Monday trains

I went off to Southampton this morning on the train to see someone about getting an NI number. Not that I had doubts, but I knew I was in England when two fellow passengers in front of me started whinging about the impunctual nature of British trains, and what needed to be done. Spike Milligan suggested that the very concept of lateness had its origins in the workshop of George Stephenson, where the first steam locomotive began its life. Were Mr Stephenson around today, I'm sure he'd pass the buck to James Watt.

It was my first real visit to Southampton, and I must say it looks straight out of the sixties. I'm sure I've seen some of the concrete urban architecture before in a Boring Postcards book. No matter. The guy I spoke to at the Job Centre place was friendly, and seemed quite keen on Monty Python. I'm a fan, but suspected that perhaps the Monty Python ruse has credentials as means of weeding out the potential terrorists (if suicide bombers recite the Spanish Inquisition before pressing the switch, then the profiling system has hit a new hurdle).