All went well until I left the house. I decided to take the first bus which went to Kingston. In theory I would then take the train to Wimbledon. and then take the tube, District Line to South Kensington. At Teddington station they hinted, the previous day, that there were problems between Wimbledon and Clapham. They lied as there is no train service between between Kingston and Wimbledon.
On the platform there was a CSI style, crime scene, plastic tape warning that there were no trains. On a board was a very subtle hints, (ie very obscure), about where to get the bus to Wimbledon. At the bus station there was no bus or anyone trying to be helpful. So in the end I jumped on a bus going to Tooting via Wimbledon – so far so good.
So I end up in Wimbledon to find another deserted station. I Went to the other part of the station to find around a dozen helpful people pointing at buses, shepherding people to buses, shouting in megaphones about buses that were all going to Kingston. Finally managed to find a nice Polish railway person to stop running around amid the mayhem, which she did and she told me where to get the bus to Southfields tube.
So after nearly getting knocked down I crossed the road and got on the bus going to Southfields. Of course the mad person with the the staring eyes started asking repeatedly where the bus is going, will it get him to the station he wanted to go? What’s the time (every two minutes). Fortunately someone sits between him and me.
Arirve at Southfields. Get a train to High Street Ken – I figure it is quicker to come around on the Circle Line than wait for the appropriate District Line train from Earls Court.
At High Street Ken there’s a message saying all Circle Line trains are cancelled. So I have to go back to Earls Court.
At Earls Court I find the platforms are blocked by two trains going, ie waiting to go, to High Street Ken. I talked to railway person. There is a train going to the Embankment, but it is stuck behind a train waiting to go to Edgeware Road, via High Street Ken. So there are three trains blocking my train.
So I wait and end up as counsellor to one million and one distressed tourists wanting to go to places beyond South Ken.
Slowly the trains move and eventually a train, my train, goes the right way.
I get on it and arrive at South Ken a mere half an hour after the film has started. I meet my daughter Lydia.
She would treat me, in fact planned to treat me, but -erm, she had left her cash card in her other jacket.
We wonder around South Ken, which is in reality an affluent district of Paris. Great food shops, great cafes and great bars. We find a nice place and sit outside and have a nice lunch of a platter of assorted meats and a couple of bottles of wine. We have a pleasant time.
Hundreds of strange people on roller skates take over the road and nosily pass us.
Eventually I head back home.
District Line to Richmond is just fine.
However all the bus stops outside the station have been terminated.
After tramping around I find the replacement bus stop and eventually find my way home.
Hilda, my mother in law, has casserole ready.
So now I feel completely stuffed
All in all not a bad birthday.