Diary Wednesday 12th April 2017 - Birmingham pre-Eastercon 1

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Able to write this and reply to a few posts due to the wonders of free pub wi-fi. I was quite leisurely and relaxed about the final stages of getting ready for my trip to Birmingham. On route I stopped at the library to print the invoice that confirms my booking, and then headed by bus for the train. Glancing at the invoice I saw that I was expected to produce a valid passport, which worried me as mine is five years out of date. The railway station has lots of stairs so dragging my very heavy case down and up a flight was gruelling. The train was on time though my luggage wouldn't fit in the luggage booth and passengers behind me were impatient to get past. I grabbed an empty pair of seats and put my big case on one. I was worried I'd have to move as the seat I picked was reserved though there were lots of empty seats and no one bothered me or wanted the seats anyway. An old lady getting off at Birmingham New Street was worried that the station staff might ignore her request for assistance. I promised to make sure she got it and as another lad helped her opff the train, I grabbed a porter who came to talk to her and phoned for the team who should have been waiting for her. I could see she was now in safe hands so I moved on. I printed google map directions to my hostel, about ten minutes from the train station. Whoever wrote the directions was drunk as following them to the letter I was doing figure of eights across the city. Asking locals for directions got me there much quicker. My check in went smoothly. The manager never noticed my passport was out of date at all. I was ion a 12 bunk bed dormitory which looks quite nice. Only a young woman was there when I arrived. I looked for the toilets and finding the gents shower block, I assumed they were in there. Many doors need to be opened with a pin number key code which I have so seeing a door in the open unused shower stall with such a door I started punching in the code. The manager arrived and exploded at me virtually accusing me of trying to break into a private room though nothing marked the door as private. He was quite aggressive but eventually told me where the toilets are. I went out to get some photos round Birmingham, especially of pub signs. As the only cheap train had got me there in the late afternoon I only had a few hours in a gentle rain to get some images. Later I popped in a local take away food place - very nice and The Dragon Inn Pub - very nice. Apart from my distress about my ID (unfounded) and a needless shouting down over using the wrong door, my day went very well. Arthur Chappell