In which the trains excel (crowded, cancelled and infected)
Whew, it is nuts with each region having its’ own train system… my original train Shrewsbury to Birmingham was booked on West Midlands then Avanti trains, but two in a row were cancelled due to lack of engineering staff. As such, you are offered a refund or can use the next available train or the one before, but it has to be on the same system…. Eventually I cancelled the original, asked for a refund and got a booking on a “transport for wales” train, crossing my fingers they had better luck recruiting staff… and the second leg was yet another company, Coastal.
Birmingham was nuts, filled with ecstatic (and noisy) Liverpool football fans as apparently they’d recently won the FA cup and were having the official celebration today. The trains were filled with people continually sniffing and coughing without hands over mouth and little change choice as most seats were filled. Then there was the woman who came on with 5 full bags (camping gear etc) and a backpack and dropped them in the aisle so you had to climb a mountain to get past. Then she had a loud chat with her relative about their troubles which was shared with the entire carriage. Soooo different from the etiquette in a Japanese train…
Happily decanted in Derby and met cousin Alastair and we drove the 12 or so miles to Wirkworth. Some parts did look familiar but it has been 8 years since I was last here. We headed out for a walking tour of the town and to view some of the “well dressing ” festival display – an ancient tradition of decorating wells with only natural ingredients to encourage them to keep producing during the summer. Alastair slid seamlessly into his “guide” role. Some beautiful displays:
One of the most sophisticated
school children did a number of these and frequently you could see a bundle of seeds on the ground in front of the displays as the “glue” let go. The birds were doing well.
one incorporated VE day celebrations
a very colourful design of a kingfisher
A walk through old town appreciated a considerable history.
Back home to a lovely dinner and the arrival of Alastair’s brother Neil who I have only briefly met 29 years ago. He has been living mostly in Angola, and moved back to Scotland during covid as the education system collapsed, and no reliable online education existed. His 8 year old was not getting any education so the move was made to be nearer family in Cumbernauld and they have stayed put just outside of Glasgow. We trotted down to the local pub after dinner, now in heavier rain, and found it relatively quiet but a pint of “mild” – a local dark draft beer – slid down nicely while we listened to horrendous stories of Mubarek’s life as a Sudanese refugee – he has been with Neil and Claire for several years now and doing well though has recently had to deal with his father’s death in the war, and his aunt’s sudden death. Makes the train service issues seem trivial….
Managed to connect by face time with my mother through Suzanne’s computer as mine kept giving me an error message – hope to sort that out before the next stop. Off to bed for all on return from the pub.