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Another good thing about Belgium is that my employer pays for my season ticket. I have the choice of a parking space at the office or to come by train. Not sure exactly how much I contribute but it is very small and pre-tax. I've talked with people working in other companies and they have...

Interestingly this morning I read the MoD have trademarked "Dambusters" and "617 Squadron". A brand of gin is now no longer able to call it "Dam Busters Gin". Maybe part of a government wide action?

In the old place I used to work we got the option of access to a parking space in the building or an annual season ticket paid by the company. In Belgium it's possible for an employer to offer this pre-tax. I don't like driving into a busy city so always took the season ticket.

Always handy to ask at a hotel reception if you'd forgotten your charger. They typically had a box full of them under the counter.

Some observations from Belgium :- Level boarding is much better in the UK. Here the platform, often just gravel can be very low. Passenger assistance is very good in the UK compared to here. Service frequency is generally much better in the UK. Last trains run much later. Cost me many a taxi to...

Travelling Essen-Brussels with an ICE ticket. Plans changed and we wanted to come home early. Managed to get to Koln on the ICE ticket and then got on a Thalys hoping to wing it. Ticket check and chucked out at Liege. IC train from there home.

Travelling to and from Brussels in 1998 with Eurostar passport checks were done on the train.

Wasn't it the EU power limit that made Dyson come out as Brexiteer and move his operation to Singapore?

That second one is great.

Roosendaal, the first station in the Netherlands after the Belgian border must be a candidate. Wikipedia describes it as a "Border Station".

Yes at the Travel Centre. The ticket machines only had Belgian destinations and it was rather short notice. Thanks for the info.

Interestingly I took the international train from Brussels Central to s-Hertogenbosch (changing at Breda) on Friday. When buying the ticket I was asked for my ID card and my name was printed on the A4 paper ticket. First time that has happened in many years of using that train. It's always been...

A friend lives near a railway line and has a problem with rats, in the garden and sometimes in the house. The track is curved and I think there is a "flange greaser" (it that's the right term) nearby, possibly also points. I once read that rats will eat the grease. Is that correct?

As a child we would travel Bridgend-Brighton via Southampton to visit family (mostly to avoid London I suspect). I remember changing trains somewhere that was felt very rural and remote. Any ideas? Was it Frome or Salisbury?

Does the Croydon Tramlink have any connection to the mainline? Here in Brussels I've seen rail grinders arrive for the STIB Metro and tram system via a mainline connection.

I would recommend a boat trip. I was there two weeks ago and took the sight seeing boat. It goes under the railway bridge which is rather impressive. https://www.k-d.com/de/shop

I always liked the EuroStar departure screens at St P. when they ran specials to a music festival in Belgium. "Tomorrow Land" instead of Brussels or Paris.

Why is potentially useful infrastructure removed? Travelling through France I see many grain farms which still have their own branch lines. Maybe not used for rail transport but that seems like good stuff to keep in place.

No problem with graffiti but phones on speaker is a pet hate. Not sure it's a new thing though. Transistor radios probably started it (1954?). Ghetto blasters in the late seventies.

"PRINCESS ANNE IS ALREADY MARRIED TO VALERIE SINGLETON". :smile: 1651231789 Can you dye concrete before pouring/casting? A new bridge coloured green or brown in a rural setting might not be so obtrusive. Or more interesting in other colours in a city center.