Virgin Rail

Last Friday I went to Belfast to get a cross-ferry Coach to Glasgow then get a train to London Euston. In the end my ferry was delayed and then I got questioned by Police at Cairnryan Port asking me if I was ‘reported missing’. However the Police check gave me the all clear. 🙂

Then I was able to walk from Buchanan Street Bus Station to Glasgow Central Train station and had to board a Train terminating at Birmingham. However, there was a delay on the train for a couple of hours prior to Lockerbie, how ironic, due to a suspected broken line. In the end our train terminated at Preston and we had to get a train there which terminated at Birmingham and then Virgin Rail had to provide taxis, which they paid for, to take people towards onward journeys. I was with four others heading to Euston; including two young women – one from Egypt and the other from Romania – who showed me how to get 4G working on my phone. It was a real Kumbaya moment.

On the train I boarded at Preston, I was talking to a loved-up drunk Geezer who was off to Birmingham to see his family for Mother’s Day. (Solihull to be precise) It was one of those serendipitous moments where we got to talk about music and he played ‘Justified and Ancient’ by the KLF; I was twelve years-old again. 🙂

After only two and a half hours sleep at the B and B I booked at Earl’s Court, the booking was only about £15 more than the taxi I had to get from Euston to Earl’s Court, I had some toast at the dining place and had to get a Tube to Victoria to head to Brighton. In the end I enjoyed Brighton and got to visit a Skype buddy from there. It was great, having Fish and Chips along the beach. Before that, I met other friends and had a cappuccino with a heart symbol which looked like a power symbol. 🙂

On the way back, I managed to get the first train from Euston to Glasgow. Then I got to be on the coach to Belfast, there were enough free seats for the driver to accept my open return, but I was sick on the way back. But I managed to get a bus to Castledawson park-and-ride and a taxi home; one of the few taxi services in the area who operates on Sunday Night.

These past few days I have been playing catch-up. But I am glad that I’m managing things. 🙂 Plus Virgin promise to refund my ticket as well as the additional taxi I had to get. Photocopied my receipts on my printer and then scanned the copy in PDF format to email to them. 🙂