Slight return

Last Saturday saw my return trip to Hampton Court Palace to teach Creative Ceramics. The day itself was great, the travel there and back not quite so good. The usual hour and a half train took two and a half and went to Eley ! then Cambridge!! - this is supposed to be main line north to south railway. I got to Tolworth, a very dubious part of London, at 7 pm and eventually found the travelodge, which was advertised as being clearly visable from the train station (which it is, after a walk through three underpasses, over a duel carriageway and across another main road). After check in I decided to get some extra money from the bank till, which promptly swallowed my card and flashed up "contact issuer", which is not easy on a saturday night.

Next morning I waited and waited for the taxi I booked at reception, only to be told they had made a mistake and were abit sorry, which made me 30 minutes late for my class. Luckily a re-enactor I met a few weeks ago on an educational visit to Gainsborough looked after my group till I arrived; highly stressed and very sweaty!

Anyhow, the rest of the day went great, a really nice group. I took them on a tour of the palace kitchens and ended up with quite a few hangers on. We returned to the studio and made loads of stuff. This lady was great...

The return journey was legendary. Train was cancelled, so I caught a later one to Biggleswade. Changed and caught train to Letchworth. Changed and sat on bus to not sure where. Ended up in Peterborough where I waited for an hour to get Leeds train to Retford. A one and a half hour trip took aprox 6 hours ! Actually I quite enjoyed it, being shipped around, not once did anyone check my ticket or ask me where I was going. It was a nice break from the rigours and responsibilities of fatherhood, although I missed him terribly.

Next year it was suggested I might do two days...