Grumpy Git

If Wildsmith is the shooter, your money is safe.

Just crossing the 22.....

Can't defend that. Smith substitution was madness.

Vedi Napoli e poi muori?

After walking from the station/town centre to the ground last season (and back), it's not somewhere I'm in any rush to return to, so there's one extra ticket up for grabs. Not so much the distance, more the general dilapidation en-route and horrendous pub (note the singular) near the ground.

Stop talking sense. 😬 One of the reasons I've 'enjoyed' L1, is that all weekend games are Saturday 3.00 p.m. kick-offs. So almost every game is a good day out on the train. 🍻 Championship not so bad, but you can stuff the Prem for me unless its a Saturday 3 p.m. KO time.

You do realise that a lot of 'peak' train fares are priced to actively discourage us great unwashed to use them? I also take issue with the term 'politically motivated strikes'. I'd say not having a pay rise in 3 or 4 years with inflation at 10%+ (and more for food) has f*** all to do with politics. The TOC's (under the guise of the Ministry of Transport, but say it quietly) is also trying to change the drivers T&C's such that they can change their shift start/end time by +/- SIX hours at short notice (I believe its current +/- three hours). For balance, I've no connection whatsoever to the rail industry, any union or a political party, I'd just like to see a more even society, where the boss doesn't earn the bog cleaners entire wage by lunchtime on 2nd January.

I've gone from spending my first 25 odd years in a very rural environment in the middle of the Peak District to the last 30 in a city with fantastic public transport, (arguably the best in England outside London). I do miss the countryside, but I'd miss the convenience of not being able to hop on a train at the drop of a hat to get anywhere without having to drive at all, a lot more.

Do you know about Group Save (not a lot of poeple do)? https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/group-save/

With a "Two together" railcard, my journey would still be no more expensive than driving just taking fuel into account, (without any parking charges).

I should have added, my Old Grumpy Gits Senior Railcard makes a big difference (-34% discount). I've also got a great local rail service and free off-peak travel (trains and buses) for all over 60's in our area, which helps a lot.

Driving to Derby and back (~200 miles) would cost me about £33 in fuel and say £5 parking. Train fare (split tickets) off peak is ~£17 return, plus as much beer as my bladder can take.

Apologies CBR, it was not aimed at you, but I admit it did come across like that. 😳

Utch, as I pointed-out in my earlier post, when Covid struck, the government guaranteed the TOC's (Train Operating Companies) income, by paying them a set amount, with ALL the money from ticket sales now going directly to the government instead of the TOC. So the TOC's don't give a feck whether the train has one passenger or is packed, they get the same either way, thus have absolutely ZERO incentive to put on extra carriages. Privatise the profits and nationalise the losses. Covid has made a few Tory donors extremely wealthy via varoius routes. Another bugbear of mine is the term 'customer', it's just marketing bullcarp, we're passengers FFS. 😡

Good colours this game, the ones in gold are beating the ones in white and Derby are neither of them. Shades of 1972.

Going well ATM. 👍🏻

You also need a license to watch ITV. If you think the license fee is a 'rip-off', try watching foreign TV sometime. It'll make your eyes bleed.

Strikes are not the reason that the 'normal' rail service is rubbish though. Since Covid, the government just paid the train operating companies a fixed amount to run the trains, so their income is now guaranteed whether the train is full or empty (the government now gets 100% of ticket sales revenue). Hence they don't really give a stuff about what service they provide. Avanti has been totally crap since they took over Virgin, but they still got a new contract. It also makes me 'smile' when people suggest train drivers are out of order going on strike because (to paraphrase) 'they all on £65,000/year and are just greedy barstards'. What has salary got to do with the right to strike or not? MP's are on £86,500/year and I would trust the majority of those to tie their own shoelaces.

Night games are the worst if like me, you live 100+ miles from Derby. Basically a non-starter.

And Spurs 48 years ago.

Anyone wanna buy my Dwight Gayle debut ticket? £5k, collect from Barnsley station on Saturday.

Let's be honest, the "haves" have been able to convince at least 45% of their serfs to vote for them since Adam was a lad, (we've almost reverted back to the feudal system).

You didn't get the memo then?

But we have a plan and the plan is working......

Off topic, but at the rate the pitch at PP is deteriorating, we'll be able to rename the stadium back to the BBG soon. It's in a bloody awful state