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Twittering on With Angela Kelly Just get on with life – don’t dissect it I’M not a major fan of New Year Resolutions – mostly because my track record means I hardly ever keep them beyond January 12.
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However, I’m going to make an exception this year, thanks to a rather game 90 year-old called Vera. She booked an 11-day P & O cruise with a 91 year-old man she had met just 45 minutes before. She was on a coach trip and when they stopped for lunch, this charmer called John – not with her group – got chatting to Vera over a glass of wine about holidays. The upshot was that he took her over the road to the travel agents and paid £3,700 for them to have an 11-day Mediterranean trip.
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It was all above board: they had separate beds and enjoyed a lovely time. But the really interesting bit of this rather sweet tale is Vera’s take on the whole thing. When asked why she had done it, she replied: “I would say to people ‘Seize the day’.” Coming from a feisty 90 year-old, that is good advice. In other words, don’t waste too much time pondering over everything – just get on with living. Now that will mean different things to different people. To the adventurous, it might mean going travelling for a year, sailing right around the British Isles, finally getting a tattoo or changing your hair colour – or your husband. It might be something much less dramatic like taking a new work qualification, starting a particular hobby you’ve always been interested in or booking that longed-for sunshine holiday. Whatever it is, the message is clear. Life is just too short to worry too much
about the small stuff. So why not grab it by the horns and simply enjoy it? And the interesting postscript to Vera’s story is that John asked her to go on holiday with him again – to the Caribbean. Our Vera, though, has other plans. “I just haven’t got the time to waste,” she stated. “I could pop off tomorrow – I’ve got things to do.” Just love it!
Old stations and routes could be back on track THE name “Dr Beeching” may not mean much these days but at one time it was synonymous with the destruction of the Great British Railway as we knew it. Richard Beeching was, for a short time, chairman of British Rail as it then was and an affiliate of the Labour Party who, in the early 1960s, became a household name for restructuring the national rail network. His “axe” fell on more than 4,000 route miles and dozens of small stations were closed on cost and efficiency grounds. His name has been back in the papers more recently because the current Government is suggesting re-opening some of these lost lines and stations in order to drive house-building nationally. Irrespective of any political motives, this seems like a fascinating move to me and, I would guess, to many other people who love train travel. It’s such a sensible way to move through this country of ours, seeing villages and towns in a relaxed way that driving can never offer. Of course, it won’t be like in Dr Beeching’s day. Trains and train travel have altered dramatically in the intervening years. Although trains are generally more comfortable, a lack of investment and rolling stock has also meant that some busy commuter routes
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