Oxford Day 1 of 3 - I Travel South

Set off down south to Oxford via A1, M1, and M40. The highlight is when I pass a pink Austin A6, the low point when the sat nav tries to send me north from the M1 onto the M6. Note to self; I must get the maps updated. I listen to BBC Radio 5 as Stoke thrash Bolton 5 - 0 at Wembley and Arsenal let slip a 1 - 0 lead over Liverpool in the 8th minute of injury time. Not their year again then. 

I'm a bit worried as the M1 is still closed from junctions 4 to 1 after the fire on Friday, but no queues at all. Perhaps they should close it more often. Some idiot on the radio says we will 'have to look at whether we should allow scrap yards under the motorway'. So, no other type of business is a fire risk then?

Arrive in central Oxford a bit too early it seems as the sign as I pass the Royal Oxford Hotel says 'Next Burlesque on 26th April'! I try to find the office for tomorrow but am defeated by the one-way system. Instead I find the small hotel in Becket Street but residence only parking. Obviously this is not a car friendly city. Perhaps when I come back in May I'll come on the train. I park in the station car park outside the hotel but will have to move the car later as parking is only for rail users and they do check. 

The note on the hotel door says they're open but I get no reply. Ring the landlady. Her husband is in the washing machine room and can't hear the door bell so she rings him. He is very, very chatty and tells me I'll have to walk to the office in the morning as there is no access for cars. He even disturbs too old ladies watching TV in the dark lounge to show me the way on a map on the wall. He points me to the Park and Ride where I can park the car and get a bus back. Then, as an alternative, he suggests I park at a hotel nearby, The 'estgate' is run by the council (maybe that's why the W is missing) and they don't check, so I move the car there and walk back.

The room is small, clean and cosy although the radiator, which is on (a plus point), could do with a coat of paint. It has all the things missing from my recent visit to London including a small flat screen TV with freeview and a kettle. On the corner of the street are a Chinese takeaway and a Domino's Piza but I settle on a sandwich and crisps from the corner shop. Then blog while I wait for the football on TV and a repeat of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.
 

London Day 3 of 3 - A Senior Moment

Up early again, at 6.30am, after the best night’s sleep for a while despite the pint last last night. The wi fi is working, though the signal is poor and I still can’t post this blog. I speak too soon as now the signals gone completely.. Shower and leave for work just before 8.00am. I won't worry the PO this morning but will have a pastry when I arrive despite my cholesterol levels (I must blog about that). The trip on the tube takes 30 minutes and as I'm early it's not too crowded. One of my delegates is having a lie in and driving to the venue but he really hates his 40 minute daily journey by tube into the city to Bank. I can't say I blame him. If I was living here I'd cycle. He's early but his colleague is late, again.

Make a note to create a separate blog with technical stuff for delegates only to see. I can't write how the training's going here in case they look! I was surprised at how many page views I have of this blog until I reliase that most of them are me as I view the page as I write it in order to make corrections. So, I'm not that popular then.

The day passes swiftly (they are flagging as it's the last day),we lunch at the Italian and finish around 4.00pm. Good evaluations, which is a bonus. Also a good day for more work with jobs in Oxford, Liverpool and Saudi Arabia in the offing. I then accidentally discover that Oracle have released 11g Express Edition. Nice.

Uneventful trip on the 263 to M&S in Holloway but disappointed. I always expect M&S to have an upstairs but this one is very small, all on the ground floor and I can't even find a sandwich for the train journey. Back to the hotel at KX to collect my luggage. I use the internet for an hour while I wait for the 7.00pm train (one problem with having a cheap ticket). Blow me, the connection is now working better than it has all week.

Join the train at 6.45pm. I walk past first class, there's only ONE passenger (no surprise at £326 a ticket) and on to Coach B. I'm in no hurry as I have a seat booked  I have tea and a sandwich and eat my second Bounty bar (two for a £1 in Smith's, naughty but nice) then settle down with BBC Radio 4 Extra, Hancock, and Radio 5, Chelsea vs Manchester United. The signal is holding up well so far. 

There's more free wi fi to look forward to while I wait in York for my last but one leg, the train to Micklefield, where Jennie will collect me at around 9.40pm and I'll be home in time for the football highlights.

Oops, have a senior moment; so engrossed in the web, a software update and the football on the radio that I don't notice as we stop and leave my station York! Oh well, change at Darlington, the 9.58pm back and then a taxi home.
  

London Day 2 of 3 - Rihanna Copied Me

Up at 6.00am, slept well with the ear plugs, to write this. No radio, TV (or kettle, just the bottle of water I refilled at work yesterday), so I listen to the end of a play on the iPod; the one that I fell asleep to last night. The wi fi is still rubbish and my dongle won’t open the blog, so I type into Word.

Last night I went to suss out the Lilac Court Hotel which is opposite Kings Cross and to the right. It’s just around the bend in Argyle Street at number 60 and is quiet as it’s well away from the station area. Unlike my hotel it has a kettle and TV in every room and is only £40 - £45 for a single. The only drawback might be that it has recently changed ownership and is now called the King’s Cross Hotel. These businesses must do well; there’s a rather lovely black Masarati parked outside!

This morning the shower is ok although the floor is rather wet as there’s no floor mat, I also have to be very careful when I put my contact lenses in as the sink has no plug. This whole place is a case of “don’t have”. When I return to my room I find I have company. Running along the little shelf under the mirror are three black ants! It’s someone to talk to I suppose. I also find the keys to my own suitcase, I have Jennie’s slightly smaller one with me, on the floor. I was wondering where they had got to. They must have fallen from my trouser pocket as I dressed. 

Again the Post Office fails to deliver breakfast. It's 7.40am but they are too busy laying out the metal tables and chairs for their pavement café. Now, I can understand why they did this yesterday, which was a bright, sunny day, but this morning it is actually raining. I find the reason when I look inside. Without the tables and chairs removed, I can’t even get into the place. So, breakfast at the office then. On the tube platform the announcement says "All trains go to High Barnet", which is odd as the board says that the first one turns left to Mill Hill East. Good job I looked. 

Arrive early but the second delegate is late this morning so we don't start until 10.00am. Pastries at break, I eat only one, a new daily feature. A lunch of meat balls, rice and a mushroom, yes only the one, sliced. We have a good day and finish at 4.00pm.

Take the free bus with one change back to KX. At the bus stop a tall, thin, black girl, very attractive, with long, bright pink hair, says to me "Why is everone looking at me?". Silly question. I ask "who?" and she says "those boys". I say "it must be the hair" and smile as I board the bus when she replies "I had it first; Rihanna copied me!". Decide to change at Holloway, The Nag's Head, as the stop there is right outside M&S.

Another bus this evening to the South Bank to meet Jennie's daughter Chloe for dinner at Giraffe. We enjoy a meal of lamb burgers with focaccia, chips and salad and organic apple juice. It's really lively here in the evening but I'm nearly run down by a cyclist on the walkway by the Thames. Chloe goes off back to Guildford and I return to the Euston Road for a pint of Fuller's and to watch Spurs, who lose badly, 4 - 0, to Real Madrid. I chat by phone to my daughter Abby on the way to the pub. She and her partner and two friends are driving to Italy on Saturday to ski. Why didn't I do that sort of thing when I was young? Too busy raising her and her brother I suppose. Back at the hotel I complain about the wi fi and the guy alters my DNS settings. Now it works but why wasn't I told that on Monday. 

Will listen to Ed Reardon on Radio 4 Extra at 11.00pm then blog, ipod and bed.
  

London Day 1 of 3 - The Curzon Renoir

I rise far too early, around 5.30am, having slept quite well with the help of ear plugs, applied when I’m woken by a shouting woman in the street at about 2.30am. On the web to blog for an hour, then shower. This place has 15 bathrooms, well shower rooms actually, so I find an empty one easily enough. Unfortunately, the shower head will not attach to the wall. I fair better with the second room I try and after fiddling with the taps for an age have a very acceptable shower; in fact it’s as good as the Grand where the water temperature was very variable, despite it’s 5 stars.

Then I have a senior moment when I think I’ve left my shower gel in the bathroom. Many more of these to come I assume. At 7.40am I dress and head off to the Post Office for breakfast. I knew they had branched out, as a bank, an ISP etc., but breakfast; we’ll see. (Pause). Oh well, it did seem too good to be true. It turns out that the PO doesn’t open until 8.30am; by then I will be on my way to north Finchley.

Off to the tube which is right outside the hotel so 10 out of 10 for location (2 out of 10 in general) to pick up a Metro and head north. I walk so far round the one way system to the ticket barrier, where I have to join a long queue, and then on to platform that I think I might as well have walked to the office! The actual journey takes me just over 50 minutes, it’s 11 stops and we’re packed in like sardines until we reach Camden, and it costs £3.35. How do people cope with this every day. I only have 1 delegate today, he's being joined by a colleague tomorrow, and he's very bright and the rest of the day goes well.

I do make the mistake of offering him a free lunch, on behalf of the training company, without first checking that he's entitled. This proves a bonus as they give him, and me, a free lunch, vegetable lasagne at the local Italian, rather than withdraw my offer. When I finish training I decide as an alternative to travel back by bus using my free bus pass, but this takes 2 buses and 15 minutes longer than the tube. A dilemma; perhaps I'll go up on the tube and back by bus each day.

This evening I was to meet my brother for dinner but his partner has pulled a muscle and is immobile so we postpone and I return to the hotel and the web. I consider a visit to the local arts cinema, The Renoir, but am not sure I want to see the film showing especially as a ticket costs £11! I also decide against having a curry and just buy a sandwich and a pint of Green King IPA in a local, the Skinner’s Arms, where I find out which pubs are showing the Spurs game tomorrow.

It turns out that the PO Cafe is actually open at 8.00am on Mondays and 7.30am the rest of the week so I'll try and have a cooked breakfast in the morning. Radio and bed now.
  

London Day 1 of 3 - Do you speak English?

I’m off to London for a late, last minute booking, a 3 day course arranged on Friday.  I have a cheap train ticket, £56, and have booked a very cheap hotel adjacent to Kings Cross station, the Northumberland, which has free wi-fi, and is only £39 per night. I start the journey at Garforth and travel without a ticket to York, naughty and illegal, but my ticket is waiting for me at the machine there so why pay again. The guard ignores me, so I make it OK.

I pick up my ticket and discover that it now costs £25 to upgrade to first class using ‘Sunday first’; it used to only be £10. So, standard (second?) class it is then. The train is 30 minutes late and apparently three are about to arrive simultaneously, like busses, or they would if only the platform was long enough.

I have an un-eventful journey. The train is packed but no problem as I have a seat booked. I sit next to a young woman engrossed in an American football movie on her laptop. I set up some files for Monday and the surf the web for my allotted 15 minutes (in first class it’s unlimited). She hogs the only 3-pin plug but my battery holds out and we arrive only 20 minutes late. I decide first to add funds to my Oyster card (aren’t they clever) ready for the tube ride to north London in the morning but mistakenly use my own personal card instead of the company one; damn.

The hotel is opposite the station on Euston Road but before I can find the place I’m confronted by a young woman in tears who asks “Do you speak English?” I’m tempted and should have responded “Que?”, but of course, I don’t, I say “Yes” and listen to a sob story about abusive boyfriends and having no money for the tube fare home. In turn, she listens as I tell her I can’t find the hotel and she says that she knows where it is and she takes me to the door. When asked what it’s like she shrugs, not a good sign, and recommends another, the Lisa Court, for my next visit. So, for the cost of a pound (I’m a soft touch), I do a good deed (I think), find my hotel and have a better one to look forward to on my next visit.

The outside of the Northumberland hotel does not inspire confidence but the girl and guy (they’re not English but sort of mediterranean) on reception are polite and helpful, and very religious if the posters are anything to go by. I knew the room was not en-suite and that they didn’t do breakfast (more on that later) so I pay, check in and go find room 52. I’m very disappointed. All that’s in the room are a double bed, a bedside table, two towels, a mirror and a rail with 2 coat hangers. A bit of a come down from the Grand of only two weeks ago! 

There’s no wardrobe, no table, no chair, no kettle, no bedside light, no bin and most disappointing of all, no TV! On my last stay in London my small room had bunk beds but at least it had a TV. Oh well, it’s clean and it does have double glazing and it is only for three nights. I’m dining out with my brother Michael and his partner Tania on Monday and with my step daughter Chloe on Tuesday so I’ll spend as little time here as possible.

There’s nothing to drink so I eat the healthy humous and roasted vegetables sandwich I bought and go back to the station for a bottle of water, I left mine in the kitchen cupboard, and a moca from Café Nero (10p extra for decaf). It's really busy even though it is a Sunday night. Make it back to the hotel without being propositioned and discover that their free wi-fi has a poor signal and I can’t connect; I’ll sort it out tomorrow. I use my Orange dongle for a short period to update FB and then get the wi-fi working and post this blog.

Although they don’t do breakfast here they do have an arrangement with the Post Office (??) next door. Apparently, for £3.20, I can have a full English breakfast in the morning. And they don’t check! So, next time you’re at Kings Cross in the early morning, pop into the PO for breakfast and if asked, just say that you’re staying at the dump next door. 

Now it should be time for BBC Radio 4 Extra but RIP both BBC7 and my digital radio as the battery dies. However, I have my iPod as backup and so to bed. (God knows why this last bit is in a smaller font, because I don't).