This is my first post. I post in another place too, but figured I’d give this a try.
On Monday I was up at 4.00am, despite the alarm not set until 4.45am. I got ready, noted my trousers felt a bit tight again (ffs) and headed over to my parents.
Car dropped off, keys on the fireplace and my Mother kindly deposited me at the station at 6.20am.
A (a former council colleague, female, 52 and an entrepreneur) had telephoned me and we had discovered we were heading to London on the same day. She kindly changed her ticket to board my train despite not needing to be in London as early as I did, and used the app to change her seat to sit with me. She boarded the train at Darlington and we enjoyed the remainder of the journey together. It was a great ride down.
Once at Kings Cross, we walked to the underground and parted at the Victoria, Piccadilly underground turn as she headed out towards Holburn to her work event. I made my way to work and at 12.30pm entered my meeting with the client, emerging very tired at 4.00pm.
At 5.15pm I walked to my hotel, checked in, resisted the urge to sleep and minus my case took the Pimlico to Victoria tube and walked the short distance to The Ivy for 6.00pm. We had a nice meal, it cost the company a fortune but the food was amazing and I was back in the hotel at about 9.00pm.
Because I’m so horribly unfit, I was a bit hot when I got back and I never enjoy my heart rate going up. I always think my heart will just think “fcuk this” and stop. Anyway, slightly anxious I ended up sleeping badly, one pillow seemed too low and two seemed way too high.
I was up again at 6am where I showered, got dressed, packed my bad and refused to leave until 7.00am, setting myself one of my weird deadlines.
The hotel is near Pimlico station so at 7.00am I walked past the station and down to Millbank Tower. When I arrived at 7.20am, one of the client teams were there getting ready to go to an event at Parliament which started at 9.00am.
I was commandeered to help load the taxi with foodstuffs they were taking with them. After loading them into the taxi and waving them off, I walked to get a breakfast sandwich and I visited the Sainsbury’s local to get myself a sandwich to avoid any delay when I left the office in the evening to head for the train and I walked back to the office, arriving at 8.15am. No-one appeared until after 9.00am.
At around 10am, the fire alarm suddenly went off. We sat for a bit, about 12 of us, then we were informed by security we had to evacuate. We walked down the back stairwell en masse, joining a stream of humanity from the 27 floors above us and walked to our fire assembly point. Around 30 minutes later we were allowed back in and we never found out what caused the issue. Evidently it was nothing serious.
I was supposed to go for lunch with my team leader and a colleague but he contacted me to say he was working from home so that was cancelled. I therefore wandered back to the sainsbury’s and returned with a sandwich.
During the afternoon, when the lack of sleep really caught up with me, I checked the live departures for Kings Cross and saw that there had been a problem between Grantham and Peterborough, meaning every train heading north on the East coast mainline would be affected. The fault mentioned overhead cables, which experience told me meant long delays.
Incredibly (and very pleasingly) my train was neither cancelled nor delayed, so I set off at 5.30pm, legs very painful by now due to the exertion they are not used to, particularly my left achilles which is a real nightmare atm and I arrived at Kings Cross just as the clock hit 6.00pm exactly under the big departures board.
A few minutes later my train began to board on Platform 4, where I was sat in coach B, one of the furthest away. Tuesday returns are a lot quieter than Thursdays, so I was sat on a table opposite and to the side of one other woman. We set off on time and without incident arrived in Peterborough the usual 50 minutes later.
Unfortunately any thoughts of having avoided any delays proved to be wishful thinking. We came to a standstill around 5 minutes from Grantham and the driver came over the tannoy (never a good sign) to advise the problem with the lines remained and we were sixth in a queue of trains. We didn’t move for 45 minutes, then moved 50 yards, then sat for another 20.
I noted how people started talking to each other during the delay, so I had a chat with those nearby. Many were moaning about trains and delays, but when there’s one train line in either direction, which is the case for most main lines, if something happens that stops trains moving and causes a bottle neck, chuck as much money as you like at the trains system, the whole thing will still go down the toilet if that happens. We just had to lump it.
I should have arrived at Durham station at 9.09pm, but due t the delays we arrived at 10.40pm. I was home by 11.30pm, surprisingly fresh and I had a brilliant nights sleep in my own bed.
Before I went to sleep I filled out the refund request form, as the delay was over 30 minutes, but in what was probably a bad move doing so when so tired, I must have made a mistake as their automated system said the information I inputted did not match my booking and my refund request was rejected. This morning I submitted the correct information manually, which is possible. I will get a refund of around half the overall return portion of the ticket fee.
I’m next down in London again on February 21st. I maanged a great days work today and will tackle some meaty longer tasks tomorrow.
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