This little piggy went to London
I love trains. OK I’m not so keen on trains at the weekends – especially on the East Coast line where they like to dig up the rails on Sunday and put all the passengers on a bus between Whitham and Colchester. But generally the best thing about trains is all the people sitting there feeling bored.
We were on our way up to London taking our 12-year-old to the Cirque du Soleil for his birthday treat and once I judged the carriages were as full as they were going to get, I slipped out of my seat and headed for the last carriage. Then I turned round and simply walked from one end to the other handing out the piggies: “Here, have something to read… this will keep you awake… have a pink pig… this is for you…”
I shifted 50 in ten minutes – and these were not ordinary piggies. These were my new ones with “The best part-time job in the world” and the 0208 955 5678 information line on them. the way I looked at it, all the passengerss would have their mobile phone with them and be able to ring up and listen straight away. Secretly I imagined getting back to my seat and the phone ringing straight away – even being able to seek out the caller there and then and do a quick martini and sign them up before we reached Liverpool Street.
But it didn’t happen. In fact I got no calls at all. But never mind, when we got home in the evening there was one from a woman who said: “I’ve had your card for months. You gave it to me in the street in Ipswich ages ago and I’ve been meaning to ring and ask what it’s all about…”