About DD

One day I had the bright idea of asking our leader to answer a few gentle questions as part of our Celebrity Interviews series. Not for nothing is he known as Der Fuhrer. In no time flat this had been turned into an edict that I produce a detailed autobiography. His twisted logic for this is that he knows everybody on the trip anyway whereas hardly anybody knows anything about me. So you know who to blame for the time you have wasted reading this.

I am a native of the great city of Leeds and made a modest living as a merchant of death which has allowed me to retire before I am totally senile. I now reside outside Edinburgh where I am building a steam railway in the garden. This progresses very slowly as I keep getting sidetracked into visiting exotic places like India or doing things like the Caledonian Sleeper Fort William – Euston return on consecutive nights. You may well be relieved to learn that I have never written loco numbers down in a little book, although I do have a clear memory of Walter K. Whigham* simmering gently at the head of the North Briton in Leeds City station.

ML seems to have got the idea that I am some kind of epic train traveller  but I am a real novice compared to some on this trip. I am fascinated by all things rail connected. Maps, track plans, timetables, posters – I love 'em. Most of all I love travelling by train.

My earliest memory of train travel is of heading back home from Scotland via the Settle & Carlisle and being taken by my Grandad (himself a railwayman) to check that the caged ram in the guard's van was not molesting my new tricycle. As a teenager staying with friends of my parents who lived in Paris I took to seeing how far round the metro system I could get on a single ticket. Not too long ago I had a fun day visiting 106 different Stations on the Strathclyde network on a single £5.35 day rover ticket. Until recently I could claim to have travelled the entire London Overground network on the same day. That b*99er Boris ruined that by opening a new section.


I stumbled across GCIRC whilst researching our first trip to India and wished that I could have been on board. We met up with a few of the guys a couple of times while it was on and when I saw this trip being planned I signed up without any hesitation. The planning process has been great fun and I don't expect the reality to be anything less. I am slightly daunted by the prospect of spending over 2 weeks with a bunch of ITechies. I am an almost total technophobe so please be very patient with me.


Something must have rubbed off on me as I appear to have become something of a compulsive blogger as I enter my dotage. If you can't sleep at  night try one of these. 
http://wwwradinja.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/monday-14th-feb-under-way.html   
http://radinja2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/here-we-go-again.html 
http://radinja3.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/goodbye-snow.html

I had hoped to persuade my life partner, the endlessly fragrant Lady Glenmutchkin, to join me on this venture but shortly after I broached the idea she announced that she was in possession of a note saying that she was too well to attend.

GCERC Team - I look forward to meeting you all (again in a couple of cases) and please be aware that you are all on standby for a Celebrity Interview for DD at some point before we get back to St Pancras.


* Gresley A4 Class 4-6-2 number 60028 named after the Deputy Chairman of the LNER



1 comment:

  1. I've been enjoying your description of your roundabout of Europe and your particular sense of humor. All the best to you and your mates.

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