Just a simple journey ... (not!)

Sometimes, the most simple and mundane tasks become very complicated....

It was Saturday. Mum and I were going to Southampton for a look around the shops ( more variety there ). Nothing unusual there , we had done it countless times before. We would catch a bus to Fareham, walk to the train station, then take a train to Southampton. A simple shopping trip .... which turned into a bit of an epic journey.

All was going to plan until we reached the train station. We had bought our tickets, and were walking to our designated platform, when we saw a notice detailing engineering work on the lines that weekend .... affecting trains to Southampton Central ... BOTHER !. If I had seen that BEFORE buying the tickets, we would have probably changed our plans, and gone shopping in Fareham or Portsmouth instead. But never mind - we had our tickets, and didn't want to waste them. Work on the lines didn't make the journey impossible, just a little more complicated ( buses replacing the train for a portion of it ). So, we waited for the train.

Two trains were due within 5 minutes or so, both terminating a few stops before Southampton itself (but at different stations to each other ). The first one arrived while I was still debating which one we wanted ... quickly decided that one would do, so stepped onto it, turned around .... and saw the doors close in front of me - and Mum still standing on the platform. She hadn't followed me ... and then things got worse. I tried to open the door again, but it wouldn't open .... and then the train pulled off ! PANIC ! I had to think fast. I knew the next train due would be taking basically the same route to Southampton, so Mum could catch that one ..... but I had no way of knowing if she would or if she would just stay standing on the platform ( in my infinite wisdom, I had forgotten to take my mobile with me, so could not call her to find out ). I took a chance, and got off the train at the next station. The info boards said the following train ( the one Mum might have caught ) would stop there too - I just had to hope she had. The second train arrived after the longest five minutes of my life, and as it pulled in, I looked frantically in the windows, trying to see Mum. I couldn't ( windows tinted, and train going too fast ) ... my heart sank. Just then, the doors to that train opened, and a guard stepped out and looking at me, asked if he could help as I looked lost. I explained what had happened .... and he said he thought someone matching my story WAS on the train, in the next carriage. Quickly, I stepped on that train, made my way to the next carriage .... and there, sitting in the corner, looking just as lost as me was Mum!. It seems fate was smiling on me ....

After that *little* hiccup, we both continue the journey together to where the train terminated. We still hadn't reached central Southampton, just the outskirts ( Woolston) - the rest of the trip would be by a 'rail replacement service' ... ie: a bus. Leaving the station, we looked around ... but couldn't see any bus, or anyone to ask about where it might be ( Woolston is only a small station - ticket machine, platform and not a lot else  ). Perhaps fate wasn't smiling on me after all. I couldn't just stand there all day ...... decided there was nothing for it - we would walk the rest of the way ( it wasn't miles and miles, but it wasn't a five minute stroll either ). So that is what we did ... and eventually, by bus, train and foot , we reached West Quay and the shops. What should have been a quick 30 minute trip by rail turned into an hour and a half epic trek ..... we were both shattered , and hadn't even hit the shops yet !

We didn't end up spending that much time shopping in the end ... somehow all the appeal had faded away ( no idea why ..... ;-) ). After an hour or so, we steeled ourselves for the return leg of our adventure. Thankfully, it went a lot smoother than the trip in. Found a rail replacement bus to take us back to Woolston, then after a bit of a wait ( and a bit of a scrum @ the station ... seemed most of the Southampton-bound trains were stopping there ... cue a lot of people and luggage, most who didn't really know where they were ... ) a direct train back to Fareham, and finally a bus ride home. All in all, a morning shopping spree had turned into a six hour test on my nerves and energy ... all because of engineering work on the lines. I think, next time, I will check the train availablity on-line BEFORE leaving home .... and make sure Mum is with me before I step on board anything !! Don't think I want to repeat that experience anytime soon, thank you very much .....

Lazy Sunday

It may be a New Year, but the wheels of change turn very slowly in my little world. Sunday followed the pattern of so many other Sundays ....wake up (or be woken up) about 8.30, breakfast, visit Nan's grave to refresh the flowers, a little food shopping, return home to cook/eat Sunday Lunch, watch TV / DVD's for the afternoon before a wash/bath then bed. That is how it goes, week in, week out, following the same timetable laid out in Mum's head, with little variation. There may be a drive around the area, if bigbrother is home too, or we all might go out if something particular has been planned, but that is how it generally goes on a Sunday. You could set your watch by it all. Sometimes .... most of the time ... it suits me just fine - other times it drives me mad. Today was somewhere between the two states.

I know these feelings can make me frustrated, grumpy, bad tempered .... but do I do anything to change it, do I say anything ? No, I don't, and that just fuels the frustrations even more. I need to sort myself out, say to Mum what is wrong when I feel like this, even if it is all a bit selfish. She may not even realise anything is wrong. Things cannot change ( if I really want them to change, that is) if I continue to just silently stew in the corner. I have to live my own life - it that fits in with others, all well and good, if it doesn't .... I have to open my mouth and say something - it is my life in the end. This may all sound a bit melodramatic, a bit over the top ... perhaps it is ... but I do need to make changes, both at home and work. I need to be me, and not a version of me I think everyone around me wants just to keep them all happy .... I need to be happy too, happy to be me.

The blog is dead .... long live the blog !

So here we are .... a sparkling New Year.  2010 is now history, and 2011 has arrived .... and my contribution to this blog in the last year - one, solitary post. Not good ! Basically, I had allowed this little piece of me and my thoughts in cyberspace to quietly die through neglect - the blog is dead.

Well, not quite. A New Year, a new state of mind, a new start. I had revived this blog once before ( just after I first created it in 2005 - the very first version of this lost in the mists of time (OK, I deleted that attempt)), I can do it again .... I want to do it again.

So, here we are. I am still around, my life is fairly unchanged - bigbrother is still bigbrother, mum is still mum. No knight on a white charger has come along and whisked me off my feet (like that was ever going to happen !), so we are still all together in the same house. Life at The Fun Factory still has its ups and downs ( yep, still there too), the revolving door of management there has slowed but not stopped turning completely, it and the people I work with there are still driving me nuts at times ....  . My periods of darkness come and go, but are getting less frequent ( I hope ). My petite obsessions with the Maestro and DT continue unabated ... and might just be mentioned here from time to time ( OK, a lot ! *hee hee* ) ..... life in general continues on its way.

So a New Year, a(nother) new beginning for this blog ... welcome back into my little world.