Had a bit of an issue over the past week, due to the double booking of a ferry crossing and the cricket. I thus came up with the following work around for Thursday 9th August:
9.45am: Met Father and Brother at East Croydon Station and travelled to Vauxhall, where we walked to the Oval
6.35pm: Left Cricket and travelled to Clapham Junction, where I caught a locomotive to Woking at 7.02pm
7.25pm: Caught the train to Portsmouth Harbour from Woking
9.30pm: Got a taxi to the Ferry Port from Portsmouth Harbour Station
10.30pm: Boarded the ferry to sail to Caen
11.37pm: Ferry set off. See:
7.15am: (French time now) Arrive in Caen
9.30am: Tash picked me up from the Ferry Port and we drove to Cherbourg
Plan for Tash was to take her original booking and stay in Rouen as planned, minus me. She would then drive to Caen and pick me up on the way through to Cherbourg. Champion workaround I tell thee.
It was quite a journey, I can tell you. I had about 7 pints at the cricket, followed by a can of Stella on the locomotive to Portsmouth. Then, at the ferry port I had a couple of pints of Grolsh, these were pure heaven. Whilst boarding I was met with this sight:
In my fairly inebriated state I was rather taken back by the monstrous size of the vessel. As a foot passenger I then trod my path along the walkway, pictured here:
Once on board I decided to bless myself with a croque monsieur and a cup of coffee, here's the snap:
Whilst sitting and enjoying this wonderful cheese and ham sammy I couldn't help but laugh at some scousers who entered the cafe soon after me. Here I am laughing at the poor fools, it is my reflection in the window of the ferry:
After consuming the sammy of wonderment I went to the bar and had an Irish Coffee followed by a pint. I just sat quietly getting more and more drunk and reading 'The Invisible Man' by H.G. Wells. The wretched bar shut at 1am so I was only able to get in another pint before I was marooned.
For some of the journey I went outside and looked at the stars and the backwash from the ferry cutting through the sea, I was in pensive mood. Also, I carried out a comprehensive exploration of the vessel. One time, I went into a room full of people and sneezed. They woke up and I left straight away.
Having drunk so much coffee and booze and eaten so many kettle chips on the locomotive I was having a little trouble in the toilet department and found myself visiting the bogs on more than one occasion during the crossing. Being I was practically the only person roaming the vessel, I decided to go in the disabled toilets as they offer a more spacious accommodation. I found myself becoming vaguely fascinated with the soap dispensers as they were made by 'Argos'. They are a catalogue company, I kept thinking, how can they do this?
Eventually I fell asleep in one of the quarters. I lay down on the floor and used my ruk sak as a pillow, for warmth I used my jumper as a make shift duvet. It was very uncomfortable. Upon waking I felt very sick and I did indeed visit the toilet fearing the worst. Fortunately I managed to control the situation and the sensation left me.
At the ferry port in frog land I had another coffee and some frankfurters and chips, this settled me down somewhat. I kept thinking I was rocking all over the ruddy place as I had become accustomed to the motion of the ferry, you see. I then sat outside on the bench and carried on reading. Tash picked me up at around 9.30am and we were off, we were off to Cherbourg.
My workaround had worked. It had worked a treat.
yer man that is some work around wish id been there