I’ve been getting the train to work…

…and I’ve been terribly impressed by Translink’s new CAF 3000 trains. They’re quiet, fast, clean, and, best of all, they look like they come from some sort of futuristic world in which everyone dresses up like a Power Ranger and travels in their own personal bullet train. Journeys take a third as long as they would on the bus, and cost only two thirds as much.

This morning, though, Great Victoria St station was bunged; there mustn’t have been a conductor on a busy inbound train, so there were perhaps a hundred people lined up at the ticket booth. Not to worry, thought I, as I’d left plenty of time, knowing that queues were likely on a Monday morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the crowd of giggling Aussie backpackers just in front of me, who insisted on discussing every possible permutation of a trip to Newry and Dublin.

“All stops to Lisburn!” shoted the guy at the gate.

Me, and the twenty people behind me glared at the girls in front of us.

“Last call for Lisburn!”

Agh! “Can I pay on the train?”, I shouted over.

“Yes, if you hurry”, was the reply - so I, and most of the other people in the queue hurried over to the barrier, and on to the train.

So, there I was, without a ticket, heading to Derriaghy - a little unmanned halt, with no waiting room, let alone a ticket barrier. Which is just as well, ‘cos I forgot to flag down the conductor to buy a ticket for myself.

Now, I got a week ticket that afternoon when I remembered - so I wasn’t doing anyone out of any money. But it’s still something I haven’t done before. I mean, everyone else seems to have gone through a brief burst of childhood klptomania or whatever, but I was always too prissy for that. And yes, I do feel suitable guilty, thanks.