The Boy and The Coconut Tree

There has been much talk of upgrading the British rail network and building a new high speed line to Birmingham and Manchester from London, called   HS2 . It is expected, thanks to British work ethic and bureaucracy, to take 30 years or so to get built. The public enquiry will probably take 10 years. I think it will be fantastic and I hope to be using my old persons rail card as I travel around the country in my pension years. I am travelling by train today from London to Newcastle on the  east coas t line, one of the busiest routes in Britain and supposedly the fastest line in Britain with a top speed of, wait for it; 125mph. French commuter trains are faster. The train station, Kings Cross, built in the 19th century at the peak of the first railway boom, has been rebuilt and is great, spacious, and comfortable and has plenty of shops and cafes, the same cannot be said about my train today. My train is what they used to call an  Intercity125 ; this train was built...

A few years ago two of my friends had been together almost 12 years and they felt marriage would mark a positive and inevitable stage in their relationship. The bank holiday weekend finally provided a chance for me and others who know them to celebrate their love: it was their wedding day . I will refer to it as a wedding because the whole experience was so similar to every wedding I have ever been to and, as far as all the people involved last weekend were concerned, that is what it was. I will always call it marriage despite the current debate and opposition from some Tory politicians . Legally speaking, though, it was just a civil partnership ceremony. I did not know much about civil partnerships until I attended this event, but it feels as if they are a half-way house because the government will not go ahead and allow gay men and women to have a civil marriage. Why not? I don't understand this. What are they frightened of?...