Tea? (Part 1)

[TheDoctor]

@Tdr1nka,
My similar mission involved being told at the station where I booked the ticket (Stevenage) that I'd have to do it via the call center (Bangalore, I think), the call center having not a single clue, and the email support suggesting I go to the station I was going from (Cardiff) at least two hours ahead of time and booking it in there.
I actually wanted to go from Swansea, but the line was shut, so I'm already doing 50 miles or so to get a train at 1000. Grrr!!!!!!!
And to cap it all off, the bike van is at one end of the train, my reserved seat was at the other end.
*abandons tea, goes to get beer*

 

[tdr1nka]

The best shed in the world for me is Peter The Great's log cabin in St. Petersburg, it has two tiny rooms and is really a rudimentary summer house. Catherine The(also)Great, wanted the cabin preserved and had a Dutch style summer residence built with the cabin inside!

 

[Arch]

oh dear tdr1nka, what a hassle.

I went and booked a train ticket today, to go and see Mum and my sister and nephew for a couple of days next week. But as I don't need to take a bike, it was all rather straightforward!

 

[tdr1nka]

@Tdr1nka,
My similar mission involved being told at the station where I booked the ticket (Stevenage) that I'd have to do it via the call center (Bangalore, I think), the call center having not a single clue, and the email support suggesting I go to the station I was going from (Cardiff) at least two hours ahead of time and booking it in there.
I actually wanted to go from Swansea, but the line was shut, so I'm already doing 50 miles or so to get a train at 1000. Grrr!!!!!!!
And to cap it all off, the bike van is at one end of the train, my reserved seat was at the other end.
*abandons tea, goes to get beer*

The one shred of dignity I have retained from experiences like these is that I have never thought, 'Fug this! I'm just gonna have to get a car.'.
Which is exactly the kind of alternative thinking that pays for and brought about the ruddy service in the first place.

*Stroms off to shed to throw toys*

 

[TheDoctor]

Must admit, I'm thinking of bypassing the whole bike-on-train-related-pain-in bottom thing and getting a decent folder. Or just fixiing (is that a word? making a fixie of, is what I mean) my Daewoo Shuttle (cost £25, nearly worth it), on the grounds that it could barely be more ridiculous that it already is. Except the above link seems to prove that it could be.

 

[tdr1nka]

Thank you Arch,
I'm in a bit of a 'Modern Service Industry is not just cr*p, it's merit value is near non existant' gloom.
It is a maze with no cheese. As Confusious might have said.

Tx

 

[TheDoctor]

ooh, you HAVE been taking notice! Mmm, thank you....

Sheds are great. My allotment shed is a classic - the four walls and the roof are made of three different materials (corrugated tin, wood, corrugated perspex), and it's mostly held together by the power of prayer, and by leaning against a particularly strong bramble. All the allotment sheds are like that.

For my next diorama (assuming I ever finish the 'current' one) I think a little set of 00 scale allotments would be fun - all the sheds could be scratch built from odd materials, or old coach bodies or stuff like that. And then there's the allotments - some serried neat rows of veg, some mini wildernesses, some full of old bits of carpet and CDs-on-string bird scarers...

<drifts off into mental plan>

Of course I have. Tomorrow I'll be dropping into my local Oxfam to donate some drognas, and have a browse amongst the books. First time I've had a chance - they open on Saturdays, and also for a random few hours every third Tuesday, except when it's the first or last one in the month, and the month has an R in it but not an E. Or something like that. Anyway.

I'm now wondering about exterminating part of the Tom Simpson memorial, but with all the extra stuff I'll end up taking up MV I may as well not have bothered getting a carbon frame. Still, an extra top will be useful for on the way down, and if it's just worn for 45 mins of freewheeling it should be pristine for everyone else.

 

[tdr1nka]

Must admit, I'm thinking of bypassing the whole bike-on-train-related-pain-in bottom thing and getting a decent folder. Or just fixiing (is that a word? making a fixie of, is what I mean) my Daewoo Shuttle (cost £25, nearly worth it), on the grounds that it could barely be more ridiculous that it already is. Except the above link seems to prove that it could be.

When you say fixing(obviously not in the vetenary vernacular)doest thou mean like a fixed wheel or that it may be rendered, how shall we say? Unfoldable?

It's a cheeky monkey bike! I like any kinda bikes me I'm no snob.

*Now wondering if I can bungee the bike to the roof of the train when no-ones looking?*

T x

 

[TheDoctor]

When you say fixing(obviously not in the vetenary vernacular)doest thou mean like a fixed wheel or that it may be rendered, how shall we say? Unfoldable?

It's a cheeky monkey bike! I like any kinda bikes me I'm no snob.

*Now wondering if I can bungee the bike to the roof of the train when no-ones looking?*

T x

I mean in the fixed-wheel sense of the term. It doesn't fold up as such, but the seat post collapses down and the handlebar stem sort of undoes and flops down in line with the frame. It does look bloody ridiculous, but it's quite fun to ride, as long as no-one sees you.
*reminded of poor-quality joke*

 

[tdr1nka]

I could lend you my splendid moustashe, it seems fitting apperal and also a masterful disguise to boot!

 

[TheDoctor]

Like the idea of the facial hair!

Oh, by the way...
Harking back to a few days ago, where Uncle (or the Rangdo) from The Adventure Game was being harrassed by Chuffy, (gronda gronda and all that), Wikipedia advises that Uncle wasn't always a plant. In the first series, he was a human-looking professor, in series 2 and 3 he was the plant, but in the last series, the Rangdo changed into a teapot instead, spouting steam when displeased.

Yes, I know I'm sad. I'll go and get a grip now.

 

[Arch]

And to cap it all off, the bike van is at one end of the train, my reserved seat was at the other end.
*abandons tea, goes to get beer*

Ah for me the beauty of that situation is that I get to get up shortly before the station, and walk the length of the train, which of course involves blundering through First Class, preferably clouting all and sundry on the back of the head with my bar bag as I go...

It's my small contribution to the class war.

I say, bring back the thing they used to have, where a horsebox and a flat wagon were added to the train, so that a passenger could have their own liveried horse and carriage at their destination...

 

[TheDoctor]

Ah for me the beauty of that situation is that I get to get up shortly before the station, and walk the length of the train, which of course involves blundering through First Class, preferably clouting all and sundry on the back of the head with my bar bag as I go...

It's my small contribution to the class war.

I say, bring back the thing they used to have, where a horsebox and a flat wagon were added to the train, so that a passenger could have their own liveried horse and carriage at their destination...

Ermm, not sure how to say this,I was in first class.
Due to the vagaries of buying tickets in advance, it cost a couple of pounds more to get a comfier seat and a free cup of tea.

*awaits declaration of Archs' own class war*
*realises only armament is a) at home and :?: wooly*
*decides attack>defence*

So it was you that clouted me on the back of the head was it? Outside! Now!

 

[tdr1nka]

I am of course very lucky to have Mrs. tdr1nka who can smell a cheap fare offer and has booked me travelling to Sheffield, 1st Class for only 11 of your earth pounds!

The fact I will arrive for the train after sweaty 20 min ride, relax with free tea, sticky buns and wi-fi for 2 1/2hrs. to then arrive at Sheffield for a 20 mile run to Bakewell,(much uphill and on A roads)I feel the glamour of the First Class Accomodation somewhat wasted on me!

 

[tdr1nka]

Arch, I shall remember to casually hit myself about the head with my panniers before disembarking.

T x