On the way

8.50am. Arrived at New Street safely, and decided the sooner I get going, the better really, given that I'm uncertain of what will meet me at the other end. You never know with long journeys, there could be unexpected delays etc.

Can you believe that there were people queuing outside the pub inside New Street station ("The Shakespeare"), at this time of the morning? Ugh. It sure isn't Pimms O'Clock yet. I couldn't bear to think about alcohol at this time of the day. I'm.. well, I was going to say I'm not a student but of course I am.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonlooks/130990491/sizes/s/

Much sweating and swearing getting the cases down to the right platform. Couldn't seem to find a lift down to my platform so I struggled on the escalator. Found the 8.50am to London Euston (slightly earlier than I had originally planned to leave), put my luggage in the luggage rack, and realised that the padlock that Alan bought me had broken. Not so silent mutterings under my breath. Got to my seat, the laptop battery was flat. My laptop battery seems to run down even if the lid is closed, so I guess I'll have to get into the habit of shutting down or at least hibernating, rather than just telling it to sleep.

Plugged in the laptop mains charger under the table so that I could use my laptop, only to find that the mains socket wasn't working. More curses. Moved up to the other end of the carriage, found the other side of a seat with a table that was free, fortunately that mains socket does work, hence this blog entry.

The red-faced chap sitting the other side from me is from Norwich, and he has been visiting Wales to stay with his wife's parents, and his journey back took him through New Street. He said that the train service in the Midlands is practically revolutionary; it takes two hours on the train from Norwich to London, and they don't have nice comfy seats with mains sockets on the trains in his region.

Fiddled with Alan's padlock to discover that it's not broken after all, it doesn't 'clunk in' like locks I am accustomed to. May have to go and fit the padlock in a minute once I've cooled down a bit.

Looks like this train may actually be calling at Birmingham International after all; if I'd realised that, then I could have left the house later, had an extra few cuddles and saved myself a bit of grief. Never mind.

I don't much fancy dragging cases off the train at Brighton station into a taxi, so I might get the train from Brighton to Falmer, as that station is right next to the University of Sussex.