of these irregularities and that he will be in a position to make public rail services in our area improve.

My MP does seem supportive, so I'll just have to wait and see…………|-)

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Remember

 
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

 
Wilfred Owen 1893 – 1918 
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Cub Camp

Well, I have to admit, I really enjoyed myself this weekend! That was the first camp I’ve been on for ages I’ve enjoyed.
I think it was because I wasn’t in charge and I wasn’t continually having to tell the kids what to do. The last few Scout camps I did were hell because the kids had to be constantly supervised as they hadn’t got a clue! They just didn’t have any idea how to do simple things like cooking beans, washing dishes etc.!

Also, although it was cold, I didn’t freeze to death!

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London

We went to London for a few days over half term. Apart from the fact that it was full of kids (surprise….), I'd forgotten how rude, ignorant and generally up themselves the general population of London are (there are exceptions, my family (!) and their neighbours among them).
People try to charge on a Tube train before people have got off, look really upset if someone has to sit by them and are generally only concerned about themselves. No one else matters really!
One thing that made me want to laugh and scream at the same time was when I took my uncle and aunt to the railway station (that's RAILWAY and NOT TRAIN station!), I was turning round to come back on myself at a roundabout, with indicators flashing and got hooted by some smug git in an Jaguar! Now I had right of way, was doing the right things, but his inconvenience was my fault!
London is a nice place to visit, but it's nice to be home.
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I Hate Computers!

Which is a bit silly really as they’re my job!

Last week I had a hard drive failure on my main machine at work. For various reasons this took me nearly two days to fix. Then the new Mac notebook we’ve recently had keeps turning itself off for no reason and now I’ve just installed the security software on my nice new spangly laptop and that’s killed it totally!

GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

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Helpers 3

For some reason (not complaining though), the Senticomic published my press release about us needing leaders for the Scout Group again. They did manage to mangle it again!

Total number of phone calls ZERO, none, nothing! So thanks people of North Staffordshire, that confirms what I've thought for a while, no-one cares about anything but themselves! 

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Blackpool

We went Blackpool yesterday to see the lights. I'd forgotten what a dump it is! It's filled with people whose idea of a good time is getting as pissed as possible as quick as possible. In fact the only things its got going for it are the Illuminations and the trams! Trouble is the tram system needs loads of money throwing at it.
 
To be fair, the promenade is having a lot of work done to it to make it look nicer and also to help with sea defences. It will look good once it is done. All they have to do is start rebuilding on the other side of the road!
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Etruria again

Just sent this letter to my MP about Etruria station. It's a year tomorrow since it was closed and nothing has happened- surprise……

Dear Paul Farrelly,

It is a year tomorrow that Mr. Derek Twigg in his then job as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport closed Etruria railway station. This was despite the fact that the public inquiry's report stated that it be kept open and was contrary to local opinion and needs. The given reason was that the track was to be aligned to 'increase speeds for through trains and so deliver shorter journey times benefiting passengers'.
Since the hasty closure, the track has not been aligned and the only thing to happen to the station was the removal of the station furniture in June. In fact I am sure that Virgin Trains passengers were glad that the station was there a few months ago when a train failed in the station and the passengers were able to easily leave the train!

All this highlights the Department for Transports lack of interest in the railways and public transport in general in North Staffordshire. The current consultancy document on the future of the rail franchises in this area states that a local service from Stoke to Stafford will not be restarted until 2009!
An example of how stupid things have become is if I want to travel by train to Manchester. This should be the easiest, quickest and most environmentally sensible way to get there. I could walk to the bus stop in May Bank, catch a bus to Longport (making the assumption that Etruria is now totally out of the question) and then catch a train to Manchester. I could the make exactly the same return journey.
Except I can't. There are two trains from Longport to Manchester in the morning at 06.50 and 07.20 and one returning at night at 17.58. Not exactly helpful or convenient.
Instead I have to got to Stoke to catch a train. Stoke is in the opposite direction to where I would be going, it is also time consuming to get there on public transport (bus to Newcastle or Hanley and then on to Stoke), takes a long time to drive there (whether the improvements to the A500 make a difference remain to be seen) and there is nowhere to park unless you want to pay £5 to park on Virgin's car park. The other options are to get someone to take you there and back, which adds to the congestion and pollution or get a taxi which is expensive. All to make a journey which should be relativity easy!

I hope you will be able the speak to Mr. Tom Harris, Mr. Twigg's successor, to find out what, if anything the DfT are planning to do about this disgraceful situation in the immediate future. As you know, Newcastle and North Staffordshire is slowly grinding to a halt and no-one in Government seems interested!

Yours sincerely,

I guess I'll get a polite reply, but nothing will happen. The Government and the DfT especially aren't interested in my area!
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Broadband

Grrrrrrr!

Since July my internet connection has been playing up. This was after a supposed speed upgrade. I placed a call to my suppliers and it still isn't fixed! Even worse their LLU supplier has now killed off my connection completely. If they went any slower fix it, they'd be going backwards!
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Politics

I've been thinking how it would be interesting to become a Councillor on our Borough Council.

The only problem is that I don't want to become involved in Party Politics. There seems to be too much squabbling going on and a lack of cooperation between the Councillors because they are in one party or another – Labour seem particularly bad at this at the moment! 

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Helpers

Why is it people say that they will help out with Scouts, sound really interested and enthusiastic and then suddenly drop out?

I've had this happen 4 times this year and it's starting to get annoying. Either you want to help or you don't, just don't string people along!