2 posts tagged “manchester”

I had to go to London today.  Got the 7.05 from Manchester which got into Euston around 9.15.  The nice thing about travelling so early is that the train is not usually full, plus I get to go 1st class so I don't have to mix with the proles.  I spent most of the journey going through the tons of docs that hat been mailed to me in relation to the meeting I was attending. In a green moment I'd decided not to print them all, but to copy them on to my laptop instead.

 

A very attractive young lady (in her 30s I'd guess) sat diagonally opposite to me.  She was strikingly attractive, but not what I'd describe as 'beautiful.'  She had shoulder length black hair, a smart, short, black velvet jacket, black shirt and rather fetching black lacy bra peeping enticingly from within .... and a rather scruffy pair of dirty denims.  It's fun to guess about the lives of your fellow travellers, and she seemed educated, smart, but I couldn't guess if she was travelling for business or pleasure.  When offered tea she objected to the amount of milk (too much) the attendant put in her cup and poured most of it into her fruit juice glass.  Later, she made some comment about her sausage sandwich.  I can't remember what it was she said, but I remember thinking that maybe she was obsessed about such little things, and I wondered if she was the type who drove her husband mad with this sort of thing (she was wearing engagement and wedding rings, so it was reasonable to assume she was married).  A little while before we arrived in London she asked me to 'keep a weather eye' on her stuff while she went for a pee.  Or it could have been a crap.  She didn't say which and I didn't ask.  But no one tried to rummage through her stuff, so all was well.

 

I've done this trip loads of times, but today the tube was busier than I've ever seen it.  I couldn't get on the first two trains that arrived because a) they were already pretty full and 2) I didn't have the rugby scrum mentality required to ensure you get on once the doors open, even if it is apparently already full.  So by the time the third one arrived I decided not to be a wuss and get on, come hell or high water, which I did.  Lucky I'm not claustrophobic or I'd have been hyperventilating, being squashed up against so many peeps.

 

The tube is a weird and wonderful device, and seems to attract all kinds of eccentrics as well as commuters and tourists.  Today's eccentric in my carriage was a woman, must have been in her 50s, dressed all in brown robes, rather like a Buddhist monk, but with a pair of heavy duty hiking boots on her feet.  Looking at her I'd guess she was a well educated person, but I'm only going from her general demeanor and facial expresion, i.e. she didn't look like she was bonkers.

 

Anyway, the tube was jammed until Victoria, as usual, then almost emptied.  I got to Pimlico with about 15 minutes to spare to get to our office next to Vauxhall Bridge, opposite the MI5 HQ.  At least it wasdn't raining. 

 

Meeting started just after 10am, we broke for lunch at about 12:10 and were treated to a very acceptable Christmas Dinner in the staff restaurant, overlooking the Thames. Then, as our chairman was in a hurry to get to home to Nottingham to go to a Satus Quo gig tonight and had pushed ahead with the agenda to get everything dealt with before lunch, I was able to catch a train that got me back to Manchester by 4:30 so I was actually home earlier than on a normal work day.  Regrettably there were no foxy chicks on the return journey for me to speculate about, apart from a couple of the attendants, and as I'd written my meeting notes on my laptop at the meeting I was able to snooze a lot of the way back.  As I was going to drive home from the station I couldnt't take advantage of the free booze that you get with a 1st class ticket, but that's life.