On Saturday 19th November 2011, I got out of bed at about 5:50am and started getting ready for my day. This included making some coffee, and eating an apple. The apple was mostly red, with hints of green.
Once I was dressed and ready to get out of the house, a taxi driver knocked on my door. Actually, he knocked moments before I was ready, but they were kind enough to wait for me. By 6:30am, I was in the taxi, being driving me to Gosport Ferry Terminal. The taxi was quite large for one passenger: in fact it was almost a minibus (at least it seemed that way from the outside. Inside it only had a few seats). My wife was also supposed to be travelling with me, but she couldn't make it in the end. I guess when she booked the taxi she might have said it would be for more than one passenger, so that might have accounted for the extra space - or perhaps taxis are just bigger than I remember them being.
I waited at the Gosport Ferry Terminal for a few minutes, and then the ferry arrived. I queued and then gave the ticket collector my ticket. He clipped it, and then gave it back to me. I say "my" ticket, but really it was a ticket my wife lent to me for the day.
Once the ferry had arrived in Portsmouth, I made my way to Portsmouth Harbour railway station. This journey took about 90 seconds by foot. A few minutes later, I was sitting on the train to London Victoria, waiting for it to set off.
At about 7:12 am, the train set off.
Time passed.
We arrived in London Victoria station at about 9:16am.
I got to the ticket barrier and slid my ticket in to the slot. It was rejected. I tried again. It was rejected again. I guessed the problem was probably that my tickets were bought from an online vendor, rather than offline at a station or on the train. I walked over to the ticket inspector, and showed them my ticket. They let me though. I then realised I had been holding the ticket upside down. I'm still not sure how much attention the inspector paid to the ticket.
As I made my way to the Underground station, I realised I had my Oyster Card in my coat pocket from the last time I went to London. (On that occasion, I met
@98rosjon for the first time offline. It was a good meeting. You should meet him too if you have the chance). It was pleasing to find my Oyster Card, but my wife had lent me hers already, so it wouldn't have been too much of a hardship if I hadn't found mine at that time. But it was good that I did anyway, I thought.
I got out of my bag a sheet of paper I had prepared a few days earlier with the instructions for my journey on the underground system printed on it and looked for the entrance to the right set of tubes, so I would end up going the right way. Having had a bit of a false start (I started queueing in a queue designed for those with luggage, when I had none), I eventually found myself on what I believed to be the right platform to catch a tube to Embankment.
I was right.
Getting out at Embankment, I walked to Bank. The walk required having more faith in the Transport For London guide, taking me down a road with very few signs pointing the way to Bank station.
I thought of "The Weakest Link".
I descended the steps to Bank. Bank is an oddly constructed station, with multiple entrances spiralling out from a central circle, and you must remember which location number you entered from so you can make your way out from the same location on your return journey. I checked with the member of staff if I was at the correct location to get a tube to Bethnal Green. They grunted something unintelligible back at me. I decided to take the risk, swipe my Oyster Card along the entrance to the escalators, and descend even deeper into the London underground tube system.
At the bottom of the escalators, I found two archways. One to the left, and one to the right. in front of me were two tube maps. One next to the archway on the left, one next to the archway on the right. One of the maps contained the words "Bethnal Green". I walked through the archway next to the sign (the one on the left).
Once I found I was at Bethnal Green, I remembered I had forgotten to make a map from the station to my intended destination. I started writing a tweet along the lines of: "I've forgotten to make a map - how do I get from Bethnal Green to York Hall?". Just before I was going to send it, I noticed there was a map on the wall, so I walked over to the map and first started trying to identify my current location. Having identified my current location on the map, I then turned my attention to locating York Hall on the map. Soon after I had completed that mission, someone walked past me, turned round, and said my name. That someone was
@adamcreen, who somehow had managed to identify me on our first offline meeting from the back of my head. I was impressed, and pleased to see him.
We walked to York Hall together, and talked while we did so.
We arrived at York Hall.
After the conference,
@adamcreen, his wife,
@inRedPen and I walked to a pub in the Bethnal Green area, and
@adamcreen was kind enough to buy a round of drinks. I had a Diet Coke. We talked about various subjects. I worried about the time, knowing I would have to get to London Victoria by 8:00pm to get on the train my ticket was for. We talked some more. Then I left, and made my way back to Bethnal Green Underground station. The three others remained in the pub. I don't know how long for, as I had left.
From Bethnal Green Underground station, I travelled to Bank. I discovered Bank is an oddly constructed station, with multiple entrances spiralling out from a central circle, and you must remember which location number you entered from so you can make your way out from the same location on your return journey. Having made at least one complete circuit of the exits, I made my way back out to the street, and walked to Embankment.
From Embankment I moved on to London Victoria. I was pleased to find that I hadn't got on an incorrect tube for the entire journey, there and back.
At London Victoria I bought some dinner, and walked down to the train station entrance once I saw which platform my train would be departing from. In front of me stood a man asking for entrance in to the platform area of the station. The ticket inspector checked their ticket, and told the man he had to buy a new one as that ticket had been for a train that had already departed. The man looked sad, and walked away, allowing me to show the inspector my ticket. I showed the inspector my ticket, and they let me through to the train.
The train was long. Actually, it was two trains joined together to make one longer train. I heard the instructions bellowing from the speakers: passengers travelling to Portsmouth Harbour must travel in the front four coaches.
I got in to coach 1, and consumed my dinner. After that, seeing as I had to travel in the first four coaches, I decided to produce
a review of the four coaches. This actually took quite some time, and once complete, I was back in Portsmouth.(By the way, I saw the man with the bad ticket on the train, so they must have been able to get a correct ticket at London Victoria).
But I was only at Fratton Station.
After Fratton Station, the train moved on to Portsmouth and Southsea station, and from there completed its journey at Portsmouth Harbour station, at around 10:06pm. I got off the train and decided to use the stars and bridge over to the exit side of the station. I saw a woman running. I thought they might be running towards a ferry, so I started running too. Well, I walked more quickly anyway. She ran out of the station and headed towards the ferry terminal, but then slowed down and then stopped. The ferry was not there yet. I slowed down too, and walked to the ferry terminal.
There were around 6 or 8 people ahead of me at the ferry terminal, and at first no one behind me. Then several people arrived after me, and then some more. By the time the ferry arrived, there was quite a crowd waiting to board.
I headed back to Gosport on the ferry, and decided to walk home rather than take a taxi.
I walked home.
