Blog - Curry with Sarah, and Sleeper to Glasgow (2007-12-05)

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Curry with Sarah, and Sleeper to Glasgow (2007-12-05)

Category: Diary. Posted: 2007-12-12 00:21:00 GMT.

I got a bit carried away updating my blog last night, and didn't get to sleep until about 01:30. About five hours later, my alarm went off, and I had to get up. I also had to chuck a few things in my bag, because I was going to Glasgow in the evening. I did this, made sure that everything was turned off at home, and then cycled into work. The forecast was for heavy rain, and it was a bit wet outside. Not only did I put on my waterproof coat, and waterproof trousers, but I put on the waterproof overshoes that I bought on Monday. To be honest, it wasn't really raining enough to give me wet feet, but I did have dry feet when I arrived at work.

We'd had problems with our main e-mail server at work over the last few days, so a lot of e-mail had been delayed. It was working again this morning, but that meant that I had quite a bit of e-mail to catch up with. Not ideal, since I couldn't leave the office until I had dealt with it all. Fortunately, not much else arrived during the day, so I managed to finish what needed to be finished by about half-five. I even found time to sort out my expenses from my trip to Guildford. It will take me ages to get over the shock that I have lost the receipt for the cuppa that I ended up throwing away!

Just before leaving work, I called up FGW, and booked my tickets for the weekend. This booking tickets, and collecting them from FastTicket machines is the way forward. I've done it before, but now that Slough and Langley stations have ticket machines, I'll be doing it more often. This time, I asked to collect my tickets from Euston, because I wasn't going to Slough station. The advantage of using FGW, rather than QJump or Trainline, is that it doesn't charge a credit-card booking fee, and gives one reference number for the whole transaction, even though the whole transaction might consist of more than one journey.

I was going to catch the sleeper up to Glasgow, so that I was ready for my first meeting, and then fly back to Heathrow after my second meeting. Because I was flying back into Heathrow, it made sense to leave my bike at Heathrow, get the tube towards Euston, and then have dinner with Sarah before getting the sleeper. As I rested my bike against the wall before locking up the office, I felt the rear tyre, and it didn't feel as hard as it did yesterday (ooh-err missus). Never mind, at least it wasn't flat. I locked up the office, unlocked my bike, put my bag on the rack, and then cycled to Heathrow.

About five minutes later, I had just cycled through Narnia, and then heard a hiss. Gimmeration, another puncture! With it being dark, and a bit wet, I really didn't fancy fixing it there and then, so pushed the bike back to work. On the way back, I saw lots of glass in the road. I was sure it hadn't been there on the way to Heathrow, but it might have been. I left the bike at work, and then walked to Slough station (so I could have collected my tickets from Slough station).

After figuring out which 18:41 train I should get, I bought a cuppa. While paying, I saw a Slough to Totnes ticket. I was tempted to keep it, but, in the end, my conscience got the better of me, and I handed it in. After handing it in, I realised that it would have been no use to me, because it was only the outward part of the ticket. Anyway, I got on the train, drank my tea, and shut my eyes for a few minutes. I had waited for the delayed "fast" 18:41, because I thought it would have tables, and comfy seats, but it was a cheap local train. While waiting for the delayed train, I realised that there were signs about high-speed trains stopping at Slough from 9th December, and explaining where to put my bike on. Does this mean that I will be able to get a train directly from Slough to Bath? Top idea.

Anyway, I arrived at Paddington on time. While I called Sarah, I noticed that the Evening Standard seller had an EFTPOS machine. If I'd got around to activating my Barclaycard Oystercard, I'd have bought one, just to test out the card! Sarah didn't answer, because she was in the library, but I told her I'd be at Euston Square in about 20 minutes. Worryingly, Sarah thought I was leaving from King's Cross. If I was, this would be a pain, because I needed to go to Euston to collect the tickets that I'd booked earlier! While waiting for my tube to arrived, I checked up the train times on t'internet, and found that my train was leaving from Euston. I must have told her wrongly last week (it's bound to be my mistake, not hers, because she's a girl!).

20 minutes later, I was there. My phone rang just as I got above ground, but it was Tom, not Sarah. Tom's a top bloke, but I was disappointed that it wasn't totty! We discussed where to meet at the weekend. We didn't actually figure out an answer, but knew we would figure one out sometime.

Sarah then called from the other side of the road, and told me that I should cross to her side of the road, because it was better on that side. I wasn't convinced, but crossed anyway (while listening to a voicemail from Gimmer, checking I was still up for tomorrow evening). Sarah was looking as sexy as always, but I still haven't got used to her new hair-cut. She took me on a tour of the back-streets until we got to some traffic lights, and two curry houses. She claimed this was planned, but I'm not convinced! The first one we went to had an apostrophe in biryanis, so we went to the second one (Palms of Goa, in Cavendish Street). The service and food were excellent, and the mattar panneer probably gets a 3½/5, if not 4/5. I always have a laugh spending time with Sarah, but I'm really going to have to buy her something to lock her saddle up, so that she doesn't have to carry it around all the time.

We walked back to Warren Street, where Sarah had left her bike, and I then walked to Euston (calling Gimmer on the way). As I got close, I suddenly got a bit worried about my train time. It was about 11PM, and I was worried that it might have left at 10:45. Fortunately, I was right, and it was due to leave at 11:45. The train was ready for boarding, so I got straight on. I do like using the sleeper - for some reason I feel quite at home on the sleeper (far more so that in a hotel). The only disadvantage in using FastTicket machines is that they don't print the food voucher that I would have got if my tickets had been posted. Don't worry, I'll be complaining about that soon.

I unpacked my bag, and then put my battery pack on to charge (it had run out of charge while charging my phone while we were eating). As happened the last time I caught the sleeper, the 240V shaver socket didn't hold my charger, but the 120V one did. Before leaving to the bar, I turned my TomTom on to check it still worked, and it wouldn't turn on. I then plugged it into the charger, and it turned on. This was confusing, because it was working fine on Saturday, with no low battery warning. I then remembered what happened on Saturday. After falling asleep on my sofa, I went downstairs because I thought that I'd left my TomTom on, but found it turned off. Obviously, I had left it on, and it had run out of power. What a a fool! I left the TomTom charging instead, and headed to the bar. There weren't any tables spare, but I joined a bloke who was sitting staring at his Blackberry. I ordered myself a Stella, and started updating my blog. No matter what I did, I couldn't get my wireless keyboard to work. I tried rebooting my PDA, but that didn't work. I then realised that it was only in the word processor that it didn't seem to be working. I then realised that the scratch pad didn't work in the word processor, and eventually realised that there was a read-only icon that I must have pressed by mistake. What a stupid icon, but at least I know now what to do if it happens again. I then finished my beer, while updating my blog, putting up with some woman spilling her wine everywhere, and some bloke ranting about mobile-free carriages.

Back in my "room", I filled the wash-basin with water (the sign was right - the water was very hot!), and opened up my ScotRail overnight bag. I'd brought my own razor, but had relied on there being shaving foam in the bag. There was a cheap razor in the bag, but no shaving foam. What's the point in that? Another rant to ScotRail, I think! Anyway, I was quite tired, so settled down for a good kip.

[1] CherryBoy (Still off Holland (and now fricked off for being here)) 2007-12-12 15:06:05 GMT
Where is the mention of the long discussion about the pros and cons of flying to and from Glasgow?

Probable reason for no shaving foam: allergic reactions. I am impressed they offered a razor with the inherint dangers of using such an item.

Waterproof overshoes. I am starting to worry about you. Have you started seeing those adverts by JML and thinking "hey that is a great idea!" or you pick up the "Innovations" catalog withut using it for a source of mirth?

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