BEACHCOMBER 108 YEARS OLD AND STILL TRAVELLING HOPEFULLY...

MAKING my way from Cambridge to London recently, I had an uneventful journey until an announcement proclaimed: "We are now approaching King's Cross, where this train will be terminated.'

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After pondering the message, I went in search of the lady who had delivered it. I introduced myself and ascertained she was the Acting Head of Announcements, then queried her use of language.

"It seems to me," I said, "that far from being terminated, the train will, as usual, stay in place for several minutes, then make its way back to Cambridge. This scheduled journey may be terminated by the driver stopping the train and getting off, but the train itself will hardly be terminated." "I disagree," she said after thinking about what I had said. "You are missing one key point." Naturally I asked what that was.