Last Friday Mr C took the day off work and we headed off to Manchester so that he could go clothes shopping. We arrived at the station in plenty of time to catch the train to Wolverhampton. The connecting train from Wolverhampton to Manchester was slightly delayed. Whilst we were waiting the display boards and announcement system developed a fault and failed.  That meant that the staff had to resort to manual announcements some of which were quite amusing.

When we got on the train my reserved seat was next to a lady with a young daughter sitting on her knee. The young girl was such a sweetie and was well behaved even when she got bored towards the end of the journey. At one point she was eating sweets from a bag, one of which was a long jelly snake. When the snake was fully emerged from the bag she pointed its head at me and said, ‘hiss’. I said, ‘is it coming to get me?’, causing her to giggle and her eyes to light up. A bit later in the journey she put her finger to her lips and said, ‘Shhh’ on more than one occasion. Shortly after this Mr C snapped his glasses case shut with a loud bang. He then put his finger to his lips and said, ‘Shhh’ causing her to giggle again.

On our arrival in Manchester we hopped onto a free bus into town, where it dropped us near to the Italian Restaurant, Don Marco, where we had booked an early lunch. As we walked that last bit of the way towards the restaurant Mr C pointed out the hotel that he had stayed in a couple of weeks ago when he was in Manchester on business. The skyscraper hotel emerged from behind some classic architecture towering above its surroundings. Rather him than me! I would have felt really uncomfortable sleeping in a place like that.  The view from the higher rooms, however, is spectacular as can be seen in the photograph below that was taken by Mr C.

Lunch was wonderful. We sat next to the window with a glass of wine and the sun shining in, watching the world go by. The sun however was short lived; as we left the restaurant it started to rain. It always rains in Manchester! As we made our way to the shops Mr C showed me some of the sights that he had found when he briefly worked in Manchester a few years ago. This included The John Ryland Library, the building where he worked, and an ornate passageway which led to St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, the ‘Hidden Gem’.

We then made our way to Waterstones for a quick browse around, where I was tempted to buy a book by Antonia Frazer. When we left the shop we found that the heavens had opened and it was now pouring down with rain. I managed to take a few photographs but it was rather difficult juggling a camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other. We carried on to the other shops that Mr C had on his list and when he had successfully completed his shopping spree we returned to the station, becoming rather soggy along the way.

There were two trains showing on the board and that we could choose from. We elected for the slightly later one with a change at Shrewsbury. This allowed us time to enjoy a drink (of the non-alcoholic variety) before it was time to catch the train. Unfortunately our choice of route turned out to be a mistake. The journey was pleasant looking out at the sights as the train sped along but when we got to Shrewsbury the connection train was not waiting on the platform as it should have been. We were informed that it had been cancelled and that we would have to catch the next one! We decided to have a cup of tea rather than wait outside on the platform. As we were drinking our tea we learned that the next train had also been cancelled and that the problem was a train had broken down on the line just outside Shrewsbury. There was no information available on how long the delay would be. There was also a separate problem with trains heading for Aberystwyth where a fault had developed on the track.

The trains in and out of Shrewsbury had ground almost to a halt. A little while later we were informed that replacement buses for the inaccessible destinations had been booked. However there was no information on how long they would take to arrive. We were eventually informed that the first bus had arrived and that we should make our way to the front of the station. We knew by the size of the crowd that it was unlikely that we would be able to get on it. When it came down to it, the two people in front of us got the last two seats on the bus. The bus was expected to go Wellington station where people could catch connecting trains to their destination and then return to pick up more passengers. However the bus didn’t return! As we waited for what turned out to be over an hour, other coaches arrived for people going to other destinations and the track problem on the other line was fixed. Some people called for taxis and shared them with others to reduce the cost. Others called for friends to come and pick them up.

As we waited we were kept entertained by the antics on the carpark. There was some rather alarming driving in the car park as taxis and cars came and went. An accident was bound to happen sooner or later. It turned out the culprit would be a small red mini car which came in slowly and parked at a very jaunty angle whilst waiting for a passenger. When the mini reversed up to leave it reversed into a taxi! Luckily there was no damage. A food delivery lorry arrived and reversed close to another taxi before opening the rear door to offload the delivery. This didn’t look very safe and caused the taxi driver to move his car to a safe distance. After the alarming unloading proceeding, the two lorry drivers dragged wheeled crates through the middle of the waiting passengers causing them to scatter. When they went to collect the second part of the delivery they decided on a different route and nearly crashed the crates into a taxi that was parked up.

In contrast to the young girl we had encountered on the morning train there was a young boy behaving like a naughty little monkey. He was vigorously shaking one of the poles that held hanging baskets. I am not sure where his parents were whilst this was going on. Eventually a station employee walked over to him and wagged his finger in a no no motion. The boy soon disappeared.

Eventually a much smaller bus arrived and the last of the commuters (including us) going in our direction were able to get on it. The bus and driving were rather worrying and I wondered if it was going to break down. It made some alarming noises as it sped up on the motorway. As we neared our destination instead of going to the station car park (which caters for buses) the driver opted to drive to the other side of the station up narrow roads and into the town centre. At one stage he mounted the curb as he was trying to turn avoiding a taxi that had parked on a corner on double yellow lines. The bus tilted alarmingly and I had visions of it tipping over onto the taxi. The driver reversed up a bit and managed the turn on his second attempt. After he had dropped us off at the station I was wondering how he was going to get the bus out of the narrow location where he dropped us off. We eventually arrived home at 21.15, more than two hours later than expected!

I would have liked a long soak in the bath when I got home, but that was not to be. The water pump on our heating system had broken down the day before leaving us with no hot water. But that is a story for another day…

The second birthday was celebrated by a couple of days away from home in the Yorkshire Dales.  It was a nice relaxing time, but it flashed by  far too quickly.  More detailed posts with photos to follow (soon)   On my return from this break I had to quickly get sorted and packed for a train journey to the moon for the third birthday (a 40th celebration).

The train journey was quite relaxing despite an agitated Chinese lady, who was speaking continually on her mobile (loudly at times).  She didn’t speak English and didn’t have a clue where she was, but needed to get off at Euston.  The relaxing part was an ‘on train picnic’ of salmon, salad and potato salad accompanied (dressed with lemon vinaigrette) by wine.  An added bonus was that I was able to catch an earlier connecting train, which meant arriving at my destination half an hour earlier than expected.

I was staying with family and one of the first things I needed to do when I arrived was remove my contact lenses because the journey had dried my eyes out.  When I entered the bathroom to do this I was mesmerised by some rather sparkling black eyes!  I was being assessed by a HUGE spider that was peeping out from behind the blinds.  Each of us hoping not to be seen by the other…  I made it out of the bathroom in one piece Then I arranged for the spider to be re-homed in the garden amongst the flowers.  The window was shut so he couldn’t sneak in again.

The weekend was enjoyable but hectic and on arriving at Euston station for the return journey I did wonder if I was going to be able to get back home in time for work.  There had been a major electrical fault at Watford Junction which had caused the signals to fail.  In addition to that there had been a fatality on the line in another location.  The amount of people milling around at the station was very reminiscent of weekday rush hour.  The station information and advice to passengers wasn’t very clear, causing confusion all round.  Some of the passengers had been waiting for over an hour, luckily I didn’t have to wait that long.  When the train did arrive (half an hour late) it declassified the first class section so that all passengers from the previous trains could be accommodated too.  The first class passengers were given advice on how to get a refund.

The joy of train journeys…

It is good to be home

The journey there and back was painless and the trains were on time and there were plenty of places to sit.  I had forgotten what a long trek it is from the Birmingham International to the NEC, I certainly got my exercise for the day.  The last time we went to the show in 2008 it was rather disappointing because a lot of our old favourites had pulled out and there was not very much that interested us.  I am glad to say it had picked up again this year and although some of our old favourites were still absent there were new things to interest us.

We were also lucky that I had got my dates muddled up and left it too late to order tickets in advance.  Some very generous people helped us out on the way in, meaning we saved money on the entry fee.

We came away with a naughty pie for tea, which I can confirm was absolutely delicious.  Don’t forget that I did a lot of walking so I earned it

Today was the day of the PCS Midlands Regional AGM which was held in Nottingham.  I knew it was going to be another of those days because I hadn’t slept very well and was tired when I woke up.  Someone else’s mishaps along the way meant that at least I got a lift to the station therefore avoiding a 20 minute walk. This was good because it was absolutely freezing this morning; the small of my back and my knees were going numb whilst I was waiting at the station.

I had arrived at the station in plenty of time and could have caught an earlier train than the one I had planned.  However, I had promised to meet with several colleagues so we could all travel on the same train so I chose to wait.  As soon as the first train had left the station, the display board changed from ‘on time’ to ‘cancelled’ for the train I was due to catch.  A quick flurry of phone calls took place to formulate plan B and we then had time for a hot cup of tea in the station cafe to warm up.  Now it was time to catch the next train which was rather chocka but I did manage to get a seat so that this leg of the journey was fine.

Even though we all got a seat on the next leg of the journey, it was not fine.  Two youths decided to sit on the seats next to us and played Indian music so loud it was difficult to hear ourselves speak. Despite various hints and looks, they carried on regardless until another couple of colleagues got on, one of whom sat next to the  youths.  After a while she told them that loud music is fine in your own home but not in a public place, could they turn it down so she could hear herself talk.  Well, bad attitude or what..?

They turned their backs and faced the window, obviously cursing her in a foreign language. She commented loudly upon this poor behaviour as an aside to the rest of us!  Despite this, they did turn the music down and there was no escape for them because they were trapped in their window seats.

We arrived 30 minutes late for our meeting but the chairman had waited for us to arrive before starting.  At this point the day things started to get better, the buffet lunch was excellent and I managed to get myself voted back onto the regional committee. The journey home was much less stressful.

I was going to take a picture of my home station but after yesterday’s post I wondered if I might look rather suspicious lurking around at night taking photos, so I hope you enjoy this one instead.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

It turns out that was the right decision because there was a bit of a Tadoo when I purchased my train ticket. The card machine got stuck half way through the payment and refused to print of the card holder receipt etc This meant that the transaction had to be completed manually. Remember those old slidey card machines, with the carbon copy papers? Take one twenty your old who had never even seen the machine before and me who sadly was old enough to remember them but had never used the machine!

I managed to help her place the card in the right place in the machine, but could we get the papers lined up so that the details printed in the blank space?  You have guessed it… NO!!!  She gave up in the end and wrote my card details down instead. I think maybe there is a lesson in this somewhere.

Despite all of this I was in plenty of time for the train and met up with my colleagues along the way. Apart from the mix up over venues (I was one step ahead on that one ) the meetings went well, although the second one was a little bit repetitive for those who had been at the first one.

The aim of the forum was to give ativists the opportunity to discuss the issues and help them face the challenges ahead.

Before catching the train back a few of us stayed behind for a chat to catch up with each others past and future events etc.  A couple of us left to catch the train before the others, I especially didn’t want to be wandering round my local railway station too late at night when the goblins were out.

The train journey was quite smooth, apart from my ticket not opening any of the automatic barriers.  I had to flash my ticket and be let through manually every time.  Unfortunately due to the disconnectedness of the different rail companies, the London train arrived in Birmingham one minute after the one we needed to catch out of Birmingham.  This meant an hours wait on Birmingham station!  Then of course we had the usual problems with the signals that caused the train to keep stopping!!!

By some sort of strange anomly in space-time continuum the two people who left an hour after us managed to overtake us and ended up joining us on the train at the first stop after Birmingham…