What a day!

Yesterday I went to London to see Jill in Bart's.  My bus ticket cost £18 return, a bargain (or so I thought).  What a palaver!!!!!  It took us from 8.50 till 10.25 to get from Fareham to Winchester, via Southampton Central and Southampton University.  Then we headed for Heathrow, and that takes some driving round these days.  Oh and they've replaced Concorde with an Emirates Airbus A380 (on the roundabout).

Afterwards we headed on the M4 into London.  All was well and good till we got to Hammersmith.  Then it was a lot of stop and a bit of start all the way to Hyde Park Corner.  By the time we made it to Victoria it was 13.08, 45 minutes late.  Now my return bus left at 17.50 so I didn't have much time to waste.  So I headed for Victoria tube station.

Now Victoria tube station is right next to Victoria train station, but both of these are a bit of a walk from Victoria bus station.  Then I had to get a ticket from the automated machines, and of course there was a queue!

I eventually got on to a tube and even got a seat after the next station.  I got off at Mansion House (Blackfriars would have been easier but it's closed till 2011) and, trusty map book in hand, made my way past St Paul's to Bart's.  Just to make life interesting I hadn't got a clue which ward Jill was in - never thought to ask her - and Bart's isn't great at making it easy.  I ended up phoning A in a state of fraughtness asking him to text me the ward phone numbers.

Eventually I found the right floor of the right building.  Of course I chose the wrong ward at first before getting it right.  Jill was asleep but I'd barely got in her room when she woke up.  She was very pleased to see me.  Her room was a little warm, though that could have been me after the panic of getting into London and then finding her.  We laughed and giggled, and chatted.

Then it was time for me to leave.  As I had an hour before my bus left I figured I could walk it back.  It didn't look far.  Down Giltspur Street to Ludgate Hill.  Along Fleet Street and Strand.  Into Whitehall to Parliament Square.  Then down Broadway and Victorial Street.  Well of course I just missed the bus!!!!  It was pulling out of the bus station as I was waiting to cross the road.  Cue much swearing.  That meant I would have to loiter around for a while before the next bus, plus pay for another ticket.  So, being tired and weary and bloody fed up, I caught the tube back to Westminster, walked to Waterloo, where a train to Portsmouth left in 10 minutes.  And this is where my day finally improved.  It was the express service, so I was in Havant (where A came to fetch me) and then home before the bus I missed had made it into Fareham.  Needless to say I slept well last night.

Next time I am definitely going by train.  I don't care how much it costs!