When I was a very young child, I saw that old comedy film where two steam engines collide head on. Without special effects, film makers in the twenties had no choice but to either show a lot of steam or do it for real, and that once, they did. I don't remember, but apparently I burst into tears. I suspect Hollywood wanted a different reaction but then again we british have always had a love affair with the steam locomotive. The news of a collison between trains in India doesn't reduce me to tears in quite the same way as it might have forty five years ago, but all the same, I extend my condolences for what was a terrible incident.

There's been a number of documentaries about trains in India just of late. Whereas in Britain we found them unprofitable in the sixties and ripped up track all over the place in preference to roads, in India the railways are proving fundamental to their economic success, which is gathering pace. There's a wonderful old fashioned air to the way they operate their trains, carrying on exactly where the empire left off, and yet, despite any cultural limits and glass ceilings, they have a very open attitude to it all, as for instance women being trained as drivers. And the organisation of this huge and expanding system is still done on paper, just as it always was. The atmosphere of Indian railways is inescapable though I confess I've never witnessed it personally. It does have, regrettably, a reputation for a high accident rate.

The frenetic pace of the Indian railway network is one thing, but compare that to the Tanzania & Zambia Railway. With a budget that vanishes into thin air, they struggle on with almost no maintenance. Track workers wander off to go fishing. Trains take days to cover a distance that should take hours. Locomotives stand rusting because no-one has any parts to repair them. An entire railway slowly falling to bits.

But accidents will happen. Even in Britain and the US, where standards are higher, from time to time you will hear of a terrible disaster. Safety is a hugely important factor but no matter how clever you are, sometimes it just goes horribly wrong. If that sounded flippant, I apologise, that wasn't my intention. Because at the end of the day, it isn't a question of faking it on camera. The accidents are real, and people get hurt. It's often said we learn from our accidents. I hope so.

Rainy Days

The nearby RIAT airshow at Fairford is over, and once again the skies are quiet. As far as I know, there were no accidents, and given how unforgiving the ground can be and the proximity of aeroplanes to it when displaying to a crowd, that's something to be thankful for, never mind underlining the skill of the aircrew involved. All weekend I could hear rumbles and jet noises. Now there's a thing. With the current moves toward making military vehicles less polluting, could these same bureaucrats not make them quieter? It's good for the enviroment. Saves me getting distracted from searching the internet for jobs too.

Last night I opened the back window for a breath of fresh air. The pallid clouds hung listlessly in soft focus layers of blue-grey, broken near the horizon by vivid tears of lemon yellow in the early evening. Sometimes you sense a mood. It's funny how sensitive we are to changes in the weather without realising. Sure enough, as Swindon became quiet and still, it began to rain. Not heavily, just a random splatter of large drops, but that sound of falling rain is oddly relaxing. Funny how rainy days make you sort of introspective for no apparent reason.

The sound of a car somewhere around the corner was unmistakeable. That sound - tires locked and the car ploughing on due to momentum on a greasy asphalt surface. Any moment there's going to be a dull crunching sound....

Not this time. The skid ended in a loud and harsh blast of the horn. A working class and youthful male voice responded with "**** off!".

Yep, accidents will happen.