Dahn Sarf
Posted: Monday, 03 December 2007 |
Driving onto the Hrossey i somehow feel that we are being swallowed by some giant sea creature. The yawning jaws agape, we drive into the cavernous interior filled with heavy freight and mooing cows in their transport trailers. We head up to the cabin we have booked and i climb wearily into bed.
The morning is signalled by the automated call over the ships tannoy system that we are nearly into Aberdeen and so we head to grab some breakfast, the idea being that i dont have to buy an overpriced meal on the train. A quick unintentional circuit of Aberdeen and we arrive at the railway station at dawn. Jumping onto the train soon i am zooming south past the incredible Aberdeenshire coastline, hundreds of majestic geo's cut deep into the rock looking as if the sea had gnawed at the cliffs.
Soon I am in Edinburgh and a mad dash over the station and i am on the home stretch, arriving in Alnmouth at midday. So....it took just over 12 hours to get from Orkney to my mums house. Eeek.
Parents are chuffed to bits with their christmas presents and i get a nights sleep before i have to leave for London on the Friday.
A packed train pulls into the station and i am very glad i have a seat booked. Sat just along the carriage is a lady with her family; granny a boy of about 8 and a young baby who i later found was 9 months old. They had travelled from Glasgow to London to see the Egyptian exhibits at the O2. On arriving into Kings Cross i ask if she would like a hand carrying anything, what with her having full hands with buggees, bags and children. Fully expecting to pick up a bag or similar i am handed the baby who gurgles, smiles and wriggles as small children do. I suspect i was off doing something else when the maternal instinct was handed out, possibly trying to find the bum queue and finding i was right at the back...... I always find small children reasonably fascinating, their wobbly movements and their amazement at the universe. However, i still have no desire to produce my own and prefer the definition of a digestive tract with a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Once off the train i make sure they get to where they are going ok, the head over to Victoria by tube. The tube remains as noisy, smelly and crowded as i remember, and i constantly fight the feeling that everyone there wants to mug me. I guess thats what happens when you live somewhere so quiet for a while!
Once at Victoria i go for a quick bimble around and end up at Westminster Cathedral where I get into a tiny lift to the top of their tower. Once i have taken some snaps i go back down and head for the station once more, arriving at Janos's house in Hurst Green around an hour later.
Saturday dawns bright and cold, and we head into London for the BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) Diving Officers Conference where i am to get a safety award. Scooting through the streets of London with Woz driving and Janos being the Sat Nav (yelling FATSO at the speed cameras) we eventually arrive.
The conference goes well, with it almost making me want to rejoin BSAC, however i think there is very little we can mutally do for eachother due to where i live.
We get to the awards section and the butterflies in my stomach have grown to have the wing span of a 747 and suddenly a short recount of my rescue was read out and i go up onto the stage to collect the scroll, somehow it reminds me of my graduation many moons ago.
Once the DOC is over i head back with Janos where we go for a fantastic curry with his lovely other half Pippa. Sunday comes around and i head back into London to do the tourist thing. The heavens were throwing all they had at the streets with huge puddles and umbrellas bobbing like corks on a sea of human lives. I decide to be a real fully fledged tourist and buy a ticket for one of the tour busses which circle the sights of the city. This turned out to be a really good choice as it meant i was dry, warm and actually got to hear a lot of the history of the city.
Once i have completed the tour i decide to get over to Oxford before it is too late, so get to Paddington via the circle line and get on a very quick train to the city where Rob picks me up at the station. A fantastic curry then follows, plus champagne to celebrate several things, not least his flatmate being on Top Gear.
And thats about it so far, a lovely day is planned, so i guess we will see.
The morning is signalled by the automated call over the ships tannoy system that we are nearly into Aberdeen and so we head to grab some breakfast, the idea being that i dont have to buy an overpriced meal on the train. A quick unintentional circuit of Aberdeen and we arrive at the railway station at dawn. Jumping onto the train soon i am zooming south past the incredible Aberdeenshire coastline, hundreds of majestic geo's cut deep into the rock looking as if the sea had gnawed at the cliffs.
Soon I am in Edinburgh and a mad dash over the station and i am on the home stretch, arriving in Alnmouth at midday. So....it took just over 12 hours to get from Orkney to my mums house. Eeek.
Parents are chuffed to bits with their christmas presents and i get a nights sleep before i have to leave for London on the Friday.
A packed train pulls into the station and i am very glad i have a seat booked. Sat just along the carriage is a lady with her family; granny a boy of about 8 and a young baby who i later found was 9 months old. They had travelled from Glasgow to London to see the Egyptian exhibits at the O2. On arriving into Kings Cross i ask if she would like a hand carrying anything, what with her having full hands with buggees, bags and children. Fully expecting to pick up a bag or similar i am handed the baby who gurgles, smiles and wriggles as small children do. I suspect i was off doing something else when the maternal instinct was handed out, possibly trying to find the bum queue and finding i was right at the back...... I always find small children reasonably fascinating, their wobbly movements and their amazement at the universe. However, i still have no desire to produce my own and prefer the definition of a digestive tract with a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Once off the train i make sure they get to where they are going ok, the head over to Victoria by tube. The tube remains as noisy, smelly and crowded as i remember, and i constantly fight the feeling that everyone there wants to mug me. I guess thats what happens when you live somewhere so quiet for a while!
Once at Victoria i go for a quick bimble around and end up at Westminster Cathedral where I get into a tiny lift to the top of their tower. Once i have taken some snaps i go back down and head for the station once more, arriving at Janos's house in Hurst Green around an hour later.
Saturday dawns bright and cold, and we head into London for the BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) Diving Officers Conference where i am to get a safety award. Scooting through the streets of London with Woz driving and Janos being the Sat Nav (yelling FATSO at the speed cameras) we eventually arrive.
The conference goes well, with it almost making me want to rejoin BSAC, however i think there is very little we can mutally do for eachother due to where i live.
We get to the awards section and the butterflies in my stomach have grown to have the wing span of a 747 and suddenly a short recount of my rescue was read out and i go up onto the stage to collect the scroll, somehow it reminds me of my graduation many moons ago.
Once the DOC is over i head back with Janos where we go for a fantastic curry with his lovely other half Pippa. Sunday comes around and i head back into London to do the tourist thing. The heavens were throwing all they had at the streets with huge puddles and umbrellas bobbing like corks on a sea of human lives. I decide to be a real fully fledged tourist and buy a ticket for one of the tour busses which circle the sights of the city. This turned out to be a really good choice as it meant i was dry, warm and actually got to hear a lot of the history of the city.
Once i have completed the tour i decide to get over to Oxford before it is too late, so get to Paddington via the circle line and get on a very quick train to the city where Rob picks me up at the station. A fantastic curry then follows, plus champagne to celebrate several things, not least his flatmate being on Top Gear.
And thats about it so far, a lovely day is planned, so i guess we will see.
Comments
Congratulations again. Curry and champagne: not quite what they have in Uttar Pradesh but, eh, special occasions call for extraordinary behavior.
mjc from NM,USA
marvellous pictures, love the pup. im travelling through Lesbury next saturday, it is such a lovely village. regards. G.T.
G,T. from tyne&wear
This is as close to the Great Wen as I like to get...all those carriage wheels, and the crossing sweepers... such a dangerous place.
Fflying Cat from what the dickens!
After coming to Orkney in May 2006 for 8 months, somehow I am still here. Running the MV Valkyrie in the summer and helping on the farm in winter is now my life. 
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