Posts Tagged Train

05:00 and I am wide awake, could it be the excitement of returning to work? I don’t think so! Something to do with the bl**dy car alarm that has been going off every hour since 02:00, not really! The overwhelming desire to watch the sun come up? In Basingstoke, are you kidding me? If I analyse it deeply I think it had something to do with the fact that I was rested, relaxed, and in bed by 10:30 last night, and maybe the slightly weird dream I had about ducks! All I will say is that my first job tonight is to adjust the timing on the heating, dam 05:00 is cold.

So I hit the override button on the heating control and after a cigarette and glass of orange juice went back and laid in bed, waiting for the heating to kick in. I didn’t doze back off which I fully expected to, but when the alarm went off at 06:00 I was laying there trying to remember what I had watched on TV that would encourage the duck dream. Showered and dressed and still none the wiser regarding the ducks I stuffed the laptops into the bag and headed for the car. Once outside I really noticed how cold it was and getting into the car I felt the need to test the heating on HIGH and make sure the heated seats were fully functional.

I had to renew my train ticket and luckily my early start paid off as while there was only one guy serving he was the one with 90% of the brain cells and powered through the queue. Even more luck when I pulled into the car park and the car in Bay 1, yep the golden bay, the bay right next to the exit, was pulling out. Parked, smiling, and still cold I headed for the station and then I realised the shorter walk didn’t allow me to finish my smoke before entering the station, so I had to either stand with the private school students who had all been kicked from Dad’s Merc into the cold or ditch it. I ditched it and headed for the coffee shop.Then it happened, Yes I had the quick queue, yes I had the gold parking spot, but the coffee shop was closed! I nearly gave up then and there but figured I could wait until I got on the train. Then it happened, the 06:51 was delayed by 4 minutes due to slippery tracks. Now most people would shrug and say four minutes, what’s the fuss? After 10 years commuting however I saw the look in the other commuters eye’s. The rules now change and the shuffle starts. You take the gamble you take your spot and you pray to the great train god that the doors will open in front of you. If they don’t, your screwed, and there was no chance of the much needed coffee elixor. There will be 10 people to each seat, and it will be elbow warfare. In my relaxed state of mind I was no match for them, and with low nicotine levels and zero caffeine this was a fight I was not ready for. So I hung back and watched the chubby cyclist squeeze in between the suited guy and the rather sleepy goth bloke and decided it was better to save the fight for another day.

As the 12 coach 07:17 arrived I smiled, the train gods had respected my peaceful, non combative stance and rewarded me with an empty train, and as I boarded I thought to myself “Don’t get to smug, it can all go so wrong”. We arrived at London Waterloo on time and intact, and without seeing one duck.

Then it started….the working day. I can’t really say I got into it or really took any notice of what transpired but as I packed up I thought, what was with the bl**dy ducks? The journey home was uneventful and the golden parking bay position paid off as I pulled out of the car park in poll position.

Arriving home, showering, and changing I felt that I had won. Maybe not the war, but certainly the battle. Logging on to check my email I noticed a post from my little sister and remembered I hadn’t caught up with her after her Halloween party. After hearing about her day and my niece Eleanor not being well I logged into her laptop remotely, using the free LogMeIn service and installed the Adobe Reader software for her, and set up a separate account for her husband, so he could use the laptop without messing up anything she was working on.

So now I am ready to sort the heating timer out, grab something to eat, and then chill out in front of the TV. I hope tomorrow goes this well, but you never know the mood of the train gods!