Rail Pastors: The Volunteers Saving Lives on the UK Rail Network

Rail Pastors are trained volunteers who look out for vulnerable and distressed people on Britain’s rail network. With their light blue hats and jackets, they are beacons of hope to rail passengers. Typically, they go from carriage to carriage on trains, keeping their eyes peeled for those who are down on their luck. While many people spend Saturday nights snuggled up at home in front of the television, the rail pastors are headed out to work the rails. They travel to train stations and wander around, sometimes simply sitting with people who are vulnerable or distressed. Whether they’ve had too much to drink, run out of money to get home, got blisters from wearing high heels, or are in a much darker place, they’re offered kind words and a listening ear. Rail Pastors hand out sweets, foil blankets, and slippers, reaching out to those most in need. "We’re showing God’s love in action on the street,” said volunteer Alan Kimmitt, minister at St. Columba’s Church. He explained that while Rail Pastors are faith-based, they don’t preach. “If people want to talk about spiritual things, that’s okay, but we don’t push our beliefs.” Sadly, approximately 250 people take their own lives on the railway annually in the UK. The British Transport Police (BTP) are called to over 9,000 pre-suicidal and mental health incidents each year. That’s why the railway system provides suicide prevention training for frontline staff, who work side-by-side with BTP and NHS community nurses to provide assistance during incidents on the railways. Last year, they made 1,269 life-saving interventions with the help of the Rail Pastors. Their mission is to reach out to people in moments of crisis, offering compassion and understanding, taking the time to listen to their concerns in order to move them to a place of safety.

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The Myth Associated With Astronauts and Space Travel

Imagine you’re on a spacewalk. All is proceeding according to plan, when suddenly the harness tethering you to your spacecraft detaches. As if caught in a scene from your worst nightmare, playing out in painfully slow-motion, you find yourself steadily but surely drifting away from your safe moorings towards the never-ending black expanse of the cosmos. Such a scenario is unlikely, although genuinely possible for anyone venturing into space. If faced with such a scenario, what would you do? Hold out for a rescue that’s probably not coming? Bite down on your cyanide capsule? Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, along with his fellow crew members Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, actually faced the prospect of being marooned in space in 1970, when an explosion in their oxygen tanks crippled Apollo 13's service module. Lovell explained that he has been asked numerous times if astronauts have suicide pills onboard. His response: “We didn’t, and I never heard of such a thing in the 11 years I spent as an astronaut and NASA executive.” Gerry Griffin, former Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston corroborated Lovell’s statement, adding that if an astronaut truly wanted to end his or her life, space provides plenty of opportunities. Outer space is just as effective a suicide agent as a cyanide capsule, perhaps even more so. Exposure to its empty vacuum often results in a blissful loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds. Death by asphyxiation usually follows within two minutes. Potassium cyanide suicide pills kill in twice the time, without the added bonus of unconsciousness.

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Why You Might See Forks in Someone’s Garden

Have you ever been passing by someone’s garden and had to do a double-take after seeing a bunch of plastic forks? There’s actually a legitimate reason to place forks in your garden, and it might be more beneficial than you think. Common critters get into gardens and wreak havoc on plants — especially fruit and vegetable plants. It’s incredibly frustrating and a very common problem for homeowners. There are things like traps and chemicals to keep critters out, but there’s an easier, cheaper, and non-toxic way to keep animals from nibbling on your flowers and vegetables. Just grab a few packs of plastic forks and stick them pointy prong side up around your frequently attacked plants. It works by establishing a highly unfriendly territory for all those critters. Think about it: animals like raccoons certainly don’t want to prowl around spiky fork prongs, risking a landmine of potential minor injuries. Just place as many forks as you want around the parts of your garden that are commonly the victims of critters. Though it won’t work on tiny bugs like aphids and mites, it can be a handy tool in your pest-fighting repertoire.

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Things You Should Never Use Paper Towels For

Paper towels are an underestimated workhorse in the kitchen, capable of so much more than soaking up spilled milk and drying your hands. Draping a paper towel over broccoli to keep its crown moist is genius. Dragging a paper towel across the top of warm soup or broth to absorb excess oil is great. However, even the best kitchen intentions come with consequences, and there are some tasks that paper towels are just not cut out for. These are the three common times when reaching for a paper towel is actually a bad idea.

1. Squeezing Moisture From Grated Vegetables — As tempting as it might be to use a paper towel for the job, it’s a bad move. Once a paper towel gets wet, food clings to its softened surface and it tears under the pressure of a hard squeeze, leaving bits of papery link behind in your vegetables. Stick with a clean kitchen towel or a few stacked layers of cheesecloth instead.

2. Straining Stock, Drinks, or Infused Oils — After simmering a broth or stock to savory perfection, cooking jelly to the perfect set, steeping hot chilies into oil, or soaking cold brew coffee for smooth flavor, you need to strain the mixture. Recipes often call for lining a colander with a fine filter, but a paper towel isn’t the liner for the job. It clogs quickly, which slows the straining process to a crawl, and it disintegrates against hot liquid, tearing partway through and shedding lint into whatever you’re straining. Line your colander with cheesecloth or muslin cloth instead.

3. Lining An Air Fryer — Air fryer liners are great for easy clean-up and prevent food from sticking to the cooking surfaces. The one thing you shouldn’t use is a paper towel. All that intense hot air circulation can catch a paper towel and pull it up toward the heating element, creating a fire hazard.

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