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A whole catalogue of disasters. We were told to expect the 'Mother of All Storms' on the Friday. I thought of moving to a B & B, or caravan, on that day, but Shrewsbury Tourist Info. were useless. Then the rain came. It came in spates. It just seemed to be stopping before it started up worse than before, and it went on for hours. Finally it cleared in the evening. I'll give my tent its dues, it withstood the whole lot. I was writing my cards, each balanced on my knee, by the light of my flashlight! I woke on Saturday morning to find that the proprietress was clearing the whole site, because the Severn was expected to flood. I moved my tent to higher ground in their 'garden' to the Severn side of the main house. By Saturday night, I was the only 'happy' camper still left at the whole of the site!! Woke Sunday to find the whole site flooded, and it was rising up the owners' drive gradually. They were putting down pebbles to see how fast it was rising. We were told to expect it to reach its height at 2.30 p.m., but it rose until it was about 5 inches below the top edge of the boundary wall of the 'garden' area my tent was in. At least the weather had cleared, and they expected a fine Monday. I had hoped to stay to Tuesday or Wednesday, but knew I had to get the Hell out of it on the Monday, in case of more rain. I had to go to bed on Sunday night with all my bags packed and inside the sewn-in ground sheet of my tent and most of my tent pegs removed, in case I had to make a dash for it during the night! Woke Monday to fine weather, and the flood considerably down, thankfully!
Extra clobber, due to books I had bought as gifts on return. It was a good job I set my alarm early. The 'two man' tent took about an hour to dismantle because of having to slide the fibreglass poles out of their pockets, and they kept on catching on the ground. How I worked out how to fold it up and get it back in its bag, I'll never know! At least it was all in the dry. It started when I collected my benefit at the local Post Office, under threat of closure, and got to the bus stop early for the 11.24 hopper bus. It was a good job I was ready before time, because the bus turned up four minutes early, just as I had packed my thermos away.
At Shrewsbury station an hour early, for the 12.54 train, in fact I could have caught the 11.54, if I had been sharpish, but had to enquire about an flooding on the lines. Scared out of my wits, it wasn't funny, I had to take some Valium. Caught the train O.K. about ten minutes late, and I only had about a quarter of an hour to change at Manchester Piccadilly.
Then it Happened. Signal failure at Crewe, and we were all turfed off the train. A bloke was getting stroppy, but it's no point talking to the staff, they just ignore you. I just sneaked around a deserted corner for a smoke. The indicators on the platforms only showed the incoming train. Trying to get to the main indicators on the main platform by taking the lift to the bridge over, when a member of staff categorically stated I needn't take the lift because it was at Platform 1, just around the corner at 38 minutes past the hour. He was TOTALLY wrong. I got there to find a main indicator that showed it was on Platform 6 at 27 minutes past the hour. Back to the lift! Half way across the bridge over, when an announcement that said the Manchester train was on Platform 5, back where I had come from. Waiting on Platform 5, they changed the time to 14.31 and then 14.34, as I watched. Also they were swapping platforms like mad all the time. Caught that train O.K. In fact I was on the same train as previously, but an hour later, so I made the connection at Manchester Piccadilly at the same minutes past the hour. Incidentally, the loos I tried on these trains either had the soap run out, or the hot air hand dryer not working, or both. In the automatic sliding door loos, the 'flush' button had a sticker on them with 'F' written on them with Biro!!
Then it Happened Again. Just out of Huddersfield, and approaching Dewsbury, the train stopped dead!! We got an announcement that there was a 'points' failure in the area. The 'apology' announcements we were getting were pre-recorded. We were left standing for 25 - 30 minutes, not knowing what was happening, or what was going to happen. We were English. We just accepted the Balls Up and no-one blew up or complained. I finally got back to Ilkley two hours later than scheduled (the journey had taken five hours, so far, from Shrewsbury). It was just after 5.30 p.m., and all the cafes had closed. My Thermos was completely empty and I only had a small amount of fluid left in a plastic drinks bottle. I just smoked myself silly!!! The weight of the clobber I was carrying made me feel like I did after a Half Marathon, for two days afterwards - all my muscles aching. My holiday story all seems amusing, now, but it was rather hairy at times.
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