The last of Manchester

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The last day in Manchester was left for some shopping. However, this did not go too well as nudging my way through loads of frenzied people acting desperate to get a good deal, is not very high on my list of fun things to do. Popped into Affleck’s Palace which is a wonderful market type shopping centre that caters for those that fall out of the mainstream shopping box. It’s a colourful, wacky and fantastic place to go to if you need something for a fancy dress, looking for something vintage or original. After a coffee and chat with Simon (navy guy) , I made my way to the coach station to make the journey back to London. Simon will be in Portsmouth just about the time that I will, so we made plans to meet up there in July.
Now herein lies the problem. Travelling alone and sitting in the very back seat, nobody to chat to and nothing to focus on, the ipod came in handy for entertainment. I may or may not have had a gaze at what the other passengers were doing (only because I had no book to read!) The guy next to me was enthralled in text on how to revive someone – first aid course maybe?, the guy across to the left was studying to become an air host on British Airways, and then there was the guy right in front of me....
If ever there was an annoying habit, he owned it. This man brushed, groomed, flattened, straightened and flicked his hair oh, about every thirty minutes. At one stage I actually dared him in silence not to touch his hair within the next half hour. He failed. Miserably. To top it off when we approached London he donned a beanie!. I really had to control the urge to scream when this appeared. Instead, I managed to chuckle without creating too much attention to myself. The last thing I wanted to do was have people think I was one sandwich short of a picnic.
It was pouring down in London and I was very happy to once again use the brollie that I had purchased a few days ago in Manchester. Arriving at Victoria station was very daunting as it’s not the smallest as far as stations go, and I had no clue which platform to go to, which train to get and being 10pm I was starting to panic that I would not make it home if I got lost at such an hour. After giving myself a stern talking to and scooping myself together, I chose to buy a ticket from the machine and not a person (Basil 1, London 0) and found my platform with 5 minutes or so to spare before the train left. Arrived at the front door of home safe and sound after 43 minutes on trains (platform change at Clapham Junction), chuffed with myself for doing this alone. It has been a great experience and I really have had no mishaps. Went to sleep very excited about another weekend in the UK with my amazing friend Kel.

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Comments

[Ont]

Ont says ...
Dougall, u slapper, you pick up dudes on every mode of transport, very soon u're going to have more dudes than magnets & key-chains.... *shake head, shake head* tsk tsk