Rail Cards
As husband and I are using trains more often, I decided it was time to get a Senior Railcard. We are due to travel soon, so I thought I’d combine the two. Off I went to the Railcard site. Ah, I thought, lets have a look at discount vouchers first. So I had a look on Quidco
and a voucher one. Although discounts were showing, they had all expired, so back I went to Railcard. I decided to go for the 3 year one, and although we usually do travel together, there are occasions where we don’t, so I got one each. If you have a joint one, both of you have to travel together for the whole journey. Estimated delivery time was at least a week after our trip was due to happen.
Then off to Trainline to get the tickets. I had seen the ‘must have your railcards to buy tickets’, but thought it would be alright as I had the email showing I had bought them. Having got the tickets, the email said that I had to use the actual rail cards when getting the tickets from the machine. Bum.
On the phone to Trainline, no we can’t change your tickets, we can only cancel them, try Railcard. On the phone to Railcard, no we can’t change your order to get them next day, we could cancel them, and you could get a Railcard from the train station. Back to Railcard, ok, save your receipt from the train station rail card purchase and send it with a covering letter to us and we’ll cancel your rail cards with us.
Ok, sorted, that’s what I’ll do then, whilst feeling a bit anxious about the whole thing and that far from saving us money, I’m going to cost us. And this morning, what should turn up in the post but the Railcards. Hooray! All sorted then, panic over.
These are well worth getting. We got the Senior Railcard for over 60’s and we’ll save a third of each rail fare. At £70 each for 3 years, that’s a lot of rail tickets, but this saved us £15.90 on this trip alone, so it won’t take long to get that back, and then we’ll be saving properly. There are many other variants of rail card you can get to save on your fares, family ones, group ones and student ones for instance. Have a look and see if you can save anything.
Dave Gilmour
Last night, I went to see one of my favourite musicians. Dave Gilmour, of Pink Floyd, played at Pompeii a couple of years ago, reproducing a concert that the original Floyd played decades ago.
It was weird sitting in a picture house with an audience that was silent and immobile while I wanted to wave my arms and sing along. I ended up jigging in my seat and singing along without making any noise.
This music fills my soul with joy and makes me smile for days. I just love it. The last song was Comfortably Numb, as it usually is. I was hoping to find the actual thing on YouTube, but unfortunately not. So here’s another version of it from an absolute master of his craft.
I love the lyrics of Roger Waters. They work especially well embedded in the song, but here is one of his. I can’t read them without hearing the song in my head!
Time
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the wayTired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gunAnd you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to deathEvery year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to sayHome, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell
I had no problem obtaining my Senior Railcard online. I found it a straight forward process. Also got a discount for buying a three year one.
Also, if I order my tickets in plenty of time , I get them posted to me, as there is no ticket machine at the three stations we have in town.
We have in the past used our Tesco club card points to give us a third off the cost of a senior railcard. I think. The offer is still on I think
Thanks for blogging about the railcard. I turned 60 in June but thought that, like the bus pass, the railcard wouldn’t be available until 65. I also found a 10% off code so have just purchased a 1 year card for £27. It will save me a lot if I go to visit my daughters in Basingstoke and Cheltenham by myself. At the moment my husband and I have a TWO Together card but it means we always have to travel together to use it.
One useful rail card for those living in the south east is the Network Railcard 1/3 off rail fares (excluding the tube, and only after 10am I think weekdays) but £25 a year and best of all 3 people can travel with the card holder and get the discount too (so no need to have multiple railcards). The interpretation of ‘south east’ is also quite wide- it extends the whole length of some lines (the line to Worcester from London for example)
Ooh, interesting! Thanks
My experience of the Senior Rail card is it is better to purchase at a station. Not least because if you lose it you can go to the station with the receipt and get a new one immediately. For long distances, consider using it to go first class. When I go Kent to Scotland it means I am guaranteed a seat on the train to London and you get a light meal and various drinks and snacks included on the mainline. Booking ahead on Trainline and accounting for this it has worked out cheaper!!