My train from Southampton to Lancaster was at 1.15pm.. I decided to get the 12.49pm bus to get to the train station.. As I walked towards the bus station, to my horror, the bus that I wanted to catch went past.. I had no choice but to walk all the way to the train station.. Basically what should've been a leisurely 10-minute bus ride became a harrowing 25-minute dash through uncharted territory.. All sorts of shortcuts were taken and I had to ask for directions a couple of times so that I wouldn't get lost.. Then when I did get to the platform, the train was gingerly waiting there as the stationmaster blew the whistle.. I quickly climbed onto the train and the doors closed promptly behind me..
I barely caught my train by a few mere seconds.
The train was fairly busy.. Lots of people were standing in between the carriages because there weren't enough seats, but I didn't have any problems because..
I was travelling on Virgin's Voyager train in First Class for GBP 20.45 :D It still hasn't sunk in that I nearly missed out on this ultimate luxury in British travelling.. The seats were a tad more spacious.. And the best part was getting complimentary snack boxes, drinks and newspapers, served at your seat.. With my sweater and jeans, I was sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the neatly dressed passengers in the same carriage.. But for me, I've set my mind that whenever I decide on travelling by train ever again, I'll always look out for (dirt cheap) first class tickets :D
I was so glad to see R again.. It's been ages since the time we last met and it was great to see a familiar face again.. By the time we met, we immediately became the crazy people that we were again and it felt so good.. When I first got to Lancaster, she took me to her uni's International Night where the Malaysians performed a traditional Malay wedding ritual onstage, with my ex-collegemate as the groom :D Afterwards, she took me to a pizzeria where the pizza guy flirted with R..
The next day, we went to fetch Z and we toured the area.. Lancaster's such a beautiful city.. It's small, quaint and I totally fell in love with its cobblestone roads.. We visited the Lancaster castle which turned out to be a prison.. Hmm.. Just like Leicester.. I guess the British love to give the best accommodation available to convicts.. LOL.. We also saw some lovely tulips bloom.. Spring's here.. yay! :D
Interestingly, we saw a few batches of T's chocolates :)
Lancaster proved to be an gastronomical affair.. We tried a sinful Italian dessert aptly called the Godfather and then wiped the plates clean in an Indian restaurant.. After such a pleasant night, it was time to say goodbye the next day..
Or at least I thought so.
When I got to the bus stop, apparently it was closed off by a barricade.. The coach we were supposed to catch didn't stop at the proper bus stop.. We didn't know there was a temporary bus stop erected not far away.. When we got there a couple of minutes later, the coach was already gone!
I had missed the bus.
After some heated arguments - and the classic on-hold run around between departments - on the phone with the coach company, I finally resigned to the fact that I wasn't going anywhere.. R was already jumping up and down with joy :D
Come to think of it, this is really a blessing in disguise.. Now that I've missed the bus, I had more time to hang out with my girl friends and I've now bought a new train ticket to Southampton, with a stopover in Birmingham where I'll spend the night with another one of my long-lost girl friend..
And guess what.. I'm travelling first class again :D
So yeah, shit happens.. But there's always a silver lining in every dark cloud.. Now to catch up on all five lectures I'll be missing on Monday.. LOL :P
*** EDIT : More pictures on Yahoo! Photos ***
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NHA at 7:44 PM ::
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