The Times They Are A-Changing

So Jesse and I have had an interesting weekend to say the least. We were stranded in London/Oxford for the weekend, it's quite a bit complicated to explain but let's just say the British rail system can be rather terrible at times. I don't think I've had a flawless train journey since my momma was here. Anyways, the reason we were out of Plymouth was that I had a job interview in Oxford for a company called Dialogue Direct, a company that works for charities like British Red Cross, Friends of The Earth, Shelter, Children's Society, and Amnesty International. So I went and did my interview, which went fantastically, then we headed to the train station. Once there we were lucky enough to be there in time for a train that left in 2 minutes. So we hopped on the train, and announcement came on saying that the train would be slightly delayed, no big deal we weren't in any rush. Ten minutes go by, then twenty, then thirty, then forty. I'm just about to bust open my humous and carrots when another announcement comes on ''All trains have been cancelled due to a major power cut.'' and that was it, pure and utter chaos erupted throughout the train station.

They called coaches to come and get people to take them to their destinations but there wasn't enough buses for everyone (including us). A small riot of angry customers began to form, and the police were called. Luckily we met up with four other people who needed to get to Plymouth, they told us if we could get to Paddington Station in London there would be a train to Plymouth. So us and the 4 hunted down a taxi driver and begged him to drive us to the next small town so that we could get to London. The driver agreed and made the trip for free (there were two women who were absolutely bawling their eyes out, they needed to catch planes out of Heathrow so he felt really bad.) Once at the small station in Didcot, we jumped on a train to Reading which was packed! We stood in the aisles in between the seats along with plenty other people. Once in Reading we rushed over to a train to London Padington and were able to sit down, although the train was also packed.

Once we arrived at Paddington Station, we found that there were no trains to Plymouth until Sunday. So we had no option but to stay in London for the night, there was no way we were going back to Oxford, it was too much of a hassle. So we went down to this little hotels booth in the station, and this Will Smith-esque man found us a B&B for only £55/night. I was a bit apprehensive that the price was so low, I thought it was going to be a shithole (excuse my language) because it was right by the Marble Arch and there was no way there was some place that cheap there. But it was actually a very nice (very small, think walk in closet with double bed) place, with free breakfast. We got there and slept.

The next morning we figured we'd roam around a bit, seeing as there were no trains still. We basically just walked all over central London all day, it was pretty cool. We went to St Paul's Cathedral, the Tate Museum of Modern Art, and London Tower Bridge. Then I got a call from one of my friend's saying that if we could make it back to Oxford it would be cheaper to stay there overnight than in London. So we headed back to Oxford, booked ourselves in a nice hostel, went and got a kebab, then came back and had SHOWERS (hooray for showers!), and went to bed.

When we woke up, we had a nice little breakfast provided by the hostel. Ham and cheese sandwich with digestive biscuits and OJ, yo! Then we set off to go buy me a new shirt because I'd been wearing the same one for two days (it was disgusting, but I hadn't been planning on staying over somewhere all weekend). So we got me a lovely £1.68 T-shirt from Primark, I love that place. Then we went and got some lunch from Sainsbury and headed to the train station. We took a train to London Paddington again, then a train to Tiverton, then a coach provided by the train station to Plymouth because the line between Tiverton and Penzance (south of Plymouth) was shut down. We got home, ate soup and went to bed.

A crazy, crazy adventure but worth it because I've got a job now. YAY! REJOICE! And Jesse has an interview with the same company sometime in the near future, so hopefully that whole thing doesn't play out again haha. But yes, things seem to be improving at the moment and hopefully they continue to improve.