Our Winter of Discontent, Update.

The floods have all but abated. Britain mops up, counts the cost and prays that the rains will cease. The land is so sodden that even the smallest rainfall will result in further flooding this winter. Ancient springs, long forgotten, bubble again in unexpected places and dried out old river water courses have renewed their flow. For many the world has changed. Their picturesque riverbank property must now be counted at risk from regular flooding. A once in a lifetime weather phenomenon is now perceived to be an annual occurence and the many thousands of houses built in the past half century on what were old river river flood plains will no longer be accepted as a risk by insurance companies. .

Unfortunately Britain's travel woes have not receded with the floodwaters. The chaos on the railways remains. Railtrack, the company responsible for UK track maintenance and safety must belatedly come to grips with the miles of decayed and cracking track, too long ignored in the interests of shareholders and their dividends. Miles of track across the country are being replaced following the recent catalogue of rail disasters. We are promised some six months of chaotic conditions.

Although the rail companies have published new timetables in the past week, they have done so with the proviso that passengers should expect alterations and cancellations without notice. They point out that because of track maintenance their services have been reduced, cheap fares withdrawn and punctuality prejudiced. horror stories of trains running up to 4 or more hours late are the daily norm on many long distance intercity routes. The Royal Family, staunch supporters of the railways since Queen Victoria first travelled in her custom built royal coach, have had to switch road travel to avoid delays. On Thursday The Queen was due to take the train to Cambridge for a series of official functions. The prospect of up to two hours delay on a normally 45 minute trip did not amuse Her Majesty, who is a stickler for punctuality in her event-packed day of duties. "We did not want to risk disappointing anyone by having to cancel any of the Queen's engagements," a Buckingham Palace spokesman explained.

The promised Holiday Season timetables have still not been published and when they do see the light of day are likely to be severely curtailed for what is normally the railway's busiest time of year.My advice to prospective travellers in the coming months is to not to use rail unless it is absolutely necessary. As an alternative I have taken to National Express Coaches, Britain's major bus network covering some 1200 UK destinations daily.

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