44026 & 42261 – 06:57 & 18:45 Tuesday 1st July

44026 & 42261

Although the train journeys themselves were uneventful and mundane, today was notable for two “firsts” on the Carriage Capture.

Firstly I managed to circumvent the photo taking conundrum which faces me every morning as we reach Paddington.

In order to ensure I get a seat in the mornings and to satisfy my compulsive need to stand on the same bit of platform every day I don’t get the chance to take a photo of the carriage number before boarding. When we pull into Paddington I can either attempt to stop the crushing flow of disembarking busy business people crowding out the door to take the snap and risk a sever tutting at or I have to do what I’ve been doing until now which is double-back on myself and walk half way up the carriage to get the external number shot. This action both wastes time and potentially make me look like a titty spotter knobby.

Today I tried something which for some unknown reason I hadn’t thought about before which was to try to take the photo “on the move” as I squeezed out of the carriage door. So the portrait of 44026 at the top of this post is the “first” ever action shot on the blog. When you consider I’ve normally got the steady hands of a 40 a day alcoholic I’m actually quite delighted with the results.

The second “first” (?) actually happened when I’d already arrived home, thanks to 42261 which was playing the role of Carriage B on the 18:45 to Swansea. The lady who sat next to me on this trip was drinking a bottle of something described on the label as “pink lemonade” although from the colour it could just have easily been a bottle of Windolene.

But the colour of this potion wasn’t as off-putting as the smell which was like strong Red Bull laced with liquid sugar and a large dollop of honey for good measure.

Ever wanting to be the one to share the joys of my commute, I tweeted this happening which was then picked up by some bunch of Snake Oil salesmen who thought they’d try to pique my interest in whatever it is they are peddling this particular week. This led to an amusing exchange of tweets (well I thought it funny anyway) and is the very first time I’d been directly spammed over Twitter.

All in all, an interesting couple of carriages.