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Ever classy -- this is how you do it

From the London Daily Mail:

Your (commuter) carriage awaits! Thrifty Queen catches ordinary passenger train on her journey to Sandringham for Christmas
There was a buzz at King’s Cross this morning as platform 11b began crawling with police.

Could it be a drug bust, the crowd wondered? Or was a rock star about to board a train?

Then a small lady in a headscarf appeared, a handbag on one arm and a posy on the other.

Fellow passengers on the 10.45 First Capital Connect service to King’s Lynn couldn’t quite believe their eyes as the Queen stepped on board a first class carriage.

A bit more:

The Queen, 83, appeared perfectly relaxed as she chatted with her aides for the first leg of the 100 mile journey to King’s Lynn, the nearest station to Sandringham.

But after the train’s stop at Cambridge a secretary opened a briefcase and the Queen spent most of the rest of the journey opening and reading her Christmas cards.

Other first class passengers who tried to join her compartment were told by the four plain-clothes royal protection guards to sit in another first class section in the train.

Sandringham is the family estate. Also, I have spent time in London and the traffic there is unreal. Makes New York City look like bumpercars. A limo from B.P. would be a lot slower and logistically more complex. She does not like to fly. More:

Only a toddler penetrated the tight security as he ran up the alleyway followed by his father and pressed his nose against the glass.

He was too small to reach the button to open the door. But he did win a cheery smile from the Queen.

Asked by a passenger, one security guard confirmed that the Queen – and all her attendants – had bought tickets for the journey.

But.but.but... They must have used a private coach:

A Buckingham Palace spokesman added: ‘Members of the Royal Family, including the Queen, frequently use scheduled train services.

‘We have to look at issues such as cost effectiveness and security but do try to when it is appropriate.’

The Queen does, of course, also have use of the Royal Train – but that costs taxpayers £57,142 each time it is taken out of its sidings.

Like I said; this is how you do it. Not like Nancy Pelosi. From The New York Post:

Pelosi's climate air farce
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a large delegation on at least two Air Force jets to Copenhagen for the climate summit -- where participants harshly condemn the use of jet airplanes for the high amounts of CO2 they emit.

"This may be the largest congressional delegation I have ever heard of," said a source at the 89th Air Wing stationed at Andrews Air Force Base of the trip to the UN summit, which is increasingly being criticized as a farce.

Using her authority as speaker, Pelosi reserved at least two jets based at Andrews AFB to fly her and her delegation to Denmark for the final days of the two-week conference.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill and the 89th Air Wing source said Pelosi actually reserved five planes to carry a delegation that includes as many as 24 Democrats and six Republicans.

A bit more:

The roundtrip cost to Copenhagen and back for the C-32A would cost taxpayers $160,000.

And we are talking about two of these plus a couple smaller jets. No complete passenger manifest as yet but it will be a good voting guideline when 2010 and 2012 roll around... Posted by DaveH at December 17, 2009 9:40 PM | TrackBack