A big thank you to National Express East Anglia

As regular visitors will know, I'm not a huge fan of National Express East Anglia, indeed, I have called for the franchise to be taken away from them on a number of occasions. And it is therefore with great irony that today, of all days, I feel duty bound to write something nice about them.

Yesterday, Ros was travelling back from London after her labours in the Lords, and when she arrived at Stowmarket, she crossed the footbridge to the car park thinking, it's really nice to be doing this without luggage. At that point, the penny dropped, and she watched in horror as the train pulled out, our small suitcase still on board.

Luckily, Ros is a practical soul, and asked the station staff for help. A quick telephone call to their colleagues at Diss, the next stop, and it was arranged that the luggage would be retrieved there and sent back to Stowmarket on the next available service. And so it came to pass, an example of what can be done if you want to.

In fairness, my relationship with the staff at Stowmarket is a pretty good one. Chris, who works in the ticket office, is smartly dressed, polite and efficient, never short of a cheery greeting. The other staff get the job done effectively, and Stowmarket is well-run. It's the management that I have issues with...

But thank you to the guys at Stowmarket and Diss, and I hope that you enjoy the biscuits...