Archives: train

The shouty drunk leaves the train when it’s pointed out to him that this is the train to Manchester, not the train to Bradford. He railed for a while at the bald bearded suit who may work for Manchester council as an accountant, so I looked round & watched him, & he railed at me a little while, then when he realisd that I was not particularly bother by this he railed at the door behind me (surely he meant the door all along). The shrewy blond business lady noted him muttering about Bradford & when we pulled into Rochdale negotiated him off the train & pointed him in the right direction. He dropped his crusty woolly hat, so amazed that he was being helped, I guess, so I darted to pick it up for him. He ambled off the train & we left him there. Cooo an ‘incident’ in the train.

Missed yesterday typing, as it was one of those crappy trains without tables. It is again this morning, but I thought I’d try to dodge travel sickness & type on my knee. Now I can’t even remember much of the weekend. Ah – I remember… It was not that much of a weekend as I was working on Saturday. I did manage to sort out a lot of the diary pages though. Over a month behind, I was. It’s still not completely up to date. Pictures & that sort of malarkey still needs to be done, but on the whole, It’s now actually as up to date as it gets.
Jack was digging his hole agian yesterday evening. He has started to dig at the bottom of the garden by the front gate. It’s a spot where there’s nothing really growing. I worry he will hit the rose roots, but as he has not yet, I don’t really see it happening to any great extent now. It’s not, by any means a big hole (well – it might be to him) & there’s no a lot of scope for making it larger. But he’s happy in his pursuit. I remember my brother having similar ambitions & digging what seemed an enormous hole. I know there’s a photo somewhere of him digging it, & for the young boy he was, it was truly huge. He’s standing in the hole in his photo, which is up to his waist. He has room to swing his spade in it as well.

Ah – another Saturday travelling to…. Work!
Bah
It all went smoothly this morning, although it came as something of a shock when I realised I needed to be setting off to work. What a bugger! Hugs, kisses, scarper.
I found the bit of paper that had William’s address on it; Jack’s friend whose moved to Spain, but no – the address says Majorca! I went to Majorca when I was a young kid (7/8??) on holiday with my parents. There are some old photos they have somewhere. It was the only holiday we had abroad as a family. My parents were always working in the pub, & it’s hard to leave such a thing, as they don’t run themselves.
Anyway – Jack has now the option of writing to William, but I’m not sure I should mention it as a prompt to him, because he does get glum when he realises that William isn’t about. On the plus side William is supposedly coming back to the UK for Easter – so they should get to meet up then!
I had a good night sleep last night, but still woke up feeling grotty. I guess I have to conclude that it’s not just lack of sleep, but my sinuses are blocked & I sneeze & cough… lordy I have a cold! tsk.
Eve & Jack have the same. Jack had a nasty cough in the night, but in the day it doesn’t seem too bad. Eve is suffering a little with this, but is generally crankier through her teething. Heh – she also slept quite well. I heard her yelp as she woke up, so scampered upstairs. She was running down the hall at the time, & I was worried she was upset (she often wakes grumpy & upset) but she had a huge smile when she saw me appear at the top of the stairs & gave me a big hug. Ah, the sort of things patents love.
Hey ho – here be Manchester once more. Pack up – go to work – bah.

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9:00 & I’m still not at work. Train just leaving Rochdale.
I’ve had to catch a bus to get here. The Summit tunnel is flooded – no trains do run. Bah.
Still – at least I’m on the comfort of a train now, although I have to type on my lap.
Hope for better running on the way home…
All this rain is of course doing wonders for the attic ceiling – which is still not fixed. It still leaks around the chimney breast & is now worse that ever (basically because it’s been raining so much. Weather permitting (an actually day without rain) they will be back to look at it again. They were sure they got whatever the problem was last time, but it seems not really… It all starts to dry out – but that’s because the weather is dry… then when it rains it’s very difficult to tell if it’s getting any better – whether it’s still drying out. It takes really crap weather – persistent heavy rain for you to realise it’s still not fixed proper. This time it took a little longer to get them back to look at it because we had to get the keys back off Louise’s mum (who had them in case she was needed at short notice when the baby was born). She forgot to actually bring them the day Jude was born anyway. We had left Louise’s set with Andy & she effectively hid those for us by putting them ‘in a safe place’. Hey ho. So – as I say – they will hopefully be back to look at that this week…
How is my progress in the attic going – decorating & such a like? We.e.e.e.lllllll….. I’ve made good progress stripping the skirting boards, but I have not really got as much done as my conscience allows me to.
All this malarkey getting to work makes me feel should have stayed at home today.
A pleasant weekend. We did not go out anywhere, but there was no real antagonism about that. On Friday we all went to get haircuts… well – not Louise & Jude. It was mainly for Eve as her fringe was far too much in her eyes. She didn’t really seem to mind it, but it must have tickled & got in the way rather. We can see her now! She was a little reluctant – so I sat in the chair with her – she standing on my legs – while the barber (lady) cut her fringe & trimmed the back & sides to tidy. I was on the verge of needing a cut – so was good to sort them, & Jack just had a general trim. The kids where a little loud (Eve is just naturally loud – but funny with it – not really annoying) but the barber & clientèle seemed fine about it. Barber kept them engaged & no sour looks from clientèle. All went rather well for such a risky venture.
Both Jack & Eve slept through the night last night. No tears & crying. Louise had to change Jude’s nappy at some point – so perhaps her walking about in the night doing that reassured Jack & Eve. I dunno – they so rarely do that; it’s a treat when they do.
Manchester looms – time to stop.

Making a stab at a bit of typing on one of these bouncy no table trains where you can smell the engine fumes in the heating.

Bah. Busy at work again as we have taken over another ISP again & things are not going as smoothly on the technical front as envisaged (do they ever?).

Jack has slept through the night 2 nights running – doesn’t sound much – but it’s good.

Feeling better? Hopefully. Still went to work yesterday as well,
but sleeping on the train seemed the most important thing to do as
the night before was such a bad night for sleeping. I had had some
tea, not much & upped the stakes on the gut rot, was sick even.
Could not get comfortable in bed & eventually fell asleep on
the sofa downstairs. Weird. Yesterday I opted for liquids only
& although I went to bed hungry, I had no pain to keep me
awake, so slept quite well. I’ve tried a little breakfast this
morning, but not my usual repast with huge tea swilling. I still
have something of a headache & dullness, but my walking pace
has picked up from being a crawl, so hopefully I’m feeling better
in general; still do not feel quite right, but improving.
There was me, thinking on Friday night that now that Big Brother
had finished it’s summer run I might get back to being more
productive on an evening, or at least getting to bed at a decent
time. Well… I have been getting to bed early the last couple of
days – essentially weaving to our bedroom to flop after reading the
kids to sleep.
Hmmm… Trains are playing silly buggers again. Yesterday was OK,
but Monday’s didn’t turn up. Today we change at Rochdale for some
reason…
Still waiting outside Rochdale station to pull into the platform,
so there could be summat up with the line, this morning, I guess –
sigh.

Buggerartion!
Damnation!!
I was rather hoping to get home early from work today – but here I am on the train after the one I normally get!! AUG!
The transition of shifts did not really occur as it usually does today – it was in fact just a little later than usual – just a few minutes (although it would have been nice at the usual 2:30 instead of the official 3:00) if that were not bad enough, I was the only one able to accept a call past 3:00 when I would normally not have my phone on the hook, even (preparing to get away). Consequently I missed the chance of even getting my normal train. GAH!
I have to hope that everything is going well at home & that Louise’s mum has not had any problems – like nappy changing – to contend with while Louise has had to go for her scan….
Oh great – the more I fret the slower the train goes… ah – good – it moves again.
Hope all is going well…