'The Capt'n's been ridin' the devil's own pace,' said Dalton the coachman.

However, as Feinberg's novel dramatizes, the dominance of lesbian feminist models of sexual mutuality, reciprocity, and exchange turns stone butches into pariahs.

Faster than a speeding bit, the internet upended media and entertainment companies. Piracy soared, and sales of albums and films slid. Newspapers lost advertising and readers to websites. Stores selling books, CDs and DVDs went bust. Doomsayers predicted that consumers and advertisers would abandon pay-television en masse in favour of online alternatives.

But it is still disheartening and frustrating that the rail industry has such a nonchalant approach to ticket examination and potential ticketless/fraudulent travel.