Sometimes it's nice when people in officialdom are brutally honest. I had to go to London yesterday, and caught a Virgin train from New Street to Euston. That service has now been more or less converted to using the fancy tilting 'Pendolino' trains, which can get to higher speeds (when they aren't stuck behind another train, held up by points trouble etc.)

Anyway, the train I got was slightly late arriving, and was also not a Pendolino, but much older rolling stock. As we got underway, the conductor (or steward, or whatever they call themselves now) came on the intercom. He apologised for the late start, then paused and and gave a big sigh.

"There's no way in the _world_ that we will be able to keep to the Pendolino timetable"

Tell it like it is, man. Tell it like it is.