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Wednesday, just another day...
OK, where to start...........
The basic plan for Wednesday was... Need to collect a truck from Birmingham, that has overheating issues on long journeys, but drives OK. Easy!
Normal solution is to hire trailer, and go and collect it with L's truck. Easy, but quite expensive (trailer hire and fuel, budgeted about £100, but friend happy to pay that as part of the deal, see Feb 14th blog for details)
Then had what seemed like a good idea at the time, L found we could get a train ticket booked in advance to Walsall for £14!!! Great thinks I, can actually make some extra money out of today. Train up there, load the truck up with spare water, cruise home stopping every 1/2 hour for a break and to top coolant up.
Slight snag that a Fast Track ticket collection machine dosn't exsist at Basingstoke, but one at Reading. No problem, £5 train to Reading, collect ticket, great! Still only costing £20 to get there. L's get cash out to buy truck day before during work, to save time.
Still with me? Morning started great, L dropped me off up station...That was last bit of things going according to plan!!
Train to Reading delayed! Poo, I only have 10mins to collect ticket at reading and get on main train. Bigger POO!! Left the cash for buying car with L!!! L rushes back to station, but train leaves before she gets there. Talk on the phone, not a big deal, she'll transfer some money by phone, and I can get cash at walsall from a machine. Thats delt with, other issue train 8mins late leaving Basingstoke!! EEK!
Got to reading 11:35, my train leaves at 11:40, cue mad run down platform, queue to got out turnstile, outside to ticket machines, machine won't except card to cough up tickets!! Try next machine, wait in line, card in, tickets issues forth! Great!! My Phone says 11:38, run through station, actually jumped over turnstile like they do in the films waving tickets at guy on gate!!!! lol Hope I looked cool on the CCTV!!
Over bridge, (why did it have to other end of station!!) slide down handrail like a real action hero, arrive at platform as train pulls out of station!
FAWK!!
.........OK, there I am, watching 11:40 train leave (panting slightly), leaving me with a non refundable, non tranferable, this train only ticket!
Collect thoughts, visit Subway and buy a big Steak and Cheese Sub (extra cheese, and South West sauce), debating next move. After warming food, wander back to ticket guy, to apologies for playing hurdles with his ticket barrier, and see what I do next. Single ticket to Brum on the day is £40, and still need to make the connection to Walsall at 14:40 in Brum.
Ticket guy is cool, says it happens all the time, have chat, seems like best plan is to get next Virgin train, have a word with the inspector and go from there. Next trian I need is 12:10, which still get to Brummyland in time to make connection.
Train arrives at Reading at 12:40!!!!!! damn, having sat at Basingstoke!!!!! (doh!!!!!! ) for a while due to flooding on the line.
So get on train, as we're all alocated seats on tickets, I have nowhere to sit, so have to stand in the buffet car buying food and drinks to pass the time. No sign of the ticket inspector after 1/2 hour, so decide to look for a seat thats not taken before I run out of cash at the buffet.
Found a seat next to a nice old lady, who atually really was really nice, but wouldn't stop chatting!!! I was looking forward to a couple of hours relaxing on the train, had a couple Terry Pratchet audio books on my Ipod, a book to read and maybe even get some sleep. But hey ho, it felt rude to ignore her. So deep lifestyle/'trouble with today' discussions followed for a hour.
After a bit trian stopped in the middle of nowhere, Cows on the line! 1/2 hour later we're off again. Get to some station in the wilds of Northampton, another dalay!!!! Points failure outside station. by this time its getting on for 14:00, have no signal to get hold of guy meeting me at Walsall. Balls!
By this time the trian is so late, we are only minutes ahead of the next train behind us, and at every station people are getting on this one, and one behind is empty. Ticket guy is on the tannoy getting annoyed, telling peolpe to get off and wait for next train as they are on the wrong one and will be charged a surcharge. Great thinks I, I'm already on the wrong train.......
Bit later, ticket guys cruises part checking tickets, I'm wearing my biggest, helpfullest 'sorry, I'm completely in your hands, not going cause trouble, give me a break mate' smile as he gets to me.....
...and he's cool with it!! Result!!! "Can't be bothered mate, you're fine" as he wanders off down the train. Wahay, praps things are looking up!. :phew: as I've only about £20 left after the food fest earlier.
Recap, no extra to pay, ticket inspector cool, train currently 2 hours later getting to Birmingham New Street than planned. No phone signal to contact guy meeting me at Walsall station at 14:05. ie now, and we're still not yet at Coventry.
Back to the train.... happy now, knowing fare isn't going to cost any more, connection to Walsall well missed as well, but should be able to blag it as this train SHOULD have still got to New Street in time to catch it so its Virgin trains problem, not mine.
Chatting with old lady still, she's got on the train at Bournmouth, going to Manchester, I say I hope she brought a sleeping bag and supplies, which makes her laugh her so much her teeth fall out! Honestly.....
Finally the train pulls into Brimingham, train driver thanks everyone for their patience, decides he has to go home now so is leaving the train here as well and a new driver will be along soon. Wish the lady luck with her journey, and finally get off the train.
Have a signal, so ring guy, he's not far from where I am, so says forget going to Walsall, he'll pick me up here. Hayhay!! Another break Suely the day is coming good at last.
Wander around the Bullring shopping center, looking for a cash machine to withdraw the required funds, proud of myself for resisting going in various food shops, including a huge Pick-n-Mix, and a Ben and Jerrys.
Find a Cash machine, great, insert card, give me £650......nah! This is over you're daily limit sir!! Oh crap, here I am in 100's of miles from home, to buy a car to get me home, and sans the money to buy it!
Withdraw £300, then think, AHAH! I have L's card on me as well, (needed it to claim tickets at Reading, what seemed a good few weeks ago now...) Put L's card in.......sorry, that amont not available! Double crap! Its a account limit per day, not a card limit!!! Don't have any money in my other bank account I can use.
Ring L with the problem. she rings a branch, and if I can get to a branch, they'll let me have the rest of the ££. Great, but slight problem, I'm in a mystery town, with no idea where the nearest RBS branch is. Time is getting on, don't want them to shut.
Guy arrives, picks me up, and asks, " so, had a good trip?" hmmmm, where do you start!!
"Yeah, fine" says I, master of the understatement, "sorry I'm so late." Linda rings back, says there is a branch in Walsall, so we hot foot it there, expaining the cash flow problem on the way. Luckly he knows where it is, so well within closing time, I have the rest of his money, and we're off to see the car.
Its fine, he's cool with giving me the log book, so mate can fill in later (don't know all his details) make a reciept with a time on it, so he can't get any hassle if I get stopped on the way home.
Check the water level, have 6 liters of water in the boot and I'm on my merry way. Buy £40 worth of Diesel (a mistake in hindsight!!) and get on to the M6, light traffic, about 4pm, looking good. 1 mile down the road temp gauage is in the red!! Bugger! Their not suposed to do it that quick, I've limped loads of Surfs with duff heads home in the past!
So I let it cool down, just about to start pouring water in and Mr Plod arrives on the scene. "Hello sir, everything OK?"
Bugger, glance at the windscreen, offer a quick prayer to whoever is listening up there in Godland and dosn't mind a temporary member.....
THE TRUCK HAS TAX, till the end of this month, thank FAWK for that!!, it never crossed my mind till then! Everything else is cool, its not my truck, and I'm covered to drive anything not owned by me on my insurance, so thats cool, Mr Plods computer also says the truck has a MOT as well. Phew.
I convince them I know what I'm doing, have plenty of water on board to get the truck moving again, am in the AA if need be, blaa, blaa......they take my mobile number, and will call in 1/2 hour to see if I'm OK.
So we're off again, I make it to some services, buy 15l's of stupidly expensive mineral water, bottle of Rad Weld, pour it all in the truck, hit the road...........
end of part 1
OK, where to start...........
The basic plan for Wednesday was... Need to collect a truck from Birmingham, that has overheating issues on long journeys, but drives OK. Easy!
Normal solution is to hire trailer, and go and collect it with L's truck. Easy, but quite expensive (trailer hire and fuel, budgeted about £100, but friend happy to pay that as part of the deal, see Feb 14th blog for details)
Then had what seemed like a good idea at the time, L found we could get a train ticket booked in advance to Walsall for £14!!! Great thinks I, can actually make some extra money out of today. Train up there, load the truck up with spare water, cruise home stopping every 1/2 hour for a break and to top coolant up.
Slight snag that a Fast Track ticket collection machine dosn't exsist at Basingstoke, but one at Reading. No problem, £5 train to Reading, collect ticket, great! Still only costing £20 to get there. L's get cash out to buy truck day before during work, to save time.
Still with me? Morning started great, L dropped me off up station...That was last bit of things going according to plan!!
Train to Reading delayed! Poo, I only have 10mins to collect ticket at reading and get on main train. Bigger POO!! Left the cash for buying car with L!!! L rushes back to station, but train leaves before she gets there. Talk on the phone, not a big deal, she'll transfer some money by phone, and I can get cash at walsall from a machine. Thats delt with, other issue train 8mins late leaving Basingstoke!! EEK!
Got to reading 11:35, my train leaves at 11:40, cue mad run down platform, queue to got out turnstile, outside to ticket machines, machine won't except card to cough up tickets!! Try next machine, wait in line, card in, tickets issues forth! Great!! My Phone says 11:38, run through station, actually jumped over turnstile like they do in the films waving tickets at guy on gate!!!! lol Hope I looked cool on the CCTV!!
Over bridge, (why did it have to other end of station!!) slide down handrail like a real action hero, arrive at platform as train pulls out of station!
FAWK!!
.........OK, there I am, watching 11:40 train leave (panting slightly), leaving me with a non refundable, non tranferable, this train only ticket!
Collect thoughts, visit Subway and buy a big Steak and Cheese Sub (extra cheese, and South West sauce), debating next move. After warming food, wander back to ticket guy, to apologies for playing hurdles with his ticket barrier, and see what I do next. Single ticket to Brum on the day is £40, and still need to make the connection to Walsall at 14:40 in Brum.
Ticket guy is cool, says it happens all the time, have chat, seems like best plan is to get next Virgin train, have a word with the inspector and go from there. Next trian I need is 12:10, which still get to Brummyland in time to make connection.
Train arrives at Reading at 12:40!!!!!! damn, having sat at Basingstoke!!!!! (doh!!!!!! ) for a while due to flooding on the line.
So get on train, as we're all alocated seats on tickets, I have nowhere to sit, so have to stand in the buffet car buying food and drinks to pass the time. No sign of the ticket inspector after 1/2 hour, so decide to look for a seat thats not taken before I run out of cash at the buffet.
Found a seat next to a nice old lady, who atually really was really nice, but wouldn't stop chatting!!! I was looking forward to a couple of hours relaxing on the train, had a couple Terry Pratchet audio books on my Ipod, a book to read and maybe even get some sleep. But hey ho, it felt rude to ignore her. So deep lifestyle/'trouble with today' discussions followed for a hour.
After a bit trian stopped in the middle of nowhere, Cows on the line! 1/2 hour later we're off again. Get to some station in the wilds of Northampton, another dalay!!!! Points failure outside station. by this time its getting on for 14:00, have no signal to get hold of guy meeting me at Walsall. Balls!
By this time the trian is so late, we are only minutes ahead of the next train behind us, and at every station people are getting on this one, and one behind is empty. Ticket guy is on the tannoy getting annoyed, telling peolpe to get off and wait for next train as they are on the wrong one and will be charged a surcharge. Great thinks I, I'm already on the wrong train.......
Bit later, ticket guys cruises part checking tickets, I'm wearing my biggest, helpfullest 'sorry, I'm completely in your hands, not going cause trouble, give me a break mate' smile as he gets to me.....
...and he's cool with it!! Result!!! "Can't be bothered mate, you're fine" as he wanders off down the train. Wahay, praps things are looking up!. :phew: as I've only about £20 left after the food fest earlier.
Recap, no extra to pay, ticket inspector cool, train currently 2 hours later getting to Birmingham New Street than planned. No phone signal to contact guy meeting me at Walsall station at 14:05. ie now, and we're still not yet at Coventry.
Back to the train.... happy now, knowing fare isn't going to cost any more, connection to Walsall well missed as well, but should be able to blag it as this train SHOULD have still got to New Street in time to catch it so its Virgin trains problem, not mine.
Chatting with old lady still, she's got on the train at Bournmouth, going to Manchester, I say I hope she brought a sleeping bag and supplies, which makes her laugh her so much her teeth fall out! Honestly.....
Finally the train pulls into Brimingham, train driver thanks everyone for their patience, decides he has to go home now so is leaving the train here as well and a new driver will be along soon. Wish the lady luck with her journey, and finally get off the train.
Have a signal, so ring guy, he's not far from where I am, so says forget going to Walsall, he'll pick me up here. Hayhay!! Another break Suely the day is coming good at last.
Wander around the Bullring shopping center, looking for a cash machine to withdraw the required funds, proud of myself for resisting going in various food shops, including a huge Pick-n-Mix, and a Ben and Jerrys.
Find a Cash machine, great, insert card, give me £650......nah! This is over you're daily limit sir!! Oh crap, here I am in 100's of miles from home, to buy a car to get me home, and sans the money to buy it!
Withdraw £300, then think, AHAH! I have L's card on me as well, (needed it to claim tickets at Reading, what seemed a good few weeks ago now...) Put L's card in.......sorry, that amont not available! Double crap! Its a account limit per day, not a card limit!!! Don't have any money in my other bank account I can use.
Ring L with the problem. she rings a branch, and if I can get to a branch, they'll let me have the rest of the ££. Great, but slight problem, I'm in a mystery town, with no idea where the nearest RBS branch is. Time is getting on, don't want them to shut.
Guy arrives, picks me up, and asks, " so, had a good trip?" hmmmm, where do you start!!
"Yeah, fine" says I, master of the understatement, "sorry I'm so late." Linda rings back, says there is a branch in Walsall, so we hot foot it there, expaining the cash flow problem on the way. Luckly he knows where it is, so well within closing time, I have the rest of his money, and we're off to see the car.
Its fine, he's cool with giving me the log book, so mate can fill in later (don't know all his details) make a reciept with a time on it, so he can't get any hassle if I get stopped on the way home.
Check the water level, have 6 liters of water in the boot and I'm on my merry way. Buy £40 worth of Diesel (a mistake in hindsight!!) and get on to the M6, light traffic, about 4pm, looking good. 1 mile down the road temp gauage is in the red!! Bugger! Their not suposed to do it that quick, I've limped loads of Surfs with duff heads home in the past!
So I let it cool down, just about to start pouring water in and Mr Plod arrives on the scene. "Hello sir, everything OK?"
Bugger, glance at the windscreen, offer a quick prayer to whoever is listening up there in Godland and dosn't mind a temporary member.....
THE TRUCK HAS TAX, till the end of this month, thank FAWK for that!!, it never crossed my mind till then! Everything else is cool, its not my truck, and I'm covered to drive anything not owned by me on my insurance, so thats cool, Mr Plods computer also says the truck has a MOT as well. Phew.
I convince them I know what I'm doing, have plenty of water on board to get the truck moving again, am in the AA if need be, blaa, blaa......they take my mobile number, and will call in 1/2 hour to see if I'm OK.
So we're off again, I make it to some services, buy 15l's of stupidly expensive mineral water, bottle of Rad Weld, pour it all in the truck, hit the road...........
end of part 1
)
D
You don't want to be going into that Birmingham on yer own....
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