FOURTH NIGHT

For Part I of Lament for Michael Kilburn click here

THE UK has an efficient rail system with comfortable high-speed trains that run frequently and on schedule.  While last-minute ticket prices are unreasonably costly for long distance travel, one can travel inexpensively by booking a seat several weeks in advance.  In this sense, the trains operate much like air flights.  Should you book ahead and later decide you want to alter your travel date, you must pay a change fee as well as the difference in price between the old ticket and the new.  This pricing scheme benefits those who plan weeks in advance, but obviously disadvantages off-the-cuff travelers, who must either opt for slower and less agreeable bus travel or dig deep to cover those hefty last-minute ticket fares, which seem like little more than subsidies for the well-organized. Keep reading…