Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/article/6918/19-experiences-you-only-have-a-long-train-journey/?


Which do you closely identify with??

I noticed this article earlier (which also has links to other ones such as cycling to work and travelling on the tube) and must admit I identify with quite a few of them although I would change no.4 to 'it must be nice living there'

I think I can identify with most, even the shameful sloping off to the toilet when ticketless. A long time ago mind. Now I only slope off to the toilet when needs must. Even then I still feel guilty doing so if the call of my bladder coincides with the appearance of a guard/conductor/TM. There might actually be some Pavlovian response going on there - I see a guard and my bladder reacts.

I know where Retford is in relation to other ECML stations, but I'd struggle to pinpoint it on a map.

Being shaky legged after 8 pints of San Miguel (other ethanol infused beverages are available) when on terra firma is difficult to deal with. However, when on a train I find that the shaky legs and the train's lateral movement cancel each other out. Alcohol is an effective motion damper.

I'm the opposite unless travelling with my kids, then this is applicable. If I am travelling alone I avoid table seats as I don't like strangers then sitting with me and footsy with strangers doesn't appeal to me.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of some members here, I agree: I'm quite happy, when travelling alone, to find an empty airline seat. Why do I need a table in front of me?  ;) :D ;D

It all depends on whether you want to use a laptop and how long your arms are.  In may case if I try and use a laptop in the airline type seats I can only use the top two rows on the keyboard.  Just a bit restrictive!

Rather kills the argument that trains are more productive because you can work on them!

When I do not need to use he laptop I am fine with airline type seats.

Not sure what you mean by length of arms. The issue with laptops (and with most 'airline-style' seating for me) as far as I can see is legroom (or seat pitch, not sure which is the more-appropriate metric in this case).

I find that it is impossible to fully open a laptop screen in the standard seating on most buses. The top of the laptop lid will connect with the back of the seat in front before you have managed to fully open it. This is still a problem if you sit squiffy (taking up most of the space intended for the legs of a passenger sitting next to you) to find more space for your knees, as one top corner of the laptop screen will normally still hit the seat back in front. This makes the provision of WiFi on those vehicles seem a little futile to me. I don't mind 'airline-style' seating if the legroom is sufficient to accomodate my legs, which should also be enough to open a laptop. Unfortunately, I've only ever encounted such legroom (other than at a handful of 'priority seats' per vehicle in some cases) on two buses (YJ55BKE and YJ55BKF) and class 175 trains.

Lack of legroom in 'airline-style' seating is the main reason I prefer to find a table bay on trains, as there is at least space for my knees in table bays. I rarely travel alone, which helps avoid the stranger sitting opposite problem.

When my elbows are pressed against the seat back by my side my fingers cannot reach the front few rows of keys. 


I get this problem even when I can get my legs in the gap between the seats.

I use a MacBook (for my sins) and find that neither type of seat works for me - the airline seats don't give me room to get the laptop out and easy to use, while the sockets at the table seats are too close to the table and I can't fit the plug in the socket...

(First world problems anybody?)

Welcome to the forum, fairysdad. I find myself selecting seats based on the laptop I'll be using - or vice versa.  Indeed a first world problem! 

I know what you mean about the MacBook power cable - did you know you can get a plug with a cable to plug into the power supply, as well as a plug that directly attaches and causes these clearance problems?

I know not to whom you could possibly be referring  ;D

Wow, been a member for a while, didn't realise that was my first post!

I did know about the cables; my long one is usually permanently sited on my desk where it's snaked through by the wall so isn't that easy to grab, so I usually quickly pick up the direct plug one as it's easier to get to. If I think about it enough, I'll pick up one of the myriad random figure-8 leads I have lying around. Not a huge fan of trailing cables as a whole though, so will generally pray that the battery will last! (still got a good battery life though even though it's getting on a bit now, still better than the ten minutes you usually get with a non-Apple laptop the same sort of age!)