Train Chat

[french frank]

Ιὠε ξθστ φινισηεδ τρανσψριβινγ Oops! I've just finished transcribing my 'travel journals' of a trip I took to Graubünden years ago - 4 small notebooks which are more or less a running commentary on using my Swiss Pass on the Rhätischebahn, preceded by a stay in Salzburg and finishing in Locarno. It starts with leaving Dover Harbour on a Seacat, travelling by overnight train and Postbus through Switzerland, drinking Williams pear liqueur on the Glacier Express. Main concerns were how to wash and dry clothes, buying food - mainly at the Coop (just like home, there, then), hotels I stayed in and their breakfasts, concerts (in Salzburg and Chur), people I talked to. And embarrassing occasions.

Never seen any of Portillo's programmes - do you think we'd get on, or would he be a cut above me? Anyway, this was train travel at its most glorious.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ιὠε ξθστ φινισηεδ τρανσψριβινγ Oops! I've just finished transcribing my 'travel journals' of a trip I took to Graubünden years ago - 4 small notebooks which are more or less a running commentary on using my Swiss Pass on the Rhätischebahn, preceded by a stay in Salzburg and finishing in Locarno. It starts with leaving Dover Harbour on a Seacat, travelling by overnight train and Postbus through Switzerland, drinking Williams pear liqueur on the Glacier Express. Main concerns were how to wash and dry clothes, buying food - mainly at the Coop (just like home, there, then), hotels I stayed in and their breakfasts, concerts (in Salzburg and Chur), people I talked to. And embarrassing occasions.

Never seen any of Portillo's programmes - do you think we'd get on, or would he be a cut above me? Anyway, this was train travel at its most glorious.

No, definitely the other way around, ff - or at least, he'd be half-cut.

[Dave2002]

No, definitely the other way around, ff - or at least, he'd be half-cut.

Not sure that's fair sa. MP's programmes are actually some of the better things on TV these days, though some of the ones on C5 would probably not get onto BBC. The one about the Military hospital was very informative, but utterly grim. I do enjoy the train programmes - ff should give them a tryout. Pink and yellow jackets (not the French ones - gilets jaunes) are in - too IIRC.

[french frank]

I do enjoy the train programmes - ff should give them a tryout.

If they're on DVD, I now have a new CD drive (thanks for the suggestions, chaps) for the Macbook, but since I gave away all my DVDs when I had no CD/DVD drive I suspect I would find alternative things to spend money on.

But I will absolutely take it on trust that his programmes are very good, interesting and extremely enjoyable. By 'a cut above me', I meant that I thought he wouldn't be travelling in 2nd class couchettes and carting all his possessions in a rucksack (not to mention buying his picnic food in a Coop) …

[Dave2002]

By 'a cut above me', I meant that I thought he wouldn't be travelling in 2nd class couchettes and carting all his possessions in a rucksack (not to mention buying his picnic food in a Coop) …

Actually he does sometimes go 2nd class I think.

Still don't fancy having a TV then?

The DVDs are probably a reasonable alternative - and would work with your computer. Are there any public libraries which have these?
Libraries seem to be gradually losing all that kind of interesting stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Railway-Journeys-1-4/dp/B00KATQP3M

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Continental-Railways-Journeys-DVD/dp/B0727YNZX1/ref=pd_sim_74_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0727YNZX1&pd_rd_r=f9e764a5-18d6-11e9-a845-afc73383a799&pd_rd_w=Px9eX&pd_rd_wg=bmOk8&pf_rd_p=1e3b4162-429b-4ea8-80b8-75d978d3d89e&pf_rd_r=XRPCZ75HE4WRD9DRE8VW&psc=1&refRID=XRPCZ75HE4WRD9DRE8VW

[french frank]

Actually he does sometimes go 2nd class I think.

Ah, but couchettes?

Still don't fancy having a TV then?

Not really a convenient time to watch. In the daytime I'm doing things and in the evenings I have things I'd rather do that sit in front of a television. I love travelling around by train for days on end: I'm not sure that I would be as interested in watching someone else doing it …

[Serial_Apologist]

Not sure that's fair sa. MP's programmes are actually some of the better things on TV these days, though some of the ones on C5 would probably not get onto BBC. The one about the Military hospital was very informative, but utterly grim. I do enjoy the train programmes - ff should give them a tryout. Pink and yellow jackets (not the French ones - gilets jaunes) are in - too IIRC.

Fair enough Dave. I just feel like sticking it into any well-established Tory these days!

[oddoneout]

I would dearly love to be able to watch the Portillo programmes as I like the travelogue format, and have tried on occasion but sadly I cannot get past my extreme aversion to the man himself. Nothing to do with anything he may or may not have done, or even his manner particularly, I just find something about his face makes me too uncomfortably queasy to be able to get through more than a few minutes; goes back many many years.
I have tried a couple of Chris Tarrant's efforts(Extreme Rail Journeys or some such) but he is so wooden and seems to have problems interacting with the folk he meets along the way, his delivery is stilted, and the verbal content often seems to have been inexpertly cut and pasted and is further mangled by the ends of sentences getting lost on occasion. A pity because there is a rich seam of interest there - the gauge changing shed on last night's programme from Spain was a real eye-opener, and the section on the Rio Tinto mine site was mind-boggling - I wasn't aware, or perhaps had forgotten since schooldays, that the company began in Spain.

[Dave2002]

Chacun ....

I'm not sure that MP is such a strong Tory these days, and he appears to be an intelligent man with well thought out ways of presenting the material. He also seems to like trains. Perhaps he should be coupled with Lord Adonis!

There's always Joanna Lumley.

Which was the programme on last night? Was it on C5? I saw one with CT recently about trains in Morocco.

[vinteuil]

Chacun ....


There's always Joanna Lumley.

... and Simon Reeve, who I still find watchable, even on repeated viewings. We're currently re-visiting his Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer.

.

[jayne lee wilson]

I've only ever been on it once. I had a window seat which did not coincide with a window and a bloke next to me engrossed in reading something and did not speak. Probably the most boring train journey I've ever had. I plan to concentrate on the TER trains which don't need reservations. And usually nice big open carriages.

Best train ever: Railjet, Vienna to Salzburg, 2009 (actually, I see it was Budapest to Vienna)

I feel sad about my dietary restrictions seeing a photo like this. It looks amazing... Sumptuous...almost dinner-sized to me...I could manage some of the bacon (smearing some butter over it), and the coffee, sadly not the croissant or the bread....
BTW, what is that, lying across the bacon?

[oddoneout]

I feel sad about my dietary restrictions seeing a photo like this. It looks amazing... Sumptuous...almost dinner-sized to me...I could manage some of the bacon (smearing some butter over it), and the coffee, sadly not the croissant or the bread....
BTW, what is that, lying across the bacon?

Coeliac Jayne? You have my sympathies. I'm assuming it's cheese on the ham(not bacon). I've just noticed that it says "teebutter" on the packet - what's that about, anyone know?

[oddoneout]

Chacun ....
Which was the programme on last night? Was it on C5? I saw one with CT recently about trains in Morocco.

Monday night C5 9pm.

[vinteuil]

I've just noticed that it says "teebutter" on the packet - what's that about, anyone know?

wiki may perhaps help here :

"Die Bezeichnung „Teebutter“ für die höchste Qualitätsstufe gibt es seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Im Einklang mit der damaligen Orthographie lautete die ursprüngliche Schreibung „Theebutter“. Als Terminus des Codex Alimentarius Austriacus, des Österreichischen Lebensmittelbuches, ist sie als wörtliche Übersetzung aus dem Deutschen auch in mehreren anderen Sprachen der ehemaligen Habsburgermonarchie belegt: tschechisch čajové máslo, slowakisch čajové maslo, ungarisch teavaj, slowenisch čajno maslo und kroatisch čajni maslac. Die genaue Herkunft des Begriffs ist unklar, sie geht aber vermutlich auf die Sitte des Nachmittagstees im englischen Stil zurück, der als Ausdruck besonders feiner Lebensart galt und zu dem Teegebäck und Butter in feinem Teeporzellan gereicht wurden. Vergleichbare Bezeichnungen für besonders hochwertige Lebensmittel sind beispielsweise Teebäckerei und Teewurst. Es kursieren auch viele andere anekdotische bzw. volksetymologische Herleitungen. So soll die Abkürzung „Tee“ für „Teschener erzherzögliche“ Butter gestanden haben (nach einer Molkerei in Teschen), eine Variante davon ist die Behauptung, dass 1890 bei einer kaiserlichen Tafel Butter mit der Aufschrift T.E.A. für „Teschen Erzherzog Albrecht“ Verwendung gefunden haben soll, woraus in Anlehnung an das englische Wort Tea die Teebutter entstanden wäre. Historische Belege gibt es dafür keine, vielmehr sind diese Erklärungen erst im Nachhinein aufgekommen. In Anklang an das Wort Teebutter entstand jedoch der österreichische Markenname Thea für die seit 1923 in Wien-Atzgersdorf hergestellte Margarine.

[french frank]

I feel sad about my dietary restrictions seeing a photo like this. It looks amazing... Sumptuous...almost dinner-sized to me...I could manage some of the bacon (smearing some butter over it), and the coffee, sadly not the croissant or the bread....
BTW, what is that, lying across the bacon?

Blimey, JLW - where did you dig that up from? They are (or were - I ate them ) slices of cheese, by the way. And not bacon but cold ham. I have probably eaten tastier ham and tastier cheese, but I wasn't going to grumble. And, by a coincidence, I was just reading about that very journey in another notebook this morning: all details lovingly reported . Soon to be transcribed.

And to prove it:

"Saturday 16 May [2009]

What is there to be said? I am aboard ÖBB's Rail Jet service from Budapest to Munich. This is such a new train that even the Economy (2nd) class looks and feels luxurious. It is comfortable, roomy and not too crowded. The seat booking was about £3 and as my ticket has been inspected it seems there was no supplement to be paid. The information boards are even more informative than the Kraków-Warsaw train: including maps (3 sizes), details of all stops with scheduled and estimated TAs. Top speed so far has been 160kph. All very smooth. I had breakfast in the bistro (too early for the hotel): warm roll, cheese, ham, fresh croissant - and a (real) cup of coffee. All excellent."