Travel to the Netherlands

I was going to travel by train again, on my trip to the Netherlands for the family reunion. And as usual, it was supposed to take some 12 hours. I was booked on the direct train to London; that’s nice. You can get some work done in these 3.5 hours; given it leaves at 7:15 it’s not busy, and you can be confident you have a seat. I had decided to bring my laptop. It’s such a long journey; might as well make use of it! 

It had been lovely weather, but the day before I would travel it was rainy. And in the evening it was raining epically. And that evening I received an email: my 7:15 train next morning was cancelled due to flooding. Oh dear! The message helpfully suggested I could take an earlier or later train. The later one wouldn’t get me in London on time. The earlier one was cancelled too. Great. 

Fortunately, there were more options. I spotted I could take the detour via Chester and Crewe. I decided to not take the 6:58 one but the 5:58; if there was trouble on the railroad, best not take chances. It would be early! But the important thing would be to get there in the end.

I got up at 4:30 (I had that alert saved from my field day adventures) and was out of the door by 5:15. I parked on a lesser-in-demand university car park and walked to the station. And on the platform I spotted a former colleague. She was on her way to Cardiff. We had a nice chat until Chester where I got out. 

Bangor station shortly before 6 AM

A break in Chester

The train to Crewe was very busy. We were all doing a smashing sardines imitation. And shortly before Crewe I checked what platform I would need for my train to London. The app said the train was cancelled. What? That probably meant I couldn’t get to London on time. Then what? But the man next to me said that train was running. Fortunately, he was right. And I got to London OK. 

I had lunch by the station; there were picnic tables there. It was only shortly after 10 AM, but for me it was lunchtime. I was a bit annoyed by a big Issue seller I gave £5, and who then wanted £10 and used his best fake crying to convince me. I suppose I had ‘gullible country bumpkin’ written on my forehead. But in the end I think I pulled my Amsterdam face and he slinked off. 

St Pancras

At St Pancras all went well. After that I got some work done on the train. In Brussels all went well too. From there to Schiphol I chatted with my neighbour; a chap called Gerben who worked for the UVA and who had been in Oxfordshire. That was nice! And in Schiphol, where I arrived with only half an hour of delay, I had a train onwards to Amersfoort after only 10 minutes. I had done it again! I was tired because of my early start, and I hadn’t managed to do as much work as I think I could have had I had the direct train, but I got there! A glass of red wine at my mum’s table was waiting for me…