I travelled a fair bit recently, mostly by rail. From Edinburgh to Inverness, from Vienna to Zurich, and from Alpiglen to Grindelwald.

The mad railway series started end of May. I had a notification in the mail that an item was waiting for me at the local post office and that I had to sign personally to receive said item. The item turned out to be a letter from Scot Rail, thanking me for thanking Sally. On my way from Edinburgh to Inverness I forgot my suit when I changed trains in Stirling. Sally was a very friendly conductor who managed to arrange for my suit to be ready and waiting for me one stop after Stirling. So when she asked me to fill in a feedback form describing the incident, I most happily complied – not knowing that this would invoke a letter worth £ 4.25 in postage and several times this amount in man hours (customer service agent writing the letter, me collecting the letter, me writing this post and me writing an email telling them that it's a waste of my money and an email to me plus a free pint for Sally would have been sufficient).

At the beginning of June I travelled from Vienna to Zurich. Everybody knows that trains in Switzerland are always on time. My train approached the Swiss border later than it should have. A lot later. I imagine what happened was this: a Swiss rail official repeatedly glanced at his watch and then at the little red dot on his screen signifying my train coming closer. The poor official kept sighing sadly and shaking his head in disbelieve. He could see it coming. He sighed again when he knew the desaster could not be avoided any more. He then slowly picked up his red telephone, which he only ever used to call foreign railway companies. He then dialed the number of his Austrian counterpart to patiently explain that 100 minutes would have to be considered as rather severe and that thus the train would unfortunately not be able to cross the border, mércivielmals, Ade. That's how trains in Switzerland are always on time: either they are or they are annihilated.

While in Switzerland (a Swiss train finally brought me from the border to Zurich) I went for a hike and after a day of walking in the heat and dust decided to let the Jungfraubahn take me down the last couple hundred meters of altitude from Alpiglen to Grindelwald. The trip cost 16 Francs something and you can see my »ticket« here. The poor conductor had to tear every single coupon.