Trip Down Memory Lane

Yesterday was a nostalgic day for me, it turned out to be a good day in more ways than one, if a little challenging at times. Living in a beautiful and semi-rural part of North Wales my reasons for visiting our great capital are few. And when I do go, my usual transport of choice is my car — my space, my music, my company! Can't beat it, even in a traffic jam or full-on gridlock! That said, with an appointment in London scheduled for yesterday afternoon and a forecast of several more inches of snow, the UK road network and dwindling grit supplies held no appeal whatsoever. So the train it was!

My journey — one that would provide excellent material for any half-decent stand up comedian — began with a just-in-time arrival at Chester train station, literally, two minutes to spare, I hadn't even sat down before the train started moving. The anxiety of the will I / won't I make it had just started to subside, as I wriggled around in my less than spacious seat trying to get comfortable, when the strangest sounds started to register! The gentleman sat next to me (who had politely overlooked my wriggling) glanced at me a little apprehensively but my glance back must have been equally as worried. We both realised around the same time that the sounds were emanating from a more elderly gentleman sat behind us, and the sounds were the result of him having absolutely no qualms about sniffing, snorting or breaking wind at will! After the event - highly amusing, at the time, not so much! After two hours and one minute (bang on time) I arrived in London, the old boy had fallen asleep around Birmingham and I am adept at blanking out the sound of snoring!

And so on to the tube, which is where the nostalgia comes into play. In my university days I was adept at tube journeys, having to traverse London on my way home, or to visit numerous friends who had chosen London as their place of study. Yesterday, I was thrown into a bit of a panic when after one stop an announcement was made that the train was going no further due to a broken down train further up the line. Trains would be severely disrupted for the next few hours! Consulting my diary underground map I figured three more tubes and I could get relatively close to where I wanted to go!! No other line took me to my intended destination. I did it. And I was only an hour late. A minor achievement in the scheme of things — but it felt good and brought back great memories that I hadn't visited in a while.

And just in case you are interested: I had a good meeting, and my return journey, three hours later, was uneventful, peaceful, and even allowed for a leisurely coffee at Euston station!