Escape Switch
Blimey. Thank goodness we made it through that last bit. Time to breathe a sigh of relief, then, as, having fought our way through something of a laboured introduction, we find ourselves freed from the prison of dodgy comparisons to previously-defunct, now-revived television series and emerge triumphant to bask in the glory of the holiday proper.
The realisation that a nice, long, relaxing week-long holiday may be exactly the lift for which 2011 had thus-far been crying out was something of a gradual epiphany. I’d love to be able to claim to have had some kind of Master Plan from the off, but in truth, my holiday this September started off in a far more modest fashion, before being expanded to more than double its original length.
This can probably best be viewed in relation to The Daleks’ Master Plan, a 1965/6 Doctor Who serial that underwent a similar transformation (as well as providing a useful indication as to the number of people reading this, as I suspect the sigh at this latest analogy will be quite audible, regardless of the distance between reader and author).
Back in 1965, Terry Nation was commissioned to bring back the Daleks for their third appearance, this time in a six-part serial to be shown towards the end of that year. But of course, as everyone knows, the resultant serial, The Daleks’ Master Plan, ran for twelve weekly episodes, owing in no small part to the popularity of the eponymous villains of the piece with, if rumour is to be believed, the mother-in-law of Huw Wheldon - and what wondrous times those were, when programmes could be given the go-ahead on such grounds, without the need for public service reviews or suchlike… sorry, I’m drifting.
Similarly, my holiday plans began with a simple desire: a long-held wish to travel on a sleeper train. Now, there are only two sleeper services still running in the United Kingdom: the Caledonian Sleeper and the Night Riviera. As the former runs to Scotland, a place I have, somewhat scandalously, failed to visit at any point in the last thirty-two years, this seemed the most logical choice. And that was the plan, really: pop down to London, take the Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh, then head back to Aberystwyth. A few days out of town to have a wee break from it all. Lovely.
And that would have been that, but for the voice in my head (it may have been Huw Wheldon’s mother-in-law - I can’t be sure) telling me to think bigger. All the way down to London, just to leave it again? Isn’t Edinburgh to Aberystwyth a bit of a long journey to make in one day? Couldn’t we extend the run to twice its original length so that I can get to see more pepper pots?
And you know, the more I looked into it, the more I could see the arguments against the idea crumble before my eyes. A whole week of nice, relaxing holiday goodness? What a splendid idea. But wouldn’t it cost me a fortune in hotel bills? Oh look, there’s a sale on at Travelodge - marvellous! But what about the train fares? Pfft - have you not heard of Advance tickets? Gradually, oh so very slowly, things seemed to be falling into place.
But what to do with this extended holiday period? Where to add those extra days and nights? Should I make a bit of a fuss around London for a bit before heading up north? Or perhaps Edinburgh would warrant a longer stay? Or maybe, just maybe, I should take another leaf out of Terry Nation’s book…
Back in 1963, Terry Nation sat down and typed out seven episodes of televisual magic in the form of the first Dalek serial. So good were the scripts, in fact, that he wrote them again in 1973. But after that initial burst of genius, Mr. Nation seemed to have a bit of an issue with regards coming up with story ideas that could keep the viewer gripped for multiple episodes. It wasn’t that he was short of ideas - no, those, he had by the bucket-load - but ideas that he could pad out for more than twenty-five minutes? Hmm, that was another matter altogether. But all was not lost: with The Keys of Marinus, The Chase and The Daleks’ Master Plan, Nation found a way to cobble together his many one-hit-wonder ideas into coherent stories, each featuring a race across space and/or time, with a change of scenery each week. Not only did it mean that our writer could skip on to the next mini-story before he ran out of ideas, it also ensured that the viewer had no chance to get bored with what was going on. Not a fan of the Empire State Building? Fair enough, but don’t worry, because it’s next stop: the Mary Celeste!
Holidays, I feel, could learn a lot from Terry Nation. When one is setting off on holiday, particularly if one is visiting a place completely new to them, there is an element of risk. One is committing to staying, often sight-unseen, in a particular place for a large chunk of time. What if it turns out to be dull? What if those shiny brochures lied? Will one be condemned to stay in some ghastly locale for days on end, wishing, oh, so desperately wishing, that one had gone for that other place on page forty-six?
There was no way I was going to take a risk like that. Edinburgh was an unknown quantity to me and I was darned if I was going to sign up for a week anywhere unless I could be sure it was sufficiently fabulous to keep me entertained from beginning to end.
And so it was that the plan was hatched: a week-long holiday, without being tied down to one location for that whole time. A different place every day, to keep me hooked and remove completely the risk of anywhere outstaying its welcome.
Thus, dear reader, was my somewhat-circuitous route to, as it turned out, Newcastle-under-Lyme forged. From that initial starting-block of Aberystwyth to London to Edinburgh, two more places were pulled out of the hat to slot in before England’s capital, soon followed by another four after my foray north of the border. Eight places to visit in nine days? Now you’re talking.