When I eventually retired that Monday night, it did not occur to me, it would be the last time I would sleep in a bed until early Thursday morning!!My journey did not start well .... Having been glued to sky news for the last couple of days, about the transport and weather problems in the UK, it did not cross my mind to check if my KLM flight from Cape Town was leaving on time or not and simply headed to the airport at around 9.30pm, thinking this would give ample time to check out the new Cape Town International departures terminal, before flying at 00.50. As it happened, I had more time than I needed to browse, as my flight only left Cape Town at 03.00am! I just hoped this was not the start of things to come!. As it happened, I landed in Amsterdam to a white blanket of snow at 13.30 the following afternoon, just in time to catch my connecting flight to Edinburgh at 15.05, which surprisingly, actually left ten minutes early!! Once up in the air, it became clear how lucky we indeed were, apparently it had been snowing very heavily in Edinburgh all morning and ours, was infact the first flight of the day to even depart for the Scottish Capital ... wonderful, what could possibly go wrong now?
As we landed, I kicked myself for not having my camera handy - it was around 15.30 Uk time and the sun was just setting ,over a city that looked liked it had just been freshly iced ... all it needed was a cherry! As we flew over the famous Forth railway bridge, the scene below was truly spectacular one I knew I would want to share. Although not taken by me - this picture gives a idea of the view below. I was in Edinburgh at last ... I would soon be home!Inverness is a three & ahalf hour train journey away, so had to first catch a link bus from the airport to the city centre. When stepping out of the airport to the bus, I received my first taster of the cruel Scottish weather, the cold literally took my breath away. Before I knew it, thirty minutes later I had arrived at Waverly station in the centre of Edinburgh, which despite the chill, was the hype of activity.Unfortunately my train was not for another couple of hours, as I had, had to leave enough time to allow for my flight being late. A quick glance at the departures board told me all appeared to be running well and more or less on time - great news. I phoned my parents to tell them I had arrived - the relief in their voice was clearly evident, following what had been a worrying morning for them, knowing that Edinburgh airport was closed! They confirmed they would see me just after 11pm, when my train was due into inverness - 22 hours after having left home, the final finish line was now in sight!
My two hours waiting in the station actually felt like 7 hours ,I had not expected the station to be so open. Any eateries or coffee shops opened directly onto the main station, where there was a brutal draught permanently flowing through ... I knew I was bordering on desperate when I asked in Boots pharmacy as to whether they sold gloves!! Having read about five mgazines & two newspapers ... I was soon relieved when I saw Platform 16 flash up on the departures board, advising me where I should now go to catch my train.
Although it was running very slightly behind time the sheer thought of a warm carriage and an opportunity to snooze was worth a few more minutes wait. I eventually climbed aboard,hauling my 26kg case behind me .... we were on our way! The first thing I noticed was how surprisingly slow the train was going, but not being a regular on this form of travel, I assumed it must be the norm. I then noticed I was not getting any warmer, infact I could feel direct freezing air blowing from somewhere! I looked around at my fellow passengers, wondering if it was just me feeling this way having been basking in 30 degrees sunshine just the day before? However, they all looked pretty chilly too!
We then got our first of what were to be several 'Passenger Announcements'! It appeared the train's middle engine had broken down. By the time we got to the next station, it was announced that the first engine was also on the way out and that this was the main reason why the heating was not working! We trundled on through a couple more stations, but it became obvious that the train was not coping at all meanwhile, we as passengers were starting to resemble snowmen!! Although I thankfully did not know it at the time ... it was apprently minus 16 degrees!! It was then announced that another train was on its way to meet us, that would pull us back to Inverness. Unfortunately though, by the time we reached Avimore, the train had stopped completely and so we waited for our new train to arrive. Yet another announcement told us, the train would be here in ten minutes and that they would like to offer complimentary drinks from the trolley ...except for alcohol, oh yes and they apologise that they are also out of hot water!! Big deal!!
The train did indeed soon arrive, but they then could not appear to attach to our train due to a problem with the electrics! All of this was debated with the doors wide open too! I was actually not sure of how much more I could take ... it had now been about 7 hours since I first arrived on Waverly station!! Eventually, one of the train management came up with the bright idea to transfer us all to the new train and leave the other one behind, why we had not done this an hour earlier, was beyond us all! At 01.30am, we crept into Inverness Station, where the few very patient relatives were waiting for some of the passengers including of course my parents. What a journey ... but home at last!
Despite not much sleep - the next morning I could not wait to venture into the garden, not having seen real snow now for about 15 years !! As I hurled a snow ball or two ... my takeaway on Blouberg beachfront somehow felt like a lifetime ago! Merry Christmas !!
No comments:
Post a Comment