The alarm clock sounded this morning at 8h and, for the first time since arriving in what is, according to a recent survey, the happiest place in the UK, I actually got up with a smile. I set about getting dressed - in jeans! I ate a leisurely breakfast and finished the packing which I started last night. By 9h30 I was ready to leave. I called for a taxi (there was no way I was pulling an even heavier-than-when-I arrived-suitcase, handbag, rucksack and another bag filled with a kellogg's crunchy nut cornflake box which itself was filled with cadbury's hot chocolate powder, crunchy nut and clementines, all the way to the train station! My taxi arrived pretty quickly. The driver lifted my suitcase in to the boot despite my warning that it was heavy and asked me where I wanted to go. I said the train station. He asked me whether I was going anywhere nice, I said I was going home. He asked me whether I was coming back to Bournemouth. I said no, so he asked how long I'd been here for, I said Saturday and so the conversation went on ending with him asking me whether I was stealing anything from the house I was moving out of!! It turns out he was asking (jovially) as on Saturday the police went to the taxi office asking questions about a man who'd called for a taxi as he was moving house, he'd taken his widescreen tv with him. Turns out it wasn't his widescreen tv at all, infact it wasn't even his house - he was burgling it!
I arrived at the station, having not stolen anything from the flat/appartment I'd moved out of, not really knowing how I was going to get from Bournemouth to Ludlow. I presumed I'd just do the route I'd done on Saturday but in reverse. But not according to the National rail website which was routing me via Stockport! I asked for a ticket to Ludlow and for him to tell me how to get there and he said 'There's a direct train in 5 minutes'. I said 'What?! To Ludlow?!' He thought I'd said 'London'. It was fine though, I did just do the Saturday route in reverse - Bournemouth - Southampton Central, Southampton Central - Newport, Newport - Ludlow. And there I was home. Home and happy.
Qui êtes-vous ?
- Gill
- I'm an ex-student. A vegetarian ex-student. A vegetarian ex-student who studied English Language and French at the University of Sussex in Brighton. I spent the 2007-8 academic year on my year abroad (in Marseille, France) which is when I started the blog. It was a way of keeping my family and friends back in England updated with what I was up to without racking up gigantic phone bills. I enjoyed my degree. I originally wanted to be an EFL Teacher, I even did the CELTA. I still get excited about grammar, about the present perfect continuous and phrasal verbs. But it's not a career I want to fall into. I love speaking French too and learning new words. Now I've finished my degree I miss my Student Discount. I miss my title of 'Student' too. I'm a Project Worker now, a far cry from an EFL teacher. I've swapped my international students for rough sleepers and my text books for substance misuse and harm minimisation leaflets. I've decided to stay in Brighton, for a while at least. I might do a Masters, you never know. But, at present, I'm quite happy being a Project Worker. I'd still like to travel mind, maybe teaching as I go. But we'll see - at present I'm just fine where I am.