John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Tuesday 24 September 2019
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[2019] [Monday 23 September 2019] Return home from York Lamb & Lion Inn, York 10:02–10:23 York–Doncaster 10:37–11:51 Doncaster–Cleethorpes Tickets   Reservations  
…Ca.5am, I became aware of the persistent and (to me) unpleasant odour of mushrooms being cooked. Janet vacated the bathroom at 7.10am, and I shaved and showered. I managed finally to get the rate of flow so that although my feet were immersed in water, it didn’t threaten to reach the top of the shower tray. Janet started packing the suitcase meanwhile. We went down for breakfast at ca.7.55am. No other people staying at the hotel came till we were almost finished: there was a party comprising a younger and an older couple, presumably a family; and there was a pregnant young woman, who was either alone, or not joined by partner till after we’d gone. Janet finished packing the suitcase, and I packed my rucksack. I hauled the suitcase down the four flights of stairs by holding it on my right knee with the right hand and gripping the banister rail with the left hand as I “walked” it down. We awaited the arrival of the taxi in the bar, where I also handed the key-card over. The taxi was booked for 9 o’clock, so we had ca.½-hour to wait. We’d been informed that the road under Bootham Bar, though closed by an automatic rising bollard much of the time, would be open at this time, so we wouldn’t have to walk to the Minster for the taxi (as we’d had to walk from there, when we arrived by taxi). As I was looking out from there, I saw the taxi arrive. It came from the right, under Bootham Bar, and stopped. It was raining, but we weren’t outside long enough to get wet as luggage and ourselves were quickly loaded. At the station, the platform number for the 10:02 train wasn’t given at first; but when “Platform 6” appeared, we used the lifts and subway to get there. The LNER train was already standing at the platform, because it would start from there (i.e., it wasn’t scheduled to arrive from somewhere else). It wasn’t obvious at first that we could board it. There were tiny LCD panels above the seats under the luggage rack, either saying that the seat was “reserved to” such a location, or “available to” a location. There was an earlier-scheduled but late-arriving LNER London train on the adjacent platform, which had arrived from somewhere else. Our train was scheduled to depart at 10:02, but didn’t start moving till 10:04. The adjacent train started moving about the same time. We ran parallel to it at about the same speed at first, but then it increased speed and went ahead of us. And where we might expect to pick up speed, we at first didn’t, presumably because that train was just ahead and there had to be a safe distance between us. So it was, that two minutes’ lateness turned into five minutes’ when we got to Doncaster (we arrived, 10:28, not 10:23). According to the TV monitor on the train, the connecting train to Cleethorpes, scheduled to depart at 10:37, was “delayed” — by how much, it did not specify. On arrival at Doncaster station, we went by lifts and subway to the appropriate platform, and to the waiting room. The TV monitor in there was specific about the expected time, but constantly changed its estimate: 10:57, 10:59, 11:02, 11:01, 11:02, 11:01, 11:02… Janet visited the on-platform toilet and when she came back I did the same. I got her a 7up Free from the vending machine, but didn’t myself have anything to drink. There was a space for our case on the first shelf of the luggage rack on the Cleethorpes train, which I used. The reserved seats were at least forward-facing, though contrary to our stated preference were table seats; but we sat facing each other, so there wasn’t any problem arranging mutual leg-room. On the TV monitor, by the list of station stops there were blanks where estimated arrival times would normally be given. I did make a note that the train departed from Scunthorpe at “11:30”, so its being 25 minutes late was increased by two minutes. We decided to get off at Grimsby Town, because of the ease of getting a taxi from there; and we arrived there, I noted, at “12:05” (scheduled arrival, according to a timetable I consulted while writing this up, 11:39 — so 26 minutes late). It had been raining in York this morning, and it was still raining in Grimsby. We weren’t out in it for long, though, because we got one of the waiting taxis in array around the forecourt. We arrived home at 12.20pm.… [2019] |
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