Above - me in Costa Coffee, Ludlow, completely oblivious to the nightmare that awaits me.
Above - Ludlow train station.
Above - Ludlow train station.
Above - Manchester Piccadilly - I wasn't originally scheduled to change here.
Above - Manchester Piccadilly.So, Wednesday. Time to go back to Marseille. I was quite convinced the return journey would be better than the outward journey - I mean, could it really be any worse...? Yes! It was! My train was supposed to leave Ludlow station at 10h20, I was supposed to change at Crewe to go to Manchester Airport for my flight at 14h45. Plenty of time as it (theoretically) only takes an hour and half to get to Manchester by train... At 11h I was still at Ludlow. They train wasn't coming. A freight train had broken down on the line so nothing could get through. The man at the station said it could take a couple of hours to fix. But I don't have a couple of hours! I have a plane to catch. They were putting on taxis to take us to Shrewsbury. I asked what I'd do when I got to Shrewsbury. He said to ask at Shrewsbury. I told him it was no good me being stuck at Shrewsbury. I had a plane to catch. Would I be able to get from Shrewsbury to Manchester Airport. He did a bit of searching on his computer and said yes, you should get to Manchester Airport for 14h11. But that's only half an hour before my flight takes off - I'll miss it! There was a woman next to me who was wanting to go to Shrewsbury. She was told there was either a bus or they would put her in a taxi. She was being extrememly awkward. "I won't go in a taxi, I'm not going on the bus" she said. When she was asked why it was so urgent she got to Shrewsbury she explained that she had an appointement at the hairdressers! I could have hit her! You can take the bus! It's not like you can't get to Shrewsbury and besides, even if you can't, you're hair appointment can wait. You can go tomorrow, next week. My planw will not wait and I don't seem to be able to get to the aiport. Grr, she annoyed me. Then, as we're all standing in the train station waiting for taxis someone goes (pointing out of the window) "what's that?" and one of the men who works at the train station goes "a train" and everyone rushes out to get on the train. Trouble was we caught the freight train up and ended up sitting somewhere between Craven Arms and Church Stretton going nowhere. I asked the ticket man on the train and he told me even though with my ticket I was to change at Crewe that I could carry on this train to Manchester Piccadilly and change there for the airport as the trains from Manchester Piccadilly to the airport are a lot more frequent than from Crewe - where they're only once an hour. I had hope, I thought I might not miss my flight after all. That is until they announced that the train was going to terminate at Crewe because it was running so late. Now I had to change at Crewe. I missed the one train an hour to the airport so had to get on one to Manchester Piccadilly. I arrived at Manchester Piccadilly and had to change to get to the airport. When I finally got to the airport I didn't had a lot of time. I didn't know which terminal I wanted. I went to terminal 1 and there was no one to ask. I was frantically asking other passengers. Someone told me terminal 1 was international. So I went all way back to terminal 2 where there was someone there to ask. He couldn't have spoken any slower if he'd have tried! Could he not see I was in a bit of a hurry! Ryanair close check in 40 minutes before departure. It was 40 minutes before departure. I checked in and had to run to the gate that was flashing red and making it's last call. It was so close. So very very close. When I arrived in Marseille it was warm and sunny and the rest of the journey went smoothly. I don't think I've ever been so stressed in my life! I'm never flying to or from Manchester ever again!
