Posting this here somewhat lightheartedly:

Of those 3.9 million US residents who visited the UK, I reckon about 3 million of them have Bath as their destination.  Some of them are a pain in the proverbial, milling about in huge groups and generally getting in the way.

However, I did have a great chat with two older American men in a traditional pub in Bath, many years ago.  They had ventured out from their hotel to sample an old English pub.  We fell into conversation about licensing laws, as they were initially puzzled by the particular wording of the UK signs on the bar, asking for ID.

CfN. 

 
I tried to find stats for travellers from the UK rather than USA - and I found holiday vacation countries only.  Other data offered from behind a firewall but way out of budget.  Whilst the majority of journeys are for vacation,  https://www.finder.com/uk/credit-cards/outbound-tourism-statistics

 
An update, from the BBC:

 

Wider, I suggest. General visits by "Americans" - https://www.statista.com/chart/18742/most-popular-destinations-with-us-travelers/

 
From the BBC:

 
I have been told, secondhand, that it was fixed as planned the weekend before last but I haven’t had a chance to go down and check for myself.  When I was last there the scaffolding was up in preparation. 

 
From the BBC:

 
I voted 35+ in the poll. I counted 24 from the list and I recalled a further 32 in addition.

This is the first time I have tried to compile such a list and it is quite remarkable since only a selection of those link to my professional career. The list is about to be extended over Christmas with a further 4 to be added on a cruise around South America.

Wherever the list came from, the compiler had his MAGA blinkers on.   

 
Has this been fixed? Journeycheck seems to think so as it is no longer mentioned there as a problem at Swndon station

 
Alterations to services between Reading and Didcot Parkway

Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading and Didcot Parkway some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be diverted. Pangbourne will not be served. Disruption is expected until 18:00 06/09.

Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
We have had a report of a defect on some lines in the Reading area. Trains may not be able to run over the affected line until it has been inspected or may have to run at reduced speed.

 
A 6 car (or even a 5 or 4 car) would have been appreciated yesterday once the 8.30 service from Cardiff considering the football (Cardiff away to Portsmouth). Only got 3 carriages in the end that was likely standing room only all the way through (certainly was from Temple Meads).

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xkgkqjdqro

CrossCountry cancels trains due to driver shortage  (6th September 2026)
35 minutes ago
A number of CrossCountry rail services have been cancelled on Sunday due to a shortage of train drivers.

Services heading out of Birmingham to Reading, Newcastle, Nottingham will no longer run, as well as services into the city from Nottingham, Newcastle, Paignton, Bournemouth, Nottingham, Manchester Piccadilly and Bristol Temple Meads.

..........continues...........

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnvl1r1080go

Heathrow Airport train services resume after trackside fire disruption
Ewan Somerville
Published
5 September 2026
Updated 7 hours ago
Trains to and from Heathrow Airport were halted after a trackside grass fire caused delays and cancellations.

National Rail said there was a "major disruption" to services following the incident which began shortly after 16:00 BST.

.................continues............

 
From National Rail.....

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Maidenhead / Reading, and between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5

All Great Western Railway trains to / from London Paddington

All Heathrow Express trains between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals

Description
A fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway means trains have to run at a reduced speed on all lines. As a result, trains may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 16:30.

 

Here's what ran (trains) in the end - from Real Time Trains, Weymouth via Yeovil Pen Mill





What the log does NOT tell us is how many services were advertised as cancelled and then re-instated, nor about any buses or taxis provided.   It does tell us how long, or otherwise, each train was.

 
Many countries!
Fortunate to have done a short spell in the Merchant Navy (didn't want to, but that's another story).
4 different ships, mostly eastern part of the world (from the UK point of view), and never went Stateside.

Stateside was a family holiday just before Covid.

My health unfortunately is limiting my mobility somewhat, so perhaps cruises for a while.

 
Yes ridiculous chaos for the Weymouth services yesterday. On Journey Check there were a number of bus/taxi replacements shown (and in some detail). It will be interesting to know what actually operated (ie train or bus) each service in the end.

However, as per many previous comments these late changes are of no use to the average customer trying to plan their day.

 

And I'm sure we can get you all charged up during the day - both electrically and about socially necessary bus services!

 
I shall be there, in my electric powerchair....

 

Is the 67 minutes rather than 60 because that earlier train also calls at Keynsham and Oldfield Park and needs to be on-the-clockface through the more crowded Solent areas?

2 car then 6 car suggests to me 1 x 158 and 2 x 166 and a lack of compatabity means they can't balance better as a 3 car and 5 car.   Not clever - do you remember those more compatible times when a 142, 143, 150, 153 and 158 could all couple up?

 

The 08:06 Warminster to Swindon was delayed 15 minutes at Westbury too; ironically, the reported delay on Journeycheck has turned out to be only 6 minutes.

No great harm done even by the 15 minute delay for passengers headed onward to London - just a shorter wait at Swindon for the Paddington train.

Edit to add - no connection failure at Chippenham off the up train either - just a shorter wait there.

 
Looks like today's 1F09 09:18 Cardiff - Portsmouth is just a 2car 158

And its subsequent 1F20 13:09 Portsmouth - Cardiff and 1F29 17:25 Cardiff - Portsmouth are same 2car unit

Meanwhile realtime trains is suggesting 1F11 10:25 Cardiff - Portsmouth (why 67 minutes, not an hour later) is a 6car, along with its return 1F24 14:09 Portsmouth - Cardiff

 
09:08 Swindon to Westbury due 09:49
09:08 Swindon to Westbury due 09:49 will be starting late from Swindon.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

 

Ooops - missed that one !

 

In my case, it was a measure of success.  My team at that time was 'Marketing Technical Services': we answered queries about changes in legislation and taxation, particularly around the end of the tax year (5 April). The more calls we took, the better it worked in terms of our helping the sales team to promote the use of our particular financial services company.

CfN.

 

Going further off topic, is a large number of calls to a helpline a measure of success or a sign there is a problem with the product?   I am involved with one and managers get very exercised when the number of calls or emails rises (as they tend to seasonally).

 
On dates - I, too, find it very hard to pin things down to years or even groups of years.

On Brunel's pneumatic railway and whether it was a "noble failure" it probably was - but I had already listed the Waterloo and Whitehall railway which would have been pneumatic, and I considered the Crystal Palace [upper] experiments and the mail rail (I think it was) link to Euston.   There was no real science to the things on the list, except to have a bit of variety.  Only one battery train, ignoring the Aberdeen to Braemar, for example.

 

As a former UK employer, we simply had a team that was large enough to cope with holiday leave absences (and medical and occasional compassionate ones too) ut that did increase the cost of employment.  But then in the UK, even in our hospitality business where the USA standard is based on significant tipping, we looked to pay a decent base wage and the (very occasional) tips that came in were pooled for a shared Christmas box, shared out based on the number of hours each of the team members (not the directors) had worked in the year.   Different culture, and what - to me - feels far more equitable, social, caring; perhaps I am going to much to the left in my political thinking here, but I would find it hard to vote to the right as my parents did in a national or regional election. 

In Chris's case, as one of a team where others pick up while someone's on leave it works well and the measured stats of individual team members when on vacation provide a useful and comforting "control" that emphasises their worth at other times.   Where a role is unique to one person (dangerous) either the job stops while they're away - and for the training courses I gave that was reasonable, with no need for anything in the calendar those weeks, as training was scheduled a year ahead (public courses) and typically 8 to 12 weeks for private ones.   Neither Lisa not I really take vacations where we switch off; whilst not physically around in the UK, we have done some memorable work (including volunteers) from all sorts of places and do to this day.

 
Thanks for this - that's pinned it down a bit. Note to former self: did you notice your friends keeping diaries? Yes. So do the same yourself.