Train snacks – vulgar? Perhaps, but delicious all the same

With hindsight, perhaps the high point of the weekend was the train picnic on the way to the West Country. I hadn’t taken a long train journey since the start of the pandemic, and my friend Holly and I decided it warranted a leisurely perusal of the Paddington M&S. We loaded up: sandwiches, samosas, little sticks of manchego wrapped in Serrano ham, crisps, chocolate mini rolls and a bag of Percy Pigs. We asked for “tricnic” tips on Twitter: users suggested pork scratchings, cocktail sausages, Mini Cheddars, “a small packet of grapes to

create a vague aura of healthiness”, readymixed G&T cans, gherkins.

At school, we learnt it was appallingly vulgar to eat on public transport. But,

oh, the forgotten pleasure of boarding a train, carrying a bulging bag of snacks.