Sunday Afternoon… 3:15pm…
The start of a long journey via the wonders of our rail network to London. Two trains, 1 change, and First Class thanks to a little known thing called the “Internet” which allows you to check the price difference between Standard and First class – and book said tickets if they are cheap enough.
The price difference for me was under 5 pounds, which bearing in mind for two journeys I can spend that on Coffee – free in First Class.
That… however… was where the happy happy joy joy moment ended.
Arriving at Doncaster I was told many times over the tannoy that the train was Standing Only in both Standard and First Class. I had a ticket with a reserved seat, so no problem… and indeed I had no problems getting my seat.
Sadly I discovered that they had stopped the complimentary trolley service because they “couldn’t get through”. Remind me again why I purchased a First Class ticket…?
A fairly event free journey followed to London – although we did go through the mother of all thunderstorms at Peterborough – and a fairly event free journey up to Enfield Chase station too.
The night was spent at a friend of the band’s house and I must thank them for putting us up for the night.
The morning happened… 5AM! – I didn’t realise there were two 5 o’clock’s in a day!. A journey back down to Grosvenor Square and the US Embassy to face the ordeal of telling them we wanted to visit the USA for a few days and might just make some money… and they decided my case was valid and indeed the Visa was granted without query.
Now, I’m sat in Costa Coffee using my 3G (why does Costas NOT have Free WIFI for f**ks sake it’s the 21st Century) and writing this… I can’t wait to get home now but my train isn’t till 8pm so I am visiting a few places I’ve wanted to see in London… and will use the 1st Class Lounge at Kings Cross to kill the final hour (the place I am visiting next closes at 6pm and it’s about an hour to Kings Cross).
… adventure part 2 to follow …