::@:: Reality of Dreams ::@::

Well, I have just spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in London. Let see… I travelled down (and back… well mostly) on the train which wasn’t too bad except that it was an older train and was no where near as good as the ones which run from Edinburgh to Glasgow, anyway for £54 return it wasn’t too bad value. The journey was good and we even managed to arrive a few minutes early into Kings Cross Station. After being given some misinformation by one of the train guards (not deliberately) I ended up walking around for half an hour trying to figure out how I was supposed to get to Piccadilly if the tubes were still closed. Anyway, it turns out that only some of the lines and stations were closed and Kings Cross, however, was actually partly open… typical, should of checked that first.

To cut a long story short I get to my hotel (Ashley Hotel, nothing great but nothing terrible, certainly not for £45 per night B&B in Piccadilly… although, me being me, I missed breakfast every morning). London was hot, very hot, and muggy so for a few hours after I arrived I collapsed on the bed trying my best to try and stop sweating like… well, you get the picture. That evening I wondered the streets of Leicester Square waiting for the next showing of Madagascar in the UGC nearby. It wasn’t that bad actually, although my feet were beginning to threatening a hostile take over by the time I eventually returned to the cinema and sat around for the 45 minutes before the doors opened.

Anyway… the film was very funny, expect a review some time soon (along with War of the Worlds and Fantastic Four, if I see that one before I do the write up). The next day I had the commissioning in the afternoon and evening so I decided to go to Oxford Street and the Science Museum before hand. It ended up I was running a bit late when I returned to the hotel but I still thought I’d be fine. That was until I found out the route I was planning to take which was a direct lien from Piccadilly was closed half way, there were buses being provided which was of some consolation. As I waited for the bus at the tube station where the line terminated (please note this closure had nothing to do with 7/7 but was standard maintenance) I found out that the bus took 30 min to get to Wembley and was due in 5-10 minutes. So I guessed I was going to be a bit late but nothing too bad.

It was not going to be my fortune however, a massive fire further down the main road resulted in a large gridlock on the route we were taken meant I arrived an hour and a half late (2 and half hours in total since I left Piccadilly). I arrived at the Stadium (after having to walk from the station) as the last of the cadets were being commissioned, I had missed the event I had come for. I missed my opportunity to see two of my good friends being ordained as Salvation Army officers… that sucked. I was fortunate however that I did at least to see them, if briefly, afterwards and before the evening meeting where they would officially be given their new appointment (in Glenrothes). The evening meeting was actually all right, not my cup of tea for all of it, but it was fun and quite rambunctious (thanks Doog’s for the right word and spelling). Anyway, I get home, London is still too hot and too muggy, noisy and crowded… what does that have to do with the commissioning? Nothing… but it is still true. It was cool to see Dawn and Chris again, sorry… Captain’s Dawn and Chris Hinton ;). As well as my friend John, Alex Hughes, and friends from East Scotland who had also travelled down.

Sunday, was a different day, I had until 6.30pm to wait for my train so I went on a 3 hour bus tour, jumped off at the museums and wondered for a bit around in the Natural History. I also grabbed a quick Japanese brunch in a small Japanese-type-café. I headed back to Piccadilly, sat in a small park/garden outside the hotel for an hour, grabbed a pub lunch, headed to Kings Cross, picked up a few books and waited for my train. The train journey got off to an auspicious start with the reservation system not being active so it was grab any seat you want. Then as time went on, as we made our way north, we heard that the train was going to terminate in Newcastle as the fire brigade had closed the line. So we had to get off at Newcastle get a bus and then get another train. That combined with delays getting into Newcastle, a signalling fault when we got the new train meant I got in to my flat just before 2am on Monday morning (about 1 and half hours late). Not too bothered about it all as I had Monday off but one nice thing was that the second train was a Virgin one, and they are a lot nicer than the GNER ones, nice chairs, spacious (well, still not enough leg room). I think next time, even if it costs a bit more, and I need to catch a long distance train I think I may give Virgin a shot.

Anyway, it was a fun, very hot, expensive, muggy, enjoyable, weekend. Better sign off now, laters.