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I CAN ONLY MANAGE THIS ONCE A YEAR!
It was my birthday on Monday. I’m feeling very glad that they only come once a year, as it was one of those days that start badly and then gradually get worse. I got to my local station only to find that the Metropolitan line was suspended because of over-running engineering works. “Surely”, I thought “by 9am they should have sorted that out”. Fortunately I can get the Bakerloo line from another station a bus ride away. Unfortunately that had “minor delays” too, but after a bit of a walk I did manage to get a London Overground train into Euston. So half an hour late getting to work.
I had an evening lecture engagement in Lincoln. “Why not go a bit early and have a quick look around Lincoln”, I thought. East Coast trains thought otherwise. The plan was to get the 14.08 from Kings Cross, change trains at Peterborough and got to Lincoln at a quarter to five. After the train left Stevenage they announced that the connecting train for Lincoln had been cancelled and passengers should remain on the train to Newark to get a connection from there. They left it till a lot later to explain that the connection from Newark involved waiting at Newark for over an hour. Fortunately it had a warm waiting room and I had my kindle in my case, so I could sit and read.
Even more fortunately the train got me into Lincoln at 5.15, so I only lost half an hour – and of course my chance for sightseeing as I was due to lecture at 6pm. I thought that as time was getting short I had better get a taxi to the venue but there was a long queue and the walking instructions said it would only take 17 minutes, so I decided to walk. It was then I noticed that they started “walk north-west”. Sadly I had not brought a compass with me and did not have a clue which direction was northwest. However I could see the spire of Lincoln Cathedral and knew that the cathedral was next to the castle and the lecture venue was the other side of the castle. So I reasoned that if I made a beeline for the cathedral I would be OK.
And I was. Well, sort of. After a few minutes walk I came to a steep hill. The road bent left at the top. I decided to climb the hill as it did not look too long a walk. Sadly the bend was hiding a steeper hill, and, yes, the bend at the top of that was hiding an even steeper one. Fortunately there was a bench at the top of that, as by the time I finished climbing I felt ready for a heart attack! OK, I should have remembered that they used to build castles on top of the highest hill around. But I didn’t reckon on anyone finding a hill quite that high and quite that steep.
I got to the lecture venue at about quarter to six. I then discovered that the connector to the projector would not attach to my notebook computer (they were both male end and one needed to be female). So I’d have to manage without the slides. The organiser then asked if I really needed a microphone, as someone had walked away with the Copel mike and although they could give me a hand held one, I would have to hold it all the time as it did not have a stand. After all that hill climbing, all I really wanted was a drink – and to get my breath back – but I couldn’t see a bar so told him that I speak loudly so I could manage without. Thankfully after my talk he gave me a lift back to the station (using a route that involved no steep hills at all!) in good time to catch my train.
I’d got a travel bargain. The fare from Lincoln to London was only £6.95 (I love bargains – OK, I’ve got a mean streak). For this I had to change trains and change stations too. East Midland Trains would deliver me to Newark Castle station and I would then have a short walk to Newark Northgate station from which East Coast trains would take me back to London.
That looked fine when I booked. At 9.00 at night in a strange town it looked far less inviting. Indeed, when I discovered that the walk from one station to the other was not signposted, I began to wish that I’d paid the full fare to get a direct train from Lincoln.
There was a map of central Newark at the station, so I could see where Newark Northgate was. Unfortunately I am not very good at remembering maps. Fortunately I didn’t walk too far in the wrong direction before I found another map! Fortunately also the train companies had allowed almost an hour for the traveller to find Northgate station. I didn’t need that long. Fortunately that warm waiting room I mentioned earlier was still open. I am currently reading Bleak House on my Kindle. I was beginning to think that it must be in Newark! (OK, that’s unfair; if it wasn’t cold and I knew where I was going, I would probably have looked more closely at Newark and found it pretty).
I got home around 12.15am, which means that I must have passed the last of my birthday on the Metropolitan line somewhere between Finchley Road and Wembley Park. To be honest I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t even feeling that I was glad to see the end of the day. I was just longing to get home!
ROBERT MAAS
I CAN ONLY MANAGE THIS ONCE A YEAR!
It was my birthday on Monday. I’m feeling very glad that they only come once a year, as it was one of those days that start badly and then gradually get worse. I got to my local station only to find that the Metropolitan line was suspended because of over-running engineering works. “Surely”, I thought “by 9am they should have sorted that out”. Fortunately I can get the Bakerloo line from another station a bus ride away. Unfortunately that had “minor delays” too, but after a bit of a walk I did manage to get a London Overground train into Euston. So half an hour late getting to work.
I had an evening lecture engagement in Lincoln. “Why not go a bit early and have a quick look around Lincoln”, I thought. East Coast trains thought otherwise. The plan was to get the 14.08 from Kings Cross, change trains at Peterborough and got to Lincoln at a quarter to five. After the train left Stevenage they announced that the connecting train for Lincoln had been cancelled and passengers should remain on the train to Newark to get a connection from there. They left it till a lot later to explain that the connection from Newark involved waiting at Newark for over an hour. Fortunately it had a warm waiting room and I had my kindle in my case, so I could sit and read.
Even more fortunately the train got me into Lincoln at 5.15, so I only lost half an hour – and of course my chance for sightseeing as I was due to lecture at 6pm. I thought that as time was getting short I had better get a taxi to the venue but there was a long queue and the walking instructions said it would only take 17 minutes, so I decided to walk. It was then I noticed that they started “walk north-west”. Sadly I had not brought a compass with me and did not have a clue which direction was northwest. However I could see the spire of Lincoln Cathedral and knew that the cathedral was next to the castle and the lecture venue was the other side of the castle. So I reasoned that if I made a beeline for the cathedral I would be OK.
And I was. Well, sort of. After a few minutes walk I came to a steep hill. The road bent left at the top. I decided to climb the hill as it did not look too long a walk. Sadly the bend was hiding a steeper hill, and, yes, the bend at the top of that was hiding an even steeper one. Fortunately there was a bench at the top of that, as by the time I finished climbing I felt ready for a heart attack! OK, I should have remembered that they used to build castles on top of the highest hill around. But I didn’t reckon on anyone finding a hill quite that high and quite that steep.
I got to the lecture venue at about quarter to six. I then discovered that the connector to the projector would not attach to my notebook computer (they were both male end and one needed to be female). So I’d have to manage without the slides. The organiser then asked if I really needed a microphone, as someone had walked away with the Copel mike and although they could give me a hand held one, I would have to hold it all the time as it did not have a stand. After all that hill climbing, all I really wanted was a drink – and to get my breath back – but I couldn’t see a bar so told him that I speak loudly so I could manage without. Thankfully after my talk he gave me a lift back to the station (using a route that involved no steep hills at all!) in good time to catch my train.
I’d got a travel bargain. The fare from Lincoln to London was only £6.95 (I love bargains – OK, I’ve got a mean streak). For this I had to change trains and change stations too. East Midland Trains would deliver me to Newark Castle station and I would then have a short walk to Newark Northgate station from which East Coast trains would take me back to London.
That looked fine when I booked. At 9.00 at night in a strange town it looked far less inviting. Indeed, when I discovered that the walk from one station to the other was not signposted, I began to wish that I’d paid the full fare to get a direct train from Lincoln.
There was a map of central Newark at the station, so I could see where Newark Northgate was. Unfortunately I am not very good at remembering maps. Fortunately I didn’t walk too far in the wrong direction before I found another map! Fortunately also the train companies had allowed almost an hour for the traveller to find Northgate station. I didn’t need that long. Fortunately that warm waiting room I mentioned earlier was still open. I am currently reading Bleak House on my Kindle. I was beginning to think that it must be in Newark! (OK, that’s unfair; if it wasn’t cold and I knew where I was going, I would probably have looked more closely at Newark and found it pretty).
I got home around 12.15am, which means that I must have passed the last of my birthday on the Metropolitan line somewhere between Finchley Road and Wembley Park. To be honest I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t even feeling that I was glad to see the end of the day. I was just longing to get home!
ROBERT MAAS
posted by CBW at 8:53 am
2 Comments:
Happy belated birthday, avid reader of your blogs, love your style and homour. Have followed you since blog 68,June 2009.Hope that you will be pleased to know that I have HMRC in my sights following extensive research into how they can declare a tax payer bankrupt when in fact they are £9,700 in credit.I anm looking into the possibility of national exposure to ensure that government does in fact take notice.Your blogs give an insight into the injustices, I hope that I may quote from them in my pursuit of justice.
Happy belated birthday, avid reader of your blogs, love your style and homour. Have followed you since blog 68,June 2009.Hope that you will be pleased to know that I have HMRC in my sights following extensive research into how they can declare a tax payer bankrupt when in fact they are £9,700 in credit.I anm looking into the possibility of national exposure to ensure that government does in fact take notice.Your blogs give an insight into the injustices, I hope that I may quote from them in my pursuit of justice.
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