Patterns and contrasts between parts of a journey

There seems to be a pattern in my business travel. And a pattern in the facilities, services and standards along the way. Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern?

I'm typically travelling from home - that's within the urban catchment area of a station, but not town / city centre - to another location that can be similarly described (i.e. urban catchment, but not town / city centre). So I would anticipate a symmetry, right?

* From home, Bank Holiday Tuesday - The Spa, in Melksham to Walton Hall Park, Liverpool 9.

1. Bank holiday. Bus to Chippenham - you must be kidding. Only trains were 6 hours earlier than my ideal, or so late that it would be midnight before I got to Liverpool; didn't fancy paying 20 pounds for a taxi, so "pulled in" a favour and got a lift.
2. Train to Bristol Temple Meads; moderately busy, good service. On Time. First Great Western.
3. Train to Stafford. All seats taken, people standing all the way. And this was a long distance service. On Time. Trolley service didn't come through - announced he was in the end of "F" (I think) and people would need to get to him. Cross Country.
4. Train to Liverpool. Lightly loaded 4 car train. Clean, clear announcements. Nice. On time. No refreshments. London Midland.
5. [next morning] Bus to Walton Hall Park. About a 20 minute ride. 1.90; bus clean, driver cheery. Stagecoach.

* From Walton Hall Park, Liverpool 9 to The Spa, Melksham, Friday evening starting at about 17:00

1. Bus to Lime Street, 1.90. About a 10 minute wait. Crowded, but seats available. Bus clean, driver cheery. Stagecoach
2. Train to Birmingham; hadn't checked times, and there was one which left about 10 minutes after I got to Lime Street. Even though this was what I would have expected to be a peak service (17:34), only about half the seats were taken. 4 car, clean, clear announcements. Nice. On time. No refreshments. London Midland.
3. Train to Bristol Temple Meads. There were a couple of seats available, but tight and some people choosing to stand. Chap sitting next to me - bulky, intoxicated, and felt that "no mobile phones in quiet coach" didn't apply to him. Toilet out of service. Trolley came through - but no sandwiches (strange that when they're top of the list on the Cross Country site - http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/Customer_service/Food_and_drink.aspx ) , and trolley was put away at about Parkway. Plymouth passenger who asked for a coffee at this point was told he was too late. On time. Cross Country.
4. Train to Bradford-on-Avon. Arrived from Cardiff on time. Left somewhat late. Slow run to Bath, where we dallied. 23 minutes late in leaving Bath. "Technical problem" according to the conductor who came through to keep us informed (did good job). Overheard comment "don't know what we're going to do beyond Westbury". Fellow passenger enquiring about last Eastleigh connection at Romsey was advised it would probably miss, and to stay on to Southampton central and change there. Train about half full. Clean. No refreshments. First Great Western.
5. Lift again, I'm afraid, for the last 6 miles. Many thanks for collecting me Lisa, and hanging around for half an hour until I arrived The conductor on the Cross Country train had told me that I had missed my last Melksham Connection (he knew "it's one of those places that only has a couple of trains a day"). Had I gone from Bristol to Chippenham, I would have had a long wait in Bristol and missed the last bus from Chippenham by 5 minutes. Could have waited in Bath for well over an hour for the late bus from there, but that hour's my limit. Bus connection from Trowbridge would also have been a long wait for the last bus from there, and would have involved walking with luggage from station to town centre.

Patterns I notice ... although I'm using one example here to illustrate my point, these are patterns from other journeys too.

* I seem to have much more trouble finding services at the time I want to travel at the home end of my journey than the away end.

* It seems that delays are more frequent the nearer to home I get by train.

* Trains are busier in the home area than further away, to the extent that moving a carriage of two off them and onto Bristol area trains would even out the balance.

* If you don't have time to grab something to eat before / after your journey, or at an intermediate change if it's a close connection, it's pretty hit and miss on the train, whatever's advertised.

* Local public transport on the home end is pretty limited and expensive compared to almost anywhere else.

* It's always very crowded from Bristol to Birmingham, and beyond if you stay on the same train.

* On train operations (conductor / train manager) staff are always very helpful these days. Perhaps that's a general change, or perhaps it's because I'm getting older so they treat me differently.