The Journey Home

I left work late last night (yes, it’s becoming a theme. It’s easy to work late when you don’t really have a life). Big Sis sent a text asking if I would be home soon, because dinner was up. She rocks. I told her to start ahead, seeing as I was only just leaving. I peered outside on my way out and it was already dark, not to mention the fierce drizzle that was coming down. Not wanting to be waiting for ages out in the rain for a bus and knowing that the tunnel to the tube station meant I wouldn’t have to fight the elements as much, I decided to get the tube. For some reason I was feeling energetic and walked briskly down the underpass to the station. When I got there, I was greeted with the unhappy news that the line I needed was suspended in both directions. What. In my irritation I stopped and gaped as I tried to work out an alternate route home (seeing as the bus stop is 10-15 minutes in the opposite direction to which I had just walked). A student bustled past me as I stood there, dropping his wallet by accident, so I assisted in picking up all the cards that had dropped out of it.

I eventually left the station, wondering which route would be quickest and which would get me less bedraggled in the process. The rain was coming down harder so I checked the two bus stops I passed, but they weren’t the right ones. I walked more briskly still, crossing the main road and walking past what appeared to be the opening night of an exhibition at the V&A, passing fancily-dressed people get out of Rollers and such like, having umbrellas held aloft for them by their drivers.

I got to the bus stop but had just missed a bus. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for too long for another one. I was going to have to change in a few stops anyway, to get my usual bus. I texted Big Sis and told her jokingly that I would see her sometime before 9.00. She told me to text her when I was on the train home, so that she could warm up some dinner for me. Aww. It’s like having a wife. I sat next to a smart older man, who politely excused himself past me as he got off the bus a stop or two later. I did the same a few minutes afterwards and walked down to the bus stop I needed to wait. The timetable display said 10 minutes. Only one bus going in the direction I needed stopped here. There is another bus stop across the very large roundabout (not a park one, lol) junction about 5 minutes’ walk away, which has several buses all going the way I want. Feeling fidgety, not in the mood to wait and oddly energetic, I decided to make a walk for it. Umbrellas and blustery weather don’t really make for a good combination, so after fighting with the wind to keep my umbrella over my head, I decided to do away with it completely and fight the elements face-on. I crossed over two main roads and ran through Admiralty Arch, alongside joggers and cyclists in both directions, understanding for one of very few times the appeal of such modes of travel. It was wet, but still quite humid, but the rain was cooling on my hair and face and I felt a little bit more alive. As I waited at the third of four crossings, I saw the bus I would have otherwise been waiting for pass by, several minutes sooner than the predicted ten, and laughed at my unnecessary attempt at time-saving. But at least I was getting a bit of exercise. I crossed the final crossing and ran to the stop, just in time to jump on a bendy bus.

Luckily, this whole time, my iPod on shuffle was throwing out a fantastic soundtrack to my transport misery, with the playlist as follows:

Feverdog – Stillwater (Almost Famous soundtrack)
Previous Cats – Musiq
One Blood Under W – Wu-Tang Clan feat. Junior Reid
Complicated – Robin Thicke
Put In The Work – Skinnyman
Read Your Mind – Avant
Anne – Santigold
Ayo Technology – 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake
Hold On – Dwele
One – Jay Dee

I arrived at the station and jumped off the bus, risking missing my train by making a beeline for Boots to buy a chocolate milkshake that my brisk walking had inspired a craving for. I rushed to my usual platform and found that I needn’t have bothered. It was a few minutes until departure, but there wasn’t even a platform up yet. Several announcements later, I had to rush eight platforms down to get the train that had been delayed and reallocated due to the ‘wet weather conditions’. Err….do you mean ‘rain’? Isn’t that quite a common occurrence in the UK? Hmm. I digress. We stood on the platform, getting progressively more impatient while the train sat there but the doors wouldn’t open. We were still standing there at 7.23pm, although the screens on the platform were still saying ‘7:23 service - On Time’ and remained saying that until at least 7.31pm when the train actually left. Yes, I’m a geek. I sat in my seat, thankful to finally be on my way, formulating blog posts in my head to document the day’s proceedings. I texted Big Sis to tell her my ETA and then read Shortlist magazine to indulge my boyish side, while listening to music until my battery died halfway through my train journey.

I legged it home and put my umbrella out to dry, then Big Sis greeted me with, “Hello. Your laptop’s not working.” What. I looked at the message of doom, telling me that the system couldn’t boot up and that I may need to back-up and restore. I took a look and tried to sort it out, asking Big Sis questions about what she had done and what messages it had shown her. “Do you want me to warm up your dinner while you do that?” she asked, making me feel even more like I had a wife. If I’m going to do a practice-run of marriage, I should probably be taking on the role I will probably eventually play, not get used to having it myself, lol. I carried on tinkering, but without much luck. I ate dinner and we chatted while watching TV, catching a hilarious episode of Don’t Tell The Bride, which we thought would turn out to be a disaster when the groom decided to theme the wedding with his football team’s colours (claret and light blue – yikes). I get a text from Miss T half-way through. Let's hope tomorrow is a better day. I crack up and reply. Lol! Yeah, let's hope so! Or at least hope for a fire. Miss T texts back. I like the second option best. I am still cracking up. Well, it is always our first choice. Don't lose hope. She responds with Fingers crossed. Bis Sis and I then watch a brilliant episode of The Secret Millionaire that was set in South London and had me in streams of tears and then the start of True Blood, which I never would have bothered checking out, but got hooked after seeing the first 20 minutes. My laptop was still not responding, despite several tries to reboot it, restore it, make a backup image of the hard drive, checks for hardware errors and, as a last resort a complete system restore. Still no joy. My blog posts (and anything else computer or internet-related) would have to wait. I think the energy expended in just trying to get home and the stress of the rest of the day meant that I didn’t have any left to get upset about that. I’ll give it till this evening. I had a nice hot bath, then got ready for bed, while watching the rest of True Blood on Channel 4+1, eventually getting down to sleep just before 1.00am. The end of this day couldn’t come quick enough. Thankfully, the end was loads better than the rest of it.