Nighed

I tend to put 2 - 3 days worth of stuff in the fridge, then freeze the rest (if it's something reheatable)

I then eat something else from the freezer for the rest of the week so I don't eat the same thing for a whole week.

How it generally works now is that the operators win a contract from the government to run a line for X years. They pay the government for that contract, then have (as a for profit company) to make enough money to make a profit on top of that. There are various rules though on the fare increases allowed (hah!) and the contracts generally include minimum service levels etc.

The actual tracks and signals are run by network rail who are a state owned company that own most of the infrastructure (replaced Railtrack who were an actual public company that went bust!)

The stations are managed as part of the operator contracts I believe? Unsure on their ownership.

Because the operator's contracts are time limited the operators can change over time, when that happens though the rolling stock (trains) are generally transferred with that, either through being sold to the new operator or leased. (It's not like you can order a new fleet of trains and get them delivered on short notice!)

My understanding is that labour is mostly going to take over the running of each contract as it runs out instead of buying them out. I assume they are then leasing the trains to avoid the up front expense of buying them all. As they won't be trying to make a profit it (should) be possible to run a cheaper service and could/should allow the lines to be run for the public good instead. (That's where people opinion of public ownership comes in)

There are already some lines run like this as the operator went bust and it defaulted back to government control.

A policy! And I thought they were just campaigning on "we're not the Tories"!?

This is more just confirming a rough policy they have had for ages right? Just let the contracts age out and take them over when they do?

I do wonder if just allowing the operators to actually compete on the same lines might help though (within reason)

It's one of the slot in ones though right? so it doesn't really count - it effectively integrated.

There isn't a downturn in sales, it's just the investors?

I assume it's a interest rate issue?

Huh, that's supprisingly generous of them!

I may be guilty of assuming things works the same everywhere

Most insurance policies will require that the insured trip begins in your home country. (Not that you bought it there) There was a news story about this recently.

Can you not extend your initial insurance? I would really recommend having a chat with a person at one of the insurance companies.

The train guards are the ones who check the tickets, do the announcements etc. the drivers went on strike a few years ago (and maybe partially now too?) to stop them being fired. They can't run trains without them.

And working on stuff that never gets shipped/used is demoralising too. No product to be proud of making/maintaining etc.

Also remember - no computers and that all space access is through the spacing guild or whatever it's called.

So control/timing is difficult and you would have to persuade (bribe) the spacing guild to support you. (Or have someone suicidal enough to do it manually. Could be set up manually with a timer I guess?

The budget cap brings them closer on track, and appears to be working well? If you exclude VES then the field is incredibly close as is.

If I'm traveling on trains/planes solo I wear a mask - every time I don't I then get ill 🤧 so it obviously works...

I wear a fitness tracker and keep an eye on my heart rate, you can often tell if you are actually coming down with something VS just being tired by looking at how your HR changes with exertion. If your coming down with something, relax, keep warm and eat well etc.