Are you travelling on the train this Christmas and New Year?

Yes, who was the solo singer?

No idea, I’m afraid.

No . . . stuck on the train, Malcolm.

That is what I had in mind, John.
Maybe they were travelling on South West Trains and were confused about where to alight
“London train stations have been given a festive makeover with a series of Christmas puns.

Other highlights included Three Kingston, New Mald-wine and Raynesdeer Park ”

Or stuck at B’ham Snow Hill.

I had quite a natter with Lauren over Presage and Passage. It wasn’t Lauren’s fault; the words had been swapped about without her knowledge and (her guess, not mine) she wondered if it had been done because quite a few of the choir were asking her what Presage meant. Now, it worries me more than a little to imagine that W? staffers,who are, presumably, mostly Grads, couldn’t look it up, but what worries me more is that they may have changed it because they thought the audience might not know. I find that very disconcerting. The one organisation that shouldn’t be reducing the intellectual content of its offering is Which?

The second song was never offered, since they asked me to do the first a little too close to the date for comfort and, although I managed the first within 24 hours, I think, there really wouldn’t have been time for the second.

The original intention was to perform it at a station, which had echoes of some of Sheila McKechnie’s wonderful stunts, but I think time defeated them.

I would say that this collaboration between the members and the organisation is exactly what Young would have admired and it’s what I’ve been campaigning for for quite a while, as you know. I think with more time and forethought we could do something really special in the future.

Was it you on the piano, Ian?

I agree with your comments on vocabulary; I regard it as an essential function of this site to introduce some unfamiliar words and usage every day if possible. People reading words on a computer screen have never had better facilities for looking things up.

I enjoyed your “made our” / “radar” rhyme.

Í could identify London Waterloo and King’s Cross stations, and one of the Underground’s Circle Line stations but not which one. I presume the other images were stock pictures, at least two of them being foreign. The photo of the young woman turning away from the sweaty armpit of the man next to her [at 47 secs] sums up the commuting experience.

I presume it was the W? Choir accompanist playing, John; I offered but they didn’t apparently need me.

Was the soloist a Which? worker, Adam, or a professional? And nice playing, BTW.

Yes – I thought they had been.

If (and hopefully – when) we do something like this again a little more time to get it all just right would be a good idea. Let’s not wait until Christmas, either; some great summer songs I could parody 🙂

It would be useful if, at any time of the year, positive experiences and suggestions were posted, at least in equal volume to the moans and” something must be done-ers” . I believe we get more response to constructive positivity.

Well, the thing is this was requested in Late November, John, and I got the music and the lyrics back to Lauren by the 3rd Dec, so being positive about the Railways possibly wasn’t uppermost in their minds at the time. But humour in parody form can be a useful way to draw attention to issues that persist. One reason why G & S are still going strong.

Not my criticism, Ian!

Oops! Sorry.