Trains and Stations

Trains and stations seem to feature in my blog today. I was due to pick up Anthony from Grateley Station at 7.30 a.m. and so woke up again early - 6.00 a.m. and made Sara a cup of tea before having a shower and cooking myself a fried English breakfast for once - I was absolutely starving - two rashers of bacon, two eggs and a slice of fried bread - with lashings of Daddies Sauce. After rushing around to get all my papers and regalia together for the day I arrived at Grateley a little after 7.40 p.m. to find that the train from Salisbury had been and gone but there was no Anthony to be seen - either side of the station. I phoned both his mobile and land line and got no answer. Needing to get off to Dorking I drove off and before I reached Andover Anthony phoned me to say that he had overslept and that my phone calls had woken him up. He would get a later train into Dorking. I arrived at Dorking at around 9.30 a.m. but had no appointments so could get on with some paperwork and arrange my diary for the week. I skipped having lunch and got myself a cheese baguette to have with a working lunch. I left work at around 3.15 p.m. and drove down to Brighton parking my car at Preston Park Station - right outside the station!! It seems that whenever I have positive thoughts about parking I find a space. The parking is free and the cost of a return railway ticket to Brighton is only £2.40. This is much better value than the £15 or so to park the car at the North Road NCP car park. The train I planned to get was preceded by one running 15 minutes late so, ironically, I arrived at Brighton Station earlier than planned. I walked down to the Masonic Centre in Queen's Road stopping off to buy a bottle of wine as a donated raffle prize. This evening we had a simple ceremony which was followed by a "white table" dinner at which our wives, girlfriends and widows were invited - well not the girlfriends and wives at the same time. That reminds me of the famous Royal Naval Officers' Toast "To wives and sweethearts, may they never meet". It was an excellent dinner of mushroom vol au vents, baked salmon, ice cream (it should have been chocolate mousse but I was true to my Lent vows) followed by coffee and mints (again the mints were foregone). It wasn't practical for Sara to attend a dinner so early in Brighton and so I looked after one of our lodge widows - Maggie Newman, widow of Wally who was the Lodge's Treasurer when I was initiated back in 1988. Wally died following a stroke in 1991. I left the dinner at around 9.15 p.m. having just won a bottle of nice red South African wine in the raffle. Maggie also won a box of deluxe chocolates. My train left Brighton on time and I was back in my car driving back to Winterslow at 9.45 p.m. arriving home after a really good journey along the south coast at 11.35 p.m. I finished the day writing this blog. Sara told me that the plumber had successfully installed a new hot water cylinder and replaced a faulty valve which was the reason I couldn't turn off the water supply into the old one to drain it. The carpet and flooring is ruined but the insurance should pay for this - we will need a new carpet for the landing and stairs. Tomorrow I am Salisbury and Tom and I will be back at St. Mary's for the Saints v. Derby game - my first home match after missing three in February.