It Could Only Happen to me,
Seriously
Last weekend, My Eldest Son and I
set off to a I.H.S.Reptile Show at the
racecourse in Doncaster,
Now, I do not count myself as an
unlucky person, but after last weekend, I might have to rethink this.
I had the Day before, being
Friday, I rang the hotel, that I had booked 3 months before, as well as the
booking the Train Tickets from Manchester Airport to Doncaster. I rang just to confirm that we had a booking and that we
would be arriving the next day, as well as getting details how to get there.
Everything was confirmed and I felt happy, knowing that I had somewhere to
sleep.
Saturday morning, got up early and
got myself ready, deciding that I would go down and pick up, some tablets as I
had been in hospital, the weekend before with a chest & throat infection (
usually in Good health , am I). But alas, they had none of the tablets, but
found out that I could take my inhaler,
Happy days of sorts.
Got my taxi to the train station
and started my journey, picked up my son at the next station and the 2 merry
men were headed on their way on their first expedition on their own .
( I know , we are grown men, but
????).
Got to Belfast, but couldn’t get a
connecting bus, ended up having to get a taxi, (Think he saw us coming, as the
Fare turned out to be £10.00 for a 10 minute journey, Taxi driver should have
wore a mask, anyway)
We got to George Best Airport, got through customs & security, without any problem
and settled down to wait for the plane, which was due to take of in around an
hour. Then, Yes Folks, the flight, it was delayed for an hour, ( even though my
younger son had told me , that this would likely happen) which meant even
though I had booked our train tickets for 1 hour later than when we should have
arrived, we would miss it .
When we arrived in Manchester airport, we were only behind by 5 minutes, but by the
time we walked from the airport to the station, our train was gone. We got to
the ticket desk, the guy behind the desk was real helpful and gave us our
tickets and told us , if we hurried down quickly we could get the next train,
which didn’t stop, but went straight through. But, because we were not on our
original train, the reserved seats that had been ours, were no longer valid,
but we could sit, where we could.
Go First Trans Pennine Express,
Thanks for your help and great service
Running like the wind, (well sort
of, nearly fell, Surprise).
We made the train and just made
the train with seconds to spare and we were on our way. We got seated, but then
moved, when we got to Manchester Piccadilly. We didn’t know if we would be moved again or
not, but we sat our ground, even when I saw the conductor coming, I thought,
“Here , we go, we’re gonna get moved,” but we didn’t and on we sailed to Doncaster.
We ended up being only 20 minutes
late, so we grabbed a taxi and headed out to or hotel which was well out of
town. We were tired and hungry I went to book us in, then it happened, I stood
there with a face like thunder, when the desk clerk told me, that we had been
double booked for that night and they were full, but he could take us Sunday
& Monday. I told him, that I had booked it 2 months previous and had had it
confirmed the day before.
I was not happy, to say the least.
The guy did his best to find us somewhere else, but their chain had no rooms,
at this stage I knew how Mary and Joseph felt. He gave us direction to other
hotels and we set off on the next stage of “What the hell else can happen
expedition”, Believe it or not, we still could laugh, my son telling me to
phone my sister, a family joke, because when he got stranded, he rang her to
come to is rescue.
After about five minutes, we saw a
Premier Inn and headed to towards it.
Arriving there, we went in to be
greeted by a very pleasant Receptionist by the name of Hailey, who apologized
and told us, that they were fully booked. But she told us to hold on. She made
a phone call to the sister Hotel in Doncaster City centre. Yes, they had a room, it would cost us twice the
amount, but it was a room. Neither of us had cards with us, as we didn’t want to
spend over our budget, but she promised the girl on the other side of the
phone, that she would get us a taxi and we would be there within 15 minutes.
She did as she had promised and had us taxied off and back into Doncaster.
Go Hailey and Thanks
Arriving there, we booked in and
got our room. We had been lucky , because they were almost full.
We headed out into town and worked
our way round to the Taj Mahal Restaurant, which we had been recommended to by
a friend where we had a beautiful meal, I had Butter Chicken, which was
delicious and a wee cider.
Afterwards, we had a walk around
the town, which has loads of Clubs, Pubs & eating establishments and went
back to the room to chill out
We lay and watch T.V. as we were
both exhausted and as we fell asleep, our hotel became very noisy, as people
were arriving back, A guy in the room above us talked till 2.00a.m. in the
morning. AAAGGGGHHHH!!
Finally, around 4.00a.m., I fell asleep. The rest of the night flew past and the
alarm went off at 8.00 and I could have screamed.
We had breakfast and headed off in
a taxi to the show which was enjoyable and after 3 hours and spending a load of
money; we got a taxi and went back to the hotel. Lunch and then a nap and then
we went in search of the Train Station, which turned out to be just a few
minutes away. No taxi to pay then.
We had a couple of beers and then retired as
we were up again at 6.00a.m.
We fell asleep, till at 4.35a.m. the fire alarm went off.
Really, was this happening to me, finally we
made our way downstairs , only to find that some local loony had followed a
breakfast chef in and set off the fire alarm, she was alter arrested , as she
had been causing havoc around Doncaster and the Police had been looking for
her.
Finally we got back to our room,
but it wasn’t much point of trying to sleep, so when the alarm went off for getting
up, I was dressed anyway. We had a quick breakfast, checked out and headed
towards the station.
The train arrived on time, but
when we reached our seats, some Geezer had made himself comfortable, at this
stage, I was ready for murder, but he moved when he was asked and produced the
reserved sign from his pocket. The rest of the journey went unhindered and
uneventful.
So, we made it to Manchester Airport, thinking to myself, that the only thing now, that could
happen, is the flight would be delayed. Got in , got our tickets printed and
headed to security. Took everything out of pockets, belt, etc. and went through
the scanner. Guess What? It went off , I just smiled to myself, what else could
I do. I had to have a body search, twice, ( Not a personal , poking type of search.).
Guess, what it was the button and the brass things on my Jeans.
Got through and waited patiently
for an hour and guess what………………………….
The Flight left on time. Yeah!
Arrived back in George Best Airport, really I wanted to kiss the ground. Seriously.
As we stood waiting for our lift
to arrive, my son says to me, “ I expect you wouldn’t go again. I says “Hell
Yes, of course I would, I would want to see if it was worse or better”
As we drove, home, I wondered to
myself, what was in store and waiting for me at home
When I arrived home and shut the
Front Door, I went straight to the shop, to check if everything was Ok and it
was, then into every room to check, everything was fine again
Happy days, my Expedition to Doncaster &
back was over.
Since , I have arrived back,
everything has been good, no events or
disasters
Bloody Boring Actually..
It Could Only Happen to me
Seriously
# itcouldonlyhappentomeseriously
