muuranker

Safely home, with all luggage, to find cats a little disturbed by our return, and new stairs carpet needing a through clean.

Landed at 15.35, only five mins late, and swiftly got to gate.  Swiftly got luggage.  Swiftly through customs and immigration.  Saw the 16.15 bus departing from Heathrow central.

Waited for 16.45 bus.  Did not come.  Bus came at 16.50, but driver left, saying his shift over, and that it would be the 17.15.  No, he had no idea where the 16.45 was: he had been driving a bus.  He did however leave the keys in the bus and the radio playing for our entertainment.

Another bus came at 16.55, disgorged passengers, Said it wasn't the 16.45, or anything else, and left without taking on passengers.

Driver arrived at 17.15, to find two busloads of passengers, who were rather annoyed that he wasted time checking tickets (and they always change how they do this - mostly its on the bus, which filled up with women with tickets and two lots of hand luggage, as men with two suitcases or back packs waited at the luggage bins... NOOOO Today it was tickets-in-order-to-get-your-luggage-on, so bus filled up with men coming back asking for tickets, and women working out what was going on and struggling out with them. 

Bus finally left at 17.23.  It was only 5 mins late into Woking, which given the horrendours traffic, was good going.  I wish we had loaded the bus ourselves, though, and been ready to set off when the driver arrived at 17.15 (or indeed persuaded anyone passing with a PSV that we'd have a whip-round and make sure s/he got a seat on the next bus back to heathrow).

We just missed the 18.28 from Woking, so waited for the 18.59, which was delayed by 9 minutes by the previous Exeter/Salisbury train which had suffered from a power failure in the Clapham area.  Finally got in at 19.32.

How come we have a traffic system that takes over 4 hours to get us a distance of under 30 miles, which in a car, on a bad day, takes an hour, BUT have an automated system for explaining the delays?

As the title says, the air con here in the UK is fierce, and seems to be particularly efficient at Woking station.  I like dusk and dawn. 

[And I will live journal the rest of the trip in due course, now there be laundry to be done, and five people coming to see house re move .... I think what with the cat sick, the green crates, me talking like a pirate, and large piles of rice crackers, green tea, and so on around the house, the relocation company, etc. are going to find this is one move that goes suprisingly well, after their first impressions].

While waiting for Demon to load ....

Day 1 Pump battery case *expletives* en route to Heathrow.
Day 2 Jetlag. Buckwheat noodles.
Day 3 Mayor in rickshaw at opening ceremony
Day 4 Chinatown with a Famous author for dinner
Day 5 Great lecture on publishing Tolkien in Japan (but failed at Civil Service entrance exam which Blarong aced)
Day 6 Walk round european houses. Exmemsecs feet too big for slippers.
Day 7 Harbour cruise dinner
Day 8 Waiting for demon ... still no replacement pump ...