Cortese's Corner - The Off-Topic Chat Thread

Nah, Japan signed their surrender all right. It was in the papers. There's plenty of pictures of Hirohito signing the surrender, but I've not seen this pic before.

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Now you may have something there, GBS. I could have easily got that info off QI.

 

You'd also know that UK v Finland was the last time two democratic nations were at war. Apparently.

 

South West Trains taking an absolute battering in today's press: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wo...esponse-ever-to-a-pregnant-womans-plight.html

Forced a pregnant woman to sit on the floor because there were no seats and she felt like she needed to sit down, because she was not allowed into the empty first class carriage.

What on earth were the other people on the train doing, by the way? I do pity some people, could no one give up their seat for her?

 

The people who refused to give their seat up disgust me the most in this.

 

It's probably fair to say that only half a dozen, to a dozen, people were probably aware of the woman's plight. The ridiculous thing is that the 1st class compartment was off limits. The train companies could operate a policy that if 1st class compartments are empty, then needy 2nd class passengers could use them temporarily. Surely, that is not beyond the wit of train schedulers, plus it would be worth the PR, and it would hardly ever be utilised.

 

If the train is full then I tend to sit in First Class these days, sod them. I have the attitude that if they're not capable of providing an adequate number of seats for the journey that has been paid for, then I'll take my bottom elsewhere, whether they like it or not. I'm sure there's some small print somewhere saying that the ticket price doesn't guarantee a seat on the train, but more than happy to argue that point with any inspector.

Disclaimer - I'm not suggesting everyone do this (or there'd be no room for me.....)

 

That's because SWT trains are ****.

But less **** than others.

Seen the Which survey results?

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Surprised Worst Great Western are so high tbh.

Btw, does anyone know another word/phrase for present, as in presenting on a particular topic? Dictionary.com is not helping!

 

Can confirm First Capital Connect is absolute horseshit.

 

I second that.

 

Deliver? As in, Person X is going to deliver a talk on the subject of... Y.

 

Southeastern are ****ing dreadful. Wooo, go C2C.

 

Possibly, thanks. How can I make it sound like it took place more than once?

Delivered talks on....

Delivered.... something.

 

Expound.

 

A series of

 

Yep, for example... "the representative from the organisation delivered a series of talks on (subject X)"

 

That's my attitude also. In the days of empowered responsible employees and a packed 2nd class, I remember on occasion quietly asking an inspector if I could sit in an empty 1st class compartment until it was occupied. The jerk of the head in the direction of the compartment would tell me everything. Nowadays the human touch is largely absent.

 

Ticket inspectors can be some of the biggest 'little Hitler types' going. I had one massively try and chuck his weight around with me once.

Luckily, I came out on top in this one.

 

Once I was on the train from Shawford to Winchester at around 8am when the train was packed. It is around 3 minutes journey. I sat in First Class as there was nowhere else to go. A few seconds later the guard steamed in and said anyone without a first class ticket to get out. He approached me and I noticed he didn't have his ticket issuing machine with him so I told him I'd like to upgrade so he had to go back to his little compartment to issue a new ticket. By the time he realised I was getting off at Winchester I was off the train. Dickhead.

 

Haha, brilliant.