What a difference ten hours can make. At half past eight in the morning I was asleep in Glasney Parc, Cornwall: at half past six in the evening I had arrived at Stroud Railway Station, Gloucestershire. A lot happened in those ten hours, but to cut a long story short, I packed everything, managed to get down to Penryn Station on time (with help from Dan Scholes and Fred Troen), then realised I’d left a bag behind. Whoops. And there wasn’t time to go back for it. Bother.
Mind you, I doubt I would have been able to manage another bag, seeing as I had seven of them already; along with a suitcase and violin, of course. Suffice to say, getting things off and onto trains was not easy, and I did need a bit of assistance at Truro getting the darn things over the stairway and then onto the train. I then bade Cornwall farewell at about 1:45, passed through good old Exeter, and then hauled all my stuff off the train at Tiverton Parkway. Fortunately, Tiverton Parkway only has one platform for trains to the Shire, so getting on the next train was easy enough.
It was only when I got to Cheltenham Spa that problems started. Incidentally, I always find that the easiest way to tell you’re in Gloucestershire is if the trains are being rubbish – and they were. The train to Stroud from Cheltenham was cancelled (bah) and went from Gloucester instead, I had to haul my entire luggage up and down two separate flights of stairs, get on another train to Gloucester, haul all the stuff down the longest platform in Britain to the next train, and then I noticed that a bag of sugar I was carrying had exploded. Gah. Still, after that, the journey was smooth, although bear in mind that the remainder of the journey was only 20 minutes.
So, back in the Shire – what’s it like? Well, I could say it’s dull, but it certainly isn’t. It’s more peaceful in Gloucestershire, I’ll admit, but I still have a fair amount of stuff to do: apply for a new passport, book flights (probably from Heathrow to Stockholm), go back to Cornwall to pick up this damned elusive bag… oh yes, and I may call in on a few of my friends who are doing their “annual” vacation in the Devonshire village of Woolacombe: they’re not quite as intrepid as me, but bearing in mind how out-of-the-way Woolacombe is, they are pretty intrepid nevertheless. So, this next week will probably involve me getting the nitty-gritty stuff sorted, making sure I’m not having a last-minute panic session with regards to getting to Uppsala for August 20th, and having a bit of a break as well: don’t want to exhaust myself before I get to Sweden!
As you also may have noticed, I’ve changed the day of the major blog: seeing as I’m leaving for Uppsala on a Wednesday, I thought I’d move the “major” blogs to Tuesday. There is another reason for doing this: specifically, that August 5th (my sister’s birthday), October 7th (my birthday) and November 4th (US Election Day) all happen to be on a Tuesday this year. So there you are.
Finally, I wanted to make a comment on Gordon Brown’s first year in the last blog, seeing as I posted it on his 1st “Anniversary” as PM, but couldn’t quite fit it in. So I’ll do it now. Quite frankly, for Brown and Labour to be doing so badly against a party whose leader makes most people I know very uneasy about voting Conservative, and to get less votes than the BNP in a by-election, is a rather damning indictment on both the leader and his party. I don’t think getting rid of him will help, because I don’t think Brown’s the problem: the Labour MPs seem to have a habit of tearing the party apart, and at the moment they appear to be doing it again. Brown, in my opinion, should be allowed to get on with the job, but unless he turns it around within the year, I can’t see him winning the next election. And if, for some reason, he calls a general election whilst I’m in Uppsala, I’ll be rather annoyed with the Right Honourable MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. But at the moment, that seems rather unlikely, and I’ll be amazed if he’s not still in power by the time I come back from Sweden. Which is rather depressing. Righto, best be off. Take care people, and tune in next week for another instalment of…
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sweden (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Chris Stanley
It was only when I got to Cheltenham Spa that problems started. Incidentally, I always find that the easiest way to tell you’re in Gloucestershire is if the trains are being rubbish – and they were. The train to Stroud from Cheltenham was cancelled (bah) and went from Gloucester instead, I had to haul my entire luggage up and down two separate flights of stairs, get on another train to Gloucester, haul all the stuff down the longest platform in Britain to the next train, and then I noticed that a bag of sugar I was carrying had exploded. Gah. Still, after that, the journey was smooth, although bear in mind that the remainder of the journey was only 20 minutes.So, back in the Shire – what’s it like? Well, I could say it’s dull, but it certainly isn’t. It’s more peaceful in Gloucestershire, I’ll admit, but I still have a fair amount of stuff to do: apply for a new passport, book flights (probably from Heathrow to Stockholm), go back to Cornwall to pick up this damned elusive bag… oh yes, and I may call in on a few of my friends who are doing their “annual” vacation in the Devonshire village of Woolacombe: they’re not quite as intrepid as me, but bearing in mind how out-of-the-way Woolacombe is, they are pretty intrepid nevertheless. So, this next week will probably involve me getting the nitty-gritty stuff sorted, making sure I’m not having a last-minute panic session with regards to getting to Uppsala for August 20th, and having a bit of a break as well: don’t want to exhaust myself before I get to Sweden! As you also may have noticed, I’ve changed the day of the major blog: seeing as I’m leaving for Uppsala on a Wednesday, I thought I’d move the “major” blogs to Tuesday. There is another reason for doing this: specifically, that August 5th (my sister’s birthday), October 7th (my birthday) and November 4th (US Election Day) all happen to be on a Tuesday this year. So there you are.Finally, I wanted to make a comment on Gordon Brown’s first year in the last blog, seeing as I posted it on his 1st “Anniversary” as PM, but couldn’t quite fit it in. So I’ll do it now. Quite frankly, for Brown and Labour to be doing so badly against a party whose leader makes most people I know very uneasy about voting Conservative, and to get less votes than the BNP in a by-election, is a rather damning indictment on both the leader and his party. I don’t think getting rid of him will help, because I don’t think Brown’s the problem: the Labour MPs seem to have a habit of tearing the party apart, and at the moment they appear to be doing it again. Brown, in my opinion, should be allowed to get on with the job, but unless he turns it around within the year, I can’t see him winning the next election. And if, for some reason, he calls a general election whilst I’m in Uppsala, I’ll be rather annoyed with the Right Honourable MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. But at the moment, that seems rather unlikely, and I’ll be amazed if he’s not still in power by the time I come back from Sweden. Which is rather depressing. Righto, best be off. Take care people, and tune in next week for another instalment of…Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sweden (But Were Afraid to Ask)Chris Stanley
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