Poetry Corner

This just in from Clarence Spad...

ON THE DEPARTURE OF A CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Lines written in the style of John Betjeman who, if he were alive today, would be most welcome at Reading Station.

Shades of Brunel, Gooch, Stephenson look on most pleased
As a wealthy little man from his job’s released
In canteen, depot, lineside hut hearts are lighter
Grizzled men pass the message ‘They’ve ditched the blighter’

But passing joy is set against a high price paid
Good people gone, a real chance of change delayed
The windy rhetoric of false targets, world class
Are the long, dark nightmare that must quickly pass

So now’s the chance for a Network Rail resurgent
With bold leaders enlightened, vital, urgent
To ensure that when there is no more oil to burn
The age of the train will rightly return.

We also hear that the popular railtour from Reading to Iainland has been cancelled at very short notice and without explanation.

Applications for refunds to the organisers, World Class Railway-tours, have been met by a curt direction that Network Rail will sort out and pay what is necessary once international benchmarking is complete.