Vicky Myers dropped in at lunchtime on Monday to discuss Dot’s sewing machine, and yesterday Dot went for a walk with Anne, taking care to get back in time to go to Tasburgh for an Ofsted feedback. Meanwhile I was writing my pieces for November’s Parish Pump and catching up on other stuff, as well as watching some tree experts cutting down quite a few trees in the area at the top of the road. The experts are still there, but have been careful so far to omit cutting the branches that are overhanging our property.

Yesterday I went by train to see Andrew, which was in retrospect a mistake. Not that there  was anything wrong with Andrew, but the same could not be said of the train service. On the plus side, it was a beautiful warm day.

I got a first-class return, and the first very minor blip occurred on the journey to London, when there was no buffet car (you get free tea and biscuits in first class), and the replacement trolley took until Colchester to reach us. Not really a problem, and I made it on to the Tube in good time. Unfortunately the Tube train didn’t move, and it eventually transpired that there was a signalling failure, and it was serious enough for us to take another route. So I did. It was further, and took longer.

At Euston all seemed to be well; so I went to the loo and then bought a magazine for Andrew. Returning to the platforms I found that my train was delayed. It then transpired that all trains were delayed because of another signalling failure. No-one knew how long for; so I grabbed some sandwiches and ate them in the sun.

By the time I went back into the station, there were no trains out of Euston that afternoon. I made some phone calls, looked some things up and overheard some other things, as a result of which I made my way to Marylebone (walk to Euston Square, tube to Baker Street and complicated change, tube to Marylebone), where I eventually got on the 1440 to Birmingham Snow Hill. Because of the Euston fiasco, thousands of other people did the same thing, with the result that the train was incredibly overcrowded. As I got myself on to the platform early, I was able to get a seat, but some people couldn’t even get on the train.

At Leamington Spa somebody had got their act together and announced the link to Birmingham Snow Hill, via Coventry. That was late too, of course, and full up; so I stood all the way to Coventry: not far, but the average speed was somewhere around 20mph. The people sitting in first class were getting good service, but I was standing; so I didn’t get any.

So I reached Andrew just before 5pm instead of just after 2pm as planned. I spent an hour with him and took the measurements for some new trousers. He seemed fairly cheerful.

I reached the station for the return journey to Euston (or possibly elsewhere) and eventually caught the 1711, which was running well over an hour late and was – you guessed it – full to the brim. I stood all the way to Euston, and again received no first-class service at all. But at least it got into Euston in reasonably good time (considering it was an hour late), and the tube connection from Euston Square was working. After buying a baguette from Upper Crust at Liverpool Street, I caught the 2030, which was on time and not full. The buffet was open, and I got a cup of tea. Arrived back in Norwich, seated and on time, at 2230. Dot was still awake.