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Expensive Trip!

It was nice to get down to London and catch up with Paul again, but there’s always a reluctance to come home! Let’s face it, this is a pretty dismal area. Birmingham, the city, is okay enough, but the rest? Pah!

Paul and I went into the British Museum for a while and looked at a lot of old Egyptian thingies. He tried to take a couple of snaps, but neither came out very well. The last time I went in the place was a school trip back in 1981; it brought back a lot of memories, even though it’s changed a lot since then. The main memory, alas, is of me dying of thirst and not being allowed to go to the canteen for a drink until we’d looked at everything we were supposed to see. School trips simply aren’t designed to be enjoyed.

British Museum London March 15 2004
Horrible, weird, blurry pic in the British Museum. Better luck next time, Paul!
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Stuck in the House

Terrible, rainy weather today. I’m not really stuck in the house, but I had a couple of non-urgent errands that this wretched downpour has dissuaded me from doing today. (Okay, I’m a wuss. Sue me.)

I had plans for last Wednesday. Saruman himself, Christopher Lee, was signing his autobiography, Lord of Misrule, in London at Forbidden Planet on Saturday and Borders on Wednesday. I thought I’d go for Wednesday. Alas, irrevocable transport problems put the kibosh on my plans… I did finally make it into Brum, but too late to get an affordable train that would’ve been on time. My only choice was a Virgin train for £30. I was forced to admit defeat.

Lord Of Misrule 2003
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Down in London

Saturday was time to head down London way again. I was planning to go into Ilford while in town, to see my old pal Tim Bateman, but got caught in a rainfall and had to give it a miss. Although I had a nice, long chat with him on the phone, until he started worrying about his bill and rung off! Then I wandered round Waterstone’s for a while and bought a couple of books I couldn’t afford.

The train home was screwed. Surprise! The rail service has become shambolic. I had to get a train into Watford Junction and wait there for almost an hour to get another one into Brum. Then the train at Brum to take me back home was delayed. And since my feet were by then killing me (it was almost midnight), I decided to get a taxi from the station too. Costly, time-consuming and tiring.
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Train Delay Shocker!

Our beloved train service strikes again. The train a friend I’m meeting up with should have caught around 6:00pm was cancelled. Ergo, the anticipated arrival in Birmingham at 9:00pm now looks more like 11:00pm! This leaves me with little to do right now except write this and have a moan about how crap the trains are.
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