Blog ≫ 2022 ≫ Midlife Eurotour part one
The time has finally come for my grand midlife eurotour. It has been in preparation for about six months, been dreamed about for longer. It has changed a lot along the way, the family did not join me for the train bit and I did not take in all the places I originally thought about, but this is a good start. We're going to all do more holidays like this. Finally time to go! Of course I am back from the holiday by the time I write this up.
I tried to prepare some notes on my holiday on the go, so I dictated some into the phone and had it auto transcribe it. So some of this might be more nonsense than usual. I meant to do a lot more of this, but could only do it where I was alone, without looking and sounding too odd. Here's what I dictated from the beginning of the trip. I'm goign to put it in as if it's a quote by someone else, but it's all me speaking jibberish into the phone:
Let's go on holiday! Right, It's 5:45. I'm walking to the bus station now. Last minute change of plan regarding how I'm getting here. I've driven our car, left it in Folkestone and Clare's going to come and pick it up later. Last minute change of packing as well. Very last minute. Decided to leave my new traveling trousers at home because they're going to be just too hot probably for traveling in, and they're quite bulky really so I'm leaving them home altogether. I'm traveling in my newly repaired shorts which are looking good. So I've got the things I need in the secure pockets in those so the passport's in one pocket, the money is in another pocket. I've got the space on my phone that's wasting my bank cards1 and I've got my ticket to use right now in one of those pockets too. Means I have had to pack a pair of trousers, but they're only for situations where I need to wear trousers. Not planning to wear them a lot but say to go in a hotel restaurant or to go in the Vatican. Something like that. Now got to put my phone away, to get my bus ticket out.
That's a memory foam round-the-neck cushion there, not for sitting on. And seeing that again reminds me I am owed some new flags to stick on my rucksack, and so are the boys! Anyway back to the dictation:
Yesterday was very very busy with work. It was supposed to be a "tech improvement day", so should have been quite easy going, and giving me lots of time to wrap up the loose ends and hand over my work to other people. However, the whole of the morning was taken up with a incident involving one of our systems suddenly not working. And as it was one that I'd worked on most recently, I deployed most recently, I was briefly terrified that I've done something and not tested it. It turned out to be a network change somewhere involving a third party system. So all good. I was able to help with the fix without feeling the blame of having caused it, but I took up most of the day so no tech improvement day for me, and I just about managed to hand everything over. So at "half four my manager said you know just you're done now, just go on your holiday", but I had a few more things to do. And then just after 5:00 someone got in touch to say "oh can I just get some clarification on this issue? Is it okay if I share my screen with you?". I was going to capitulate, but in the end said no, sorry, here's everything I know, I'm going on holiday now. He was good with that, so all good. So we dragged the boys out for a walk at the end of the day, and happen to be a walk to the Inn Doors so that was all right. Had a couple there with them and Clare, and we sat inside because outside tables were full. It's quite busy, quite popular. They haven't liked kids inside for ages, but I don't think they would say anything, and we weren't saying weren't staying long2. First time I seen Gary the landlord for a couple of weeks and I said I'd heard he decided to stay on and have plans for the bar for the winter and he said "yeah I'm going to get rid of the real ales"! This is an absolute shocker, would stop some of my friends going there, and me probably. Think I talked around. We'll see. Stopping at this point, at the bus.
Loads of people piling on at Canterbury3. The coach is surely sold out again, so all these pricks trying to reserve the seat next to them with a bag are in for a shock.
They must have oversold this coach. It's full, and there's a big queue of people with tickets at Whitstable now. Wonder what had happened? Maybe idiots like me buying tickets for the wrong day4 and the driver not scanning tickets as we got in. Can't imagine waiting for the coach here, thinking you had a seat, and not getting on. Your whole day is ruined. My whole trip would be for sure5.
Driver is asking for volunteers to get off and get the next coach. I'm pretending to be asleep. Next coach as far as I know is in three hours. I assume they're laying on extras for this foul up. Now left Gillingham. There's a kid on a lap next to me, no seat belt. Not my lap.
I got to Victoria. Everything was good there. I started walking across London, decided to walk through St James park just to see how drought affected it, and it seemed a nice thing to do. I did see a squirrel, so that's good. Didn't see any squirrels last time I did this, I thought they might have been affected by the weather. I only walked as far as Trafalgar Square, and then after speaking to Clare (I phoned here to get some inspiration for what to do for the next few hours) she said why not just get to King Cross, just so there's no surprises. So I thought good. Get to where I need to be and then figure it out from ther. Very quiet double decker bus, basically had it to myself, right across London to St Pancras.
Didn't really have much time to kill there. I took a walk around Coal Drops Yard and had a look at the canal. Thought about going in a pub. Didn't go in a pub. Checked out when I could get the train now, and a half before the train is due I could start queuing. I got there just before that, and the queue had already built up quite a lot.
Eurostar traveling, not quite as easy as I remembered very much. Not that much different to passing through an airport, but at least I don't end up flying.
I'm now on the Eurostar as I dictate this. I've just had my light meal served. It was very nice. She tried to deny me my vegan meal just briefly. "You can have vegetarian, but if you want a vegan meal you have to book it in advance"... Yep, I did book one. Oh yeah so you did. APOLOGY ACCEPTED LADY.
So yeah I had a glass of wine in an actual glass. Very cute, stemless wine glass, very small, with the Eurostar logo on. It's really nice and I want it6. Perfect Montalbano glass 7 for only one small measure of wine, and some coffee. I'll see if they bring around anything else later. We've just passed through Folkestone. We're actually under the tunnel now, so it's taken me about seven hours to get right back to where I started from. So if you forget those seven hours, nice as they were, the holiday is properly underway.
And here ends the dictation, that's only part way through the introduction to my holiday, and at this point I'm just leaving the UK. That was all a bit boring wasn't it?
Estimated 502 cups of coffee from my barista pro8 probably comes to £2.04 a cup (including actual coffee and now servicing8 but not the 'leccy).
- I dictated all this, can't remember exactly what I was on about.
- Actually I've been back since writing this and there's a new sign up saying "no kids", I feel it is particularly aimed at us...
- Seems I have successfully got on the bus and we are moving now, left Folkestone, next stop Canterbury...
- Last time, and the ticket I did not use in the end, not this time...
- This leg of the trip would have been ruined, I'd be in real trouble. I'm on the coach because there is a rail strike, and there's not really another way for me to get to London in time to get my Eurostar.
- Yeah, I've got it, somehow it ended up in my bag.
- Originally dictated as "I won't talk barno glass. We can leave mom. Tell Barbara's laughs gas struggling to dictate this". We call it a Montalbano glass, as Montalbano drinks his wine out of this kind of glass in the TV show we watch.
- As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.