Back from holiday reading

Nature's Engraver - the Life of Thomas Bewick by Jenny Uglow

On the train back to Moffat yesterday, I enjoyed reading 'Nature's Engraver - the Life of Thomas Bewick' by Jenny Uglow see also https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natures-Engraver-Life-Thomas-Bewick/dp/0571223753

It may be of interest to students of Virgin Trains that the 16.30pm from London Euston to Glasgow Central broke down at Preston, so all of us who were going to points north transfered to the 17.15 which came in on an adjoining platform.  Luckily, the 16.30 was not at all busy, so there was plenty of room for us all to sit down.

I have contacted Virgin to congratulate two of their staff who helped me in different ways yesterday. I had put my one £1 coin into a trolley stack to get a trolley, which turned out to be unuseable because one front wheel wasn't working.  By the time I realised it was hopeless, I had wrestled it some distance from its rack, half way up a ramp leading into the station. Just then, two men who struck me as possibly connected with the railway, walked nearby and I called out to ask if that was the case. After a slight hesitation, one of them said yes, he was to do with the railway. He very kindly took the dud trolley and retrieved my £1 coin, and pointed out that there was another rack of trolleys just ahead of me, inside the entrance way to the station.

A little later, I was making my way to my train when I saw my Good Samaritan again: he was the driver of the train!

The second episode was on board the train, when I discovered that my iPad upon which I had been depending on to read the aforementioned Life of Thomas Bewick appeared to have died.  It had worked perfectly well earlier in the day, but now the screen remained stubbornly black.  When the trolley came round, and I had got some stuff for tea, the woman wheeling the trolley said would I like anything else? I replied that I needed someone to fix my iPad.  She said 'John might be able to help', nodding at her fellow team member (with Virgin, it's all about teamwork) at the front end of the trolley. He took my iPad and in a second had it working again.  He explained that sometimes to reset an iPad it is not enough to press the silver bar on the side, you have to press it and the round button on one side of the screen simultaneously.  Wow!!! What service!  And then the train broke down, but never mind, I am getting a refund.