John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Thursday 28 July 2016
|
[2016] [Wednesday 27 July 2016] Sardinia 08:55–11:49 Manchester Airport–Cleethorpes Janet had set the alarm clock for ca.7am. We both got up more or less at the same time, for the sink for washing was in the room and the shower in a separate cubicle. I used the latter, then the sink was free where was situated the shaver socket.… Janet did the small amount of re-packing, while I went down for breakfast, and had orange juice, corn flakes, bacon, sausages and baked beans, and coffee. It was annoying that when I went for bacon etc. my half-drunk glass of orange juice was taken, so I had to go for another glass of it. And similarly annoying was, when I went for coffee, my paper napkin was taken. I wanted “Americano”, but that was not an option on the coffee machines. There were one or two possible selections whose names were unfamiliar to me. I selected “Espresso” then selected additional hot water. We vacated the room and I checked out a little before 8.30am, by which time the driver of the shuttle minibus was already at reception. There were also two young women with us on the shuttle minibus, who got on at the Runger Lane North Premier Inn, and who got off at the same place as we did. I thought I heard an antipodean — perhaps Australian — accent.… The barrier at the railway station was staffed, so we had to show our tickets. We found the train already at the platform after we’d descended to that level in one of the lifts. People were still getting off, then the doors were locked for the train to be prepared. There were already people with large suitcases waiting; but Janet managed to position herself in front of the door, in the space created by the disembarkation of the arriving passengers, so we were first on when the doors were unlocked. To leave room for heavy items of others, I put our suitcases on the first rack above floor level, without excessive difficulty. Thank God, I can do that now! We found unbooked seats nearby, so didn’t use our seat-reservations. When the train departed, there were suitcases in the aisle, etc., because the design of the rolling stock used on this route is woefully unfit for the purpose of serving an airport! There wasn’t anyone who had to stand on this trip, though. Our location was comfortably neither too warm nor too cool — for a change! The train was some ten minutes late arriving at Sheffield, because we’d been following a slow-moving train, and the lateness persisted for the rest of the trip. We got off at Grimsby Town station because of the ease of getting a taxi from there. We got home ca. midday. There was quite a lot of mail awaiting us behind the front door.… [2016] |
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]