Cold trains, warm welcomes and walks in the woods
So it was back to Hereford at the weekend. Ended up on the rattliest, coldest train ever on the way up there. Every window wide open with a howling gale blowing through it and lots of bald men in overcoats looking oblivious to it all. The connecting train from Worcester was a bit warmer but I was still shivering by the time I got to Hereford station. Great to see the folks although they still looked a bit shaken by their car crash last weekend. No physical damage but the car was a write off and all very traumatic. Friday I went out to Hay-on-Wye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay-on-Wye
to meet up with my friend Giles. Had a fantastic lamb tagine in one of the cafes there. About half the price of London and about three times the quality. Had a good chat and then a browse round one of the bookshops. Despite my post-Scotland economy drive I still walked out with four books which resulted in a strange combination of being pleased with my purchases but cross with myself for succumbing. Anyway I got
Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year
Robinson Crusoe also by Defoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe
Boswell and Johnson's tour of the Hebrides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_a_Tour_to_the_Hebrides
and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_The_Void
Still as I said to Mum and Dad I will enjoy them and they're not going to go off I suppose ...
Saturday I spent the morning in town getting my Scotland photos developed, buying some clothes, getting some keys cut and getting my hair cut. Mum had a nap in the afternoon so Dad and I went out to a farm shop in the afternoon to get some duck for Sunday lunch then stopped off at the woods for a walk later. Spent the evening flicking through the paper and watching Strictly Come Dancing, the Lottery (no numbers again - lucky dip my arse !) and Match of the Day.
Sunday morning Dad and I went out to the arboretum for some coffee, a bit of fruit cake and a walk round. Some glorious autumn colours and it was nice to see the place being so well used. Enjoyed the duck for dinner, followed by Angel Delight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Delight
a cup of tea and some Quality Street.
Was just thinking how well my journey back was going when we got thrown off the train at Reading. Shortage of train crew apparently i.e. they were all watching the rugby. Got another London train fairly quickly. I found a good bit of the roof to hold on to (everyone who got on had to stand in the corridor) but as I craned forward to look out of the window when we got into Paddington the panel I was grabbing fell off leaving a spaghetti-style tangle of wiring exposed to the elements. I went a bit red with everybody looking at me then decided to adopt the best British tradition of ignoring it completely and walking off whistling a happy tune. Definitely more Blue Peter than Brunel I think ! Got on to the Tube to find the Circle Line closed then got to Victoria just in time to miss the train back to Thornton Heath, not helped by the fact that the swine had put it on the furthest possible platform. All-in-all I've had better journeys home. Had a very productive day at work yesterday so I'm going to devote the rest of the day to trying to get my Scotland photos up on Facebook. No point working just for the sake of it !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay-on-Wye
to meet up with my friend Giles. Had a fantastic lamb tagine in one of the cafes there. About half the price of London and about three times the quality. Had a good chat and then a browse round one of the bookshops. Despite my post-Scotland economy drive I still walked out with four books which resulted in a strange combination of being pleased with my purchases but cross with myself for succumbing. Anyway I got
Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year
Robinson Crusoe also by Defoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe
Boswell and Johnson's tour of the Hebrides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_a_Tour_to_the_Hebrides
and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_The_Void
Still as I said to Mum and Dad I will enjoy them and they're not going to go off I suppose ...
Saturday I spent the morning in town getting my Scotland photos developed, buying some clothes, getting some keys cut and getting my hair cut. Mum had a nap in the afternoon so Dad and I went out to a farm shop in the afternoon to get some duck for Sunday lunch then stopped off at the woods for a walk later. Spent the evening flicking through the paper and watching Strictly Come Dancing, the Lottery (no numbers again - lucky dip my arse !) and Match of the Day.
Sunday morning Dad and I went out to the arboretum for some coffee, a bit of fruit cake and a walk round. Some glorious autumn colours and it was nice to see the place being so well used. Enjoyed the duck for dinner, followed by Angel Delight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Delight
a cup of tea and some Quality Street.
Was just thinking how well my journey back was going when we got thrown off the train at Reading. Shortage of train crew apparently i.e. they were all watching the rugby. Got another London train fairly quickly. I found a good bit of the roof to hold on to (everyone who got on had to stand in the corridor) but as I craned forward to look out of the window when we got into Paddington the panel I was grabbing fell off leaving a spaghetti-style tangle of wiring exposed to the elements. I went a bit red with everybody looking at me then decided to adopt the best British tradition of ignoring it completely and walking off whistling a happy tune. Definitely more Blue Peter than Brunel I think ! Got on to the Tube to find the Circle Line closed then got to Victoria just in time to miss the train back to Thornton Heath, not helped by the fact that the swine had put it on the furthest possible platform. All-in-all I've had better journeys home. Had a very productive day at work yesterday so I'm going to devote the rest of the day to trying to get my Scotland photos up on Facebook. No point working just for the sake of it !