As some of you will know i work in the city (don't hate me I'm in insurance, not a banker and i wasn't in any way responsibe for the credit crunch). Anyway, this summer the people who work for the train company with which i commute have decided to strike every thursday and friday in august, plus the last week in July. It's proved to be a severe pain in the buttocks.

I investigated a little further and i'm led to believe they are striking because they only got a 2% pay rise..... Bearing in mind most people are geting a pay freeze or worse still the sack, i think this is a little unreasonable.

We don't have a big cultutre of striking in this country, the last notable one i can remember was the fire brigade. It got me thinking, are any of you members of trades unions? Do you even have trades unions in your line of profession? Am i being unsympathetic just because i know it is going to take me twice as long to get to work tomorrow and i'm not going to get a seat on the restricted train service despite paying thousands of pounds for an annual rail ticket.

I'd love it if there was a striking rail worker who liked DIY and happened to be a member of this website that would come on here and try to justify their stance (as i may be missing some of the facts), but i think that's unlikely.

Rant over.