Days 13 and 14 - These things always happen to me
Well, its Monday morning here in Manchester and I wanted to give you all an update on my trip to Oxford and my Sunday in Manchester. I was just able to send out the Weblog for last week, since the internet has once again decided to visit our lovely college. Sorry for the delay?
Speaking of delays. In the year I have been coming to Manchester I have made three previous trips to Oxford. Its my hang out place ? love the museums, the cathedrals, and bookstores, the food, the pubs. I love going there, even though I had always taken the first train out in the morning (5:15) and it meant some rather expensive taxi rides. Not this time though, I was smart. I booked the 715 train out. Plenty of time to take the bus or intra-city train (which was down for repairs until last Friday). So, I awoke at 5:20, showered, packed, and said goodbye to Phil (since he was heading home that day) and headed out at 6:15. An hour to get to downtown, a mere 4 miles away. No problem?.
Problem. First, I waited for a bus (they were supposed to be running starting at 6). Well, yes they were, but unknown to me many of the bus companies in town have had problems with their unions, and the drivers have been performing a slowdown this year to bring about new negotiations. So? 6:20, 6:30, 6:35. Panic set in. I decided I had better sprint down to the train platform and catch the next train to downtown. I ran (in my dress shoes ?ouch), umbrella out (it was pouring, of course) the mile to the train platform. Run up the platform?no train. I wait, I wait. 7am, no train. Oh boy. Turns out they had some electrical issues that morning in restarting the line (don?t they test these things before they say they are ?in-service??), so, consequently, the first train did not run that morning until 7:30. Back I ran, past bustop and bustop, trying to catch the first bus I could. 7:10, 7:15?7:20. I had missed my train.
