Travel woes

Sophie was going to London today for an event at a prison in Surrey. She was taking the 6.25am train so Keith and I took her down to the station and we left at the ungodly hour of 5.45am. It had snowed lightly overnight so the roads were white and it was very cold!

We managed to get her there in good time, even though I took it easy on the ungritted country roads. Back home it was definitely time for a coffee, but I didn't go back to bed as we had to take my Dad's car to have its MOT done at 8am! Yawn!

Once that was done, and we were back home again, I had breakfast - leftover new potatoes made into an omelette, and then I tackled some jobs. Keith went to have his hair cut at about 11am, and when he came back I sat and filled out the forms from the council for Mum and Dad. It involved a lot of printing, and not for the first time I wondered what people without printers do?

In between the forms, I did a mound of hand-washing and put on two more loads of laundry. Keith stood and ironed another pile so we were kept very busy! We went and collected the car in the early afternoon and it passed the first time, thank goodness! It's my car that's playing up at the moment!

I did indulge in a nap in the afternoon and woke up at almost 5pm after a refreshing snooze. Sophie texted me to say she was getting the 5.20pm train from Euston and would be back at about 6.30pm as there was only one stop.

Just as we were setting out to meet her, she texted me to tell us not to leave, as there was a delay. The train had hit an animal, and they were stopped at Leighton Buzzard... It must have been a substantial animal for the train to stop and go out of service, so we had no idea what it was! Sophie was stuck on the platform at Leighton Buzzard for a fair while and didn't arrive back at Northampton until 7.30pm.

Our plans for dinner went out of the window, and I couldn't believe the number of cars at the station when we picked her up. It was a real scrum! We drove to Brixworth and bought some fish and chips for dinner, which were delicious washed down with a chilled glass of Viognier. I think we deserved it!

Sophie was shattered as she'd had a busy day, giving a speech to people in the industry and helping with all the organisation of the event. After we'd eaten we relaxed and Sophie gave me some late birthday gifts - all lovely pampering treats!