Christmas Pressies

Since My Girl^TM and I are spending Christmas in different places - she sipping daiquiris on a boat sailing up the Nile and I trying to get extra sleep in a small bed in Wem - we decided to open our Christmas pressies this evening. I shall be off to Shropshire tomorrow afternoon and she will be flying out from Heathrow on Christmas Eve.

I am now the proud owner of The X Files - The Complete Collector's Edition DVDs. Witness:



All nine seasons plus the movie neatly sandwiched in between seasons five and six. How cool is that?
We have already watched the first disk.

Christmas Pressies

Since My Girl^TM and I are spending Christmas in different places - she sipping daiquiris on a boat sailing up the Nile and I trying to get extra sleep in a small bed in Wem - we decided to open our Christmas pressies this evening. I shall be off to Shropshire tomorrow afternoon and she will be flying out from Heathrow on Christmas Eve.

I am now the proud owner of The X Files - The Complete Collector's Edition DVDs. Witness:



All nine seasons plus the movie neatly sandwiched in between seasons five and six. How cool is that?
We have already watched the first disk.

Christmas Travel

I haven't decided yet (though I shall have to, shortly) whether I am going home today or very early tomorrow. I have already had a text from my sister telling me my youngest niece wants me to go home today; the emotional blackmail begins before breakfast.

I have done the early run home on Christmas Eve before and once started, it isn't so bad. You can always doze off on the train. It's a bind, but not really a problem.

Coming back to London after Christmas will be a problem. The West Coast Line is being dug up again. I think that since the Paddington rail crash in 1999, there has been about one year when the lines have not been subject to hectic maintenance. I don't think much more than a fiver in maintenance was spent on the entire network between Nationalization in 1948 and de-Nationalization in the mid 80s, and maybe a tenner in the ten years before the rail crash. People have to die before improvements are made and that's what happened. So, time to get 60 years of maintenance done in under ten years.

The upshot is that on 29th when I aim to come back to London, I have two options: I can either take the usual route from Shrewsbury to London. That will involve rail replacement buses between Birmingham International and Northampton. Total travel time over 155 miles? Three hours 55 minutes.

Or, I can take the train from Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street, walk across the city centre to Moor Street Station and travel down to London Marylebone. Total travel time a much more acceptable two hours 46 minutes but with a 20 minute walk in the middle with bags. If I take this option, I can't get a return ticket as I shall be using a different series of rail companies. That will effectively move the fare for the holiday from an already extortionate £45 to around £90...

I hate traveling in the UK.

Christmas Travel

I haven't decided yet (though I shall have to, shortly) whether I am going home today or very early tomorrow. I have already had a text from my sister telling me my youngest niece wants me to go home today; the emotional blackmail begins before breakfast.

I have done the early run home on Christmas Eve before and once started, it isn't so bad. You can always doze off on the train. It's a bind, but not really a problem.

Coming back to London after Christmas will be a problem. The West Coast Line is being dug up again. I think that since the Paddington rail crash in 1999, there has been about one year when the lines have not been subject to hectic maintenance. I don't think much more than a fiver in maintenance was spent on the entire network between Nationalization in 1948 and de-Nationalization in the mid 80s, and maybe a tenner in the ten years before the rail crash. People have to die before improvements are made and that's what happened. So, time to get 60 years of maintenance done in under ten years.

The upshot is that on 29th when I aim to come back to London, I have two options: I can either take the usual route from Shrewsbury to London. That will involve rail replacement buses between Birmingham International and Northampton. Total travel time over 155 miles? Three hours 55 minutes.

Or, I can take the train from Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street, walk across the city centre to Moor Street Station and travel down to London Marylebone. Total travel time a much more acceptable two hours 46 minutes but with a 20 minute walk in the middle with bags. If I take this option, I can't get a return ticket as I shall be using a different series of rail companies. That will effectively move the fare for the holiday from an already extortionate £45 to around £90...

I hate traveling in the UK.

Dead Rat and Tit Paste

I have not yet started packing; I shall do that shortly while Furtle is Warcrafting. She has broken the back of her packing requirements, though it is likely that a decant into another bag (one with wheels and a handle, similar to the one, for instance, that I have been trying to lend her...) will be needed.

As a final run through the stuff she needs to take, she asked me to read her (very long) checklist back to her.

Now, I'm not saying that her handwriting leaves something to be desired, but amongst the bits I could decipher, there were these gems that had us rolling around in mirth:

Eye Mash, which turned out to be the less alarming eye mask (for sleeping on the plane);
Tit Paste(!), which it transpires is rather less interesting "T&T paste" or toothbrush and toothpaste;
fissures, which I managed to decode into the more reasonable tissues; and finally,
Dead Rat, which I am assured is the rather less pungent and more fragrant deodorant.

Travel with Furtle is not dull by any means.

Dead Rat and Tit Paste

I have not yet started packing; I shall do that shortly while Furtle is Warcrafting. She has broken the back of her packing requirements, though it is likely that a decant into another bag (one with wheels and a handle, similar to the one, for instance, that I have been trying to lend her...) will be needed.

As a final run through the stuff she needs to take, she asked me to read her (very long) checklist back to her.

Now, I'm not saying that her handwriting leaves something to be desired, but amongst the bits I could decipher, there were these gems that had us rolling around in mirth:

Eye Mash, which turned out to be the less alarming eye mask (for sleeping on the plane);
Tit Paste(!), which it transpires is rather less interesting "T&T paste" or toothbrush and toothpaste;
fissures, which I managed to decode into the more reasonable tissues; and finally,
Dead Rat, which I am assured is the rather less pungent and more fragrant deodorant.

Travel with Furtle is not dull by any means.