Railway Garden Competition - Leicester

This from Fiona Gail...


Perhaps the Colas tamper is a lawn mower in disguise.

New hospitality rules at the DfT

A mournful DfT internal email has reached the Eye.

It reminds those toiling in the Marsham Street bunker that:

The general presumption will be that we do not provide anything other than water for meetings.

If, there are exceptional circumstances and you do want to provide refreshments please drop me a note...

But, the likelihood is that I will still have to say no.

Grim times indeed.

And how will the Department function without regular caffeine fixes?

One piece of good news - there are several cafes immediately below Great Minster House.

So expect to see a queue of muttering mandarins stocking up on pre-meeting beverages.

And how enterprising of the cafe owners to offer lobbyists and hacks debentures on the seats nearest the tills...

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.

Pointless Signs - Leeds City Station

Eye salutes East Coast for positioning these so that passengers in a hurry have to negotiate a chicane when attempting to exit the station.