Milkman came at around four oh six this morning. Two pints as usual. Drank some milk at breakfast with my bacon sarnie. Bread was over-toasted. I sliced one too thin! Nivver mind.
THG dropped me off at the stayshun at around quarter to nine. The nine eleven to Newark was already in and at platform 3A. Right by the entrance and no need to mess about with the footbridge. Result! Looks like a newish train an all. A good start to the day.
Am on the way to the bright lights and on this occasion would appear to have some work to do relating to number portability. Iawn. Don’t even know why I mentioned it. Such things are important although not in the great scheme of things.
The news this morning was full of bad stuff:
The government winning a vote on Rwanda. They are so up their own arses on this. There are far more important things to worry about than immigration and boats. Like number portability.
Then there is COP28. V important but our government considered the Rwanda deal to be more important so flew our top guy home for the vote. We are all doomed. At least this government will go before we do.
And then there is the UN call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Elsewhere on the page there is Ukraine v Russia war, sad deaths of teenagers in a car crash and the shrinking UK economy.
The first “good “ bit of news came from Gloucester where a silver 1,700 year old ring was declared treasure. I assume that is good news. At least compared with the other s45t going on it is.
Enough of that. That kind of stuff should be reserved for other media such as X, such an instantly recognisable brand that it is bound to succeed. I doubt it. There was something called twitter which did exactly the same kind of thing but that came and went. The whale must have sunk. Or was the whale on Facebook? Not seen it for yonks. Maybe the bird flew away. Peter was its name. You might have been thinking of Paul.
The carriage is gradually filling up, from the other end which is near the entrance to the platform. I moved to the front to be nearer where I want to be when I change at Newark Northgate. A cheery train manager is making an announcement. We are about to depart.
Sgonna be a long day in town. Lots of “networking” if ya know what I mean. You have to send your top guys on this sort of jaunt. People with lots of experience and therefore the stamina to stay the pace.
The train trundles slowly in the direction of Newark. Just passed the scrapyard on one side and scrubby birch woodland on the other. We pass a lot of land that seems to be permanently fallow and unused. Must be on the wrong side of the tracks.
I quite like the romance of coming from the wrong side of the tracks. In reality it is far better to have been brought up in a nice comfortable family environment where you had great parents and all the head starts in life. If this is you, be grateful. I know I am. Don’t waste it.
The line between Lincoln and Newark is quite slow. This means if you look out of the window you see a lot of things. Over the years it has prompted me to write the occasional poem such as “The rusting tractor (at Collingham Station)”. We are just passing Collingham now. Then there was “The church” which stood outside Newark and would appear to have seen better days.
The fields today are waterlogged as was the station car park at Swinderby. Only three cars parked up and one of them belongs to Network Rail. It is a truly miserable December day. Even the blanket clad horse in the field looks miserable. Not much fun fenced off on your own in an anaemic looking plot of grass.
Just noticed that I have a thirty eight minute layover at Newark Northgate. Schoolboy error. I initially booked this train so as to get to town in time for lunch with a customer but that customer cancelled and now I’m meeting @Charles before heading to the annual Gamma shindig. Could have caught a later, direct train. Ah well. We life and often don’t learn. I won’t be doing any number portability stuff in the station caff. It isn’t the right environment for it.
The wetness of the fields around Newark makes you wonder whether this area was all marsh and bog before the Romans drained it. I assume they drained it. Newark must be on the endangered list when it comes to sea levels rising.
Now sat in the waiting room on platform 2. Made the mistake of chatting to some woman. Now she won’t stop. Gawd help us. I’ve had to deliberately ignore her. She is the station waiting room equivalent of the nutter on the bus. I think she is lonely. Someone else is occupying her. Someone with weaker ignoring skills than me. I hope she is not sat next to me on the train. Gonna be a headphones job.