Diary 9th And 10th February 2019

Tweet

Diary Saturday 9th February 2019 My 57th birthday, and I woke up early feeling no different than at 56. I was up early as I planned to get an early train to Manchester to have time to see my Mum before meeting friend later in the day. The weather was bad, howling gales that had ravaged the country all night were still tapering out. Tree branches lay all over the street and pavements near my house in Preston. I got the bus to the train station only to find that the 7.30 am train I aimed for was cancelled because the weather had damaged overhead lines. The train service running other trains on a separate line was on strike. I was going nowhere until nearly 9 am. I phoned my mum to say I would be late. They moved the train I was now due to catch onto another platform, which led to a mass exodus of passengers to the opposite end of Preston station, and onto a very congested train. I thought I’d end up standing up right through the hour long journey but a young lady decided to sit on her boyfriend’s knee and I got her vacated seat. I got to my mum’s but with less time to chat with her than I had hoped and then went to join my friends. Twelve of us went for a meal in an all you can eat Chinese restaurant which was great. A few friends and my Mum kindly gave me money as presents. As it got later, friends headed off and I planned on going for a 9 pm train for home only to find it was cancelled, and the last one of the night. I tried phoning a friend to ask if I could stay at her house but my phone was out of battery power. I checked coach times only to find that the next coach out was not until 1.20 am on the Sunday morning, over five hours away. I went to a pub to kill the first few hours and then returned to the coach station. I got the coach to my home city and as no more buses were running at 2.30 am I got a taxi home. The cost chewed into all my birthday money which was rather sad but apart from the journeying nightmares it was a great day with lots of lovely people. Diary Sunday 10th February 2019 I got up early given my late adventures getting home, and contacted friends to tell them how it had all gone. I put my lovely birthday cards out, and did a little shopping as my day returned to normal. Thank you to everyone who helped my birthday go well, apart from the train companies who came close to ruining it. Arthur Chappell