The trains, they suck
Nightmare of a journey this morning. While the first leg of it was great - a lift at 7.15 from the delightful lady in my life to the railway station - the rest was very poor. Tickets were no great problem - one two three, £25 comes out of my credit car and three slips appear from the belly of the machine. Even getting to the train was easy. Platform 5. Bosh!

The problem arose when the train had to go the slow route to London (from Reading - should be 25 minutes, but proved to be nearer an hour). This was due to some sort of failure. At least we got there, I suppose. The next problem occurred when I moved to let someone pass (I had a standing-up journey) and discovered that they didn't want to pass, they just wanted to stand where I had been standing. So I then had to spend the next 20 or so minutes standing in an aisle next to a table, holding onto the baggage rack, as there was nowhere I could reasonably lean. The passenger ultimately moved past and down the carriage somewhere.

Getting to Paddington, I thought my troubles would be over. Oh no. The tube was a long time coming and then it too seemed to stop more often than it went. I guess that makes no sense. For every stop, there would have to be a partnering go, or the next stop couldn't occur, or, at the very least, I'd still be trapped on the train. However, it felt like being stopped was more common than moving.

My day had started at about 6.45 when the alarm started to bother me. Come 9, I was just emerging from the Farringdon tube station, now late for my 9am start.

Luckily, the course wasn't going to be too challenging. I suppose the hard part is meant to be the "getting to and from London" bit.