HAVING read your columns regarding delays on the rail network and the excuses/explanations given, I would like to make a simple observation
Nearly 60 years ago, I was given a picture book illustrating the seasons of the year. Spring showed daffodils and lambs gambolling in the fields; summer showed a beach, donkey rides and sandcastles. Autumn depicted the leaves falling off the trees, and winter the snow falling.
The latter two of these occur every year and are not new phenomena. Yet "leaves on the line" and "the wrong sort of snow" are trotted out by the conglomeration of organisations which replaced British Rail each time the service grinds to a halt.
Does New England have leaves on the line? Does Switzerland have snow in winter? You bet they do, but they know it is going to happen and make contingency plans. Our leaves and snow come as an annual surprise, but any child with a similar picture book to mine could predict what would happen in autumn and winter!
Margaret E Clare
Bolton
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