The Grand Event Countdown Is Underway

Posted: June 22, 2012 in Cruising, P&O, Travel
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When I booked the Grand Event Cruise on the Oceana (sailing on the 3rd July 2012 to the Fiords [in Norway Smile ) there were:

467 sleeps to go:

Now however, there are just:

11 more sleeps to go;
11 more sleeps to cruising;
11 more sleeps till the big fella gets on that boat,
with his bird and her boy;
11 more sleeps to cruising.

—

The packing has started.

New toothbrush; new toothpaste; new razors; new deodorant; new cologne; new wash bag.
Camera prepped and charged and nice shiny new memory card installed.

My adventures will [of course] be recorded on my blog at: – http://podgethepuffer.com/cruising-adventures/fiords-2012/

Until then however, I’m going to bore you all with The Grand Event Countdown every day. Winking smile

That Was The Summer That Was…..

Posted: June 9, 2012 in Cycling, general, training
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Back in April, and full of hope, I posted that I had decommissioned the Tacx iMagic Turbo and put back Colnago Bling Machine back on the road. Well, unfortunately, this was never going to work out, and in truth I should have known.

With the long awaited arrival of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend, I (His Podgeness) decided to make a week of it and took the rest of the week off, which by the way is why there have been no joy of travel updates :-). The intention, as I’m sure you will have guessed was not just to enjoy the Jubilee Celebrations (which I did) but also to get in lots of carefree cycling miles. How naive could I have been. Having basked in glorious sunshine the week before, most of which I either spent on the train [of which i wrote plenty] or in the office, I was greeted with a week of blithering wind and rain and then more rain and wind and then some more.

So, I’m sad to report that His Podgeness did NOT get out in the road at all :-(. So, there I was feeling very picked on and generally in a sulk I decided that I was going to play bikes one way or another and looked to tinker, but this achieved little. In the end, I bit the bullet and dismantled my old Ribble Stealth and built my new De Rosa Tango Stealth [check it out here]. That done, and looking at the weather forecast going forward, I gave in and brought out the iMagic and reinstated the Colnago back to the role of chief turbo bike while retaining the De Rosa for general road use.

Buoyed on by the  knowledge, and subsequent envy and pride of course, that Swifty Matt Conner has just spent the same week in the Alps and thought they while there, he’d just pop out and complete ‘La Marmotte‘ route as part of his training. Given that the route takes in the  Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier and finishes on the Alpe d’Huez this is no mean feat, so cracking job Matt: well done and yes, I really do envy you. But, you have spurred me on. I have the Ventoux route on the iMagic, and yes, I will do it, maybe not this week but it will be this summer. So now, I’m off to the turbo.

Look out for my next post on how I ended up in the raging torrents of the Shalbourne Brook. 🙂

Go Podge, Go.

Cow’s On The Line

Posted: June 1, 2012 in general, Rant, Travel
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So, today is the last push before the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend, and so it was that I arose from slumber feeling good and positive: just the morning and evening commute to go then it’s party time. Yeah. And of course, I was buoyed by the ‘nice day’ [see previous post] that I had yesterday.

So it was, that I arrived at Hungerford station and waited for the 06:40 grown up train. Then it started, that faceless voice came over the speaker: ‘We are sorry to announce that the 06:40 will be delayed by 6-minutes.’; then it was 8 minutes; then it was 11 minutes. Then, the announcement said 4 minutes. Blimey, I thought, the train must be flying to make up that time so quickly, but I quickly realised that it was another grown up train, the 06:54 that was delayed, presumably by the 06:40.

Eventually the 06:40 arrived and everybody got on quick so that we could be away before any of the 06:54 passengers turned and tried to sneak on our train (we don’t like sharing) :-).

Under intense interrogation (actually it was one lady asking him one question), the Train Manager gave up the information we required, ‘Why was the train late?’. Well, the announcement “because of issues on the line between Westbury and Pewsey’ but we have now established that the issue actually meant Cows On The Line although we couldn’t quite tease out what we then wanted to hear, ‘The Wrong Sort Of Cows On The Line’. Never mind though, at least we found the reason and with such success, surely today would be a good day. I certainly hope so. Even the Underground looks as though it’s behaving itself :-).

Yes, the underground was as good as gold. I went straight from the grown up train to the train of the deep almost without stopping and so go to work dead on time. The omens are good: the day shall be good. All bodes well for the weekend of celebrations.

As for work, well, I spent the morning writing up my findings for a post incident report following a major power outage last Friday. All finished by lunch time, I decided to head off to St Katherine’s Dock to get a bite to eat and check out the boats. Well, There were many boats, virtually all of which were decked out with flags and bunting, presumably (stating the bleeding obvious) for the Jubilee.

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So, having viewed the boats and given my approval, I headed back, via Tower Bridge, to the office in time for my 13:30 meeting, followed by a 14:00 workshop before getting an early start (15:00) back home, to beat the inevitable crowds at Paddington. Then it happened: the naffing power went; all systems; all services down. Bother, we all thought, just when we thought the week was going to end well. I won’t go into the details: let’s face it, unless you were part of it, such events aren’t exactly high interest topics. All I will say is I didn’t get away until close on 16:00 and will have to finish what I was going to do, sometime over the weekend.

The underground behaved impeccably and I just caught the 16:36 from Paddington. This has to be a record. But, I made it, and I got a seat (don’t tell her indoors, but I upgraded to 1st class just to be sure of a seat. Looking at all the standing passengers, it was a good move). Better still, we left on time. I’m guessing that all the berating over the last few days has taught these beastly trains that they must start to behave :-). We were only 7 minutes late from Reading, which, as I’ve inferred previously, is 3 minutes early. So all in all, a good job jobbed by rail travel. Lets just hope that there are no more cows on the line :-).

Good Trains: Nice Trains.

Now, bring on that Diamond Jubilee. Yeah. Woo Hoo.

Go Podge, Go.

I’m Nice Today

Posted: May 31, 2012 in general, Travel
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Today, I know not why, I shall be nice. I shall smile to everybody, I shall smile on the telephone, I shall remember to says please and thank you.

I’m sitting on the comfortable 06:40 Grown-Up Train from Hungerford to Paddington, anticipating an on-time arrival of 07:53. Excellent, I shall sit back, enjoy my coffee from the on-board express cafe (another reason for not using the baby trains) and recount my joys on this page. And, while I’m at it, I’ll check the status of the underground rail system.

just looked out the window to see rain: boo, but a smiley boo 🙂

I don’t mind the rain: we never should, there are many place who have none, so yes, I’m happy it’s raining. It does after all ease the drought conditions which still prevail! I understand the hosepipe ban is still in effect. Fortunately, I have a borehole so the current ban does not affect me. Given all the rain we’ve had since the ban was imposed, I just don’t care 🙂 see, I’m still happy; still nice.

Uh oh, just looked at the underground status. Both Circle & District part suspended, due to signal faults at Mansion House. Such joy as this is a key station for me. But no worry, I’ll check the status again when I’m nearing London. Somehow I think my vast experience of the underground system (not) will help me conquer and stay happy and nice 🙂

Tee Hee, keep it quiet but I’ve fooled those pesky trains. I’ve taken the back to front route and came in from the other direction. Yeah, His Podgeness is truly mightier than mere machines. And as if to prove a point, I got into the office 5 minutes earlier than normal.

yep, I’m definitely feeling nice today.

As for my day in the office? Well, as office days go, it was pretty uneventful. I did what I set out to do plus a little bit more but nothing earth shattering or monumentous. Equally of course, nothing bad or irritating happened either so all in all, I’m a nice man today.

I went out for lunch, as is my want, and did a quick tour of St Katherine’s Dock. It was a nice walk on a nice day made even nicer by even more nice boats than there were yesterday. The dock is filling up nicely in readiness for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the flags and bunting do look ever so, ever so nice. Everything is just nice.

Still smiling, and enjoying a small glas of Rioja on the journey home in the grown up train that has been tamed. Every thing is good. Especially the wine, which is very, very nice. And as if to prove a point, the train reaches Reading just 1 minute late! Now given that virtually every train has been arriving around 10 minutes late, because of ‘congestion, this makes us around 9 minutes early. See, being nice works, I’ve even made the train nice. :-). 🙂

so, all in all, everything is still nice

Better still, I have just one more sleep to go before I have a whole 9-days free from rail travel. And after that, I have just 33 sleeps to before the Grand Event, the 175th birthday celebration with P&O when we sail away to the fiords on the Oceana with, hopefully, weather permitting, a fly past of the Red Arrows and knowing that the Princess Royal will be viewing us as we sail by.

yep, all in all, I’m very, very happy and very, very nice.

nice works, clearly

So that’s it for this update. I did smile at everybody, i smiled on the telephone, i think i even told a joke. All in all, I’m feeling very nice today. Byeee

Go Podge, Go.

The Joy of Rail Travel

Posted: May 30, 2012 in Rant, Travel
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So, this morning I posted the rambling inane rant of a weary traveller, signing off with:

OK, I’m going to stop now, I’m rambling already. I’ve said my piece and feel better for it:

And off I went into the sunshine to Tower Hill. Now, I have to say that things are really cheering up around Tower Bridge and especially St Katherine’s Dock as the boats start to arrive ready for the Jubilee Pageant. Everything and everybody give off a very real feeling of happiness. I was feeling good and was seriously looking forward to anything and everything the would bring.

Anyway, as the saying goes ‘Time & Tide Waits For no Man’ and sure enough, the end of the working day arrived and His Podgeness had to head once more towards the unavoidable perils of rail travel. First was the Underground.

Now, I used to hate the underground, often spending a small fortune on taxis rather than venture into that warren that lay beneath London. But, of late, I’ve come to enjoy it, even to the point of exploring different lines to get to where I want to be. So far, I’ve used the Circle, District, Central, Hammersmith & City and the DLR and I’ve found them all to be fun and spookily interesting. But, of late, they just don’t seem to be working very well. Perhaps it’s the heat, I don’t know, but there always seems to be problems somewhere on the network with broken trains. Today was no exception, except this time, I was on that blithering train.

Hurtling along the Bakerloo Line between Regents Park and Baker Street the train came to an abrupt halt. So, there we all are, train packed to the gunnels sitting, standing, waiting deep underground in a tunnel wondering what was happening. Then we were told there was an apparent faulty passenger alarm which was stopping the train from moving. Eventually our determined driver overcame the machine and forced the blighter to move on to the next station, where once more it said, ‘ NO, I AM NOT MOVING’. Oh what a tinker this train is I thought as people abandoned train and headed upwards for daylight only to be replaced be new travellers who had no idea what this train was like. But, once again, Man Triumphed over Machine (I knew it was Man by the because he spoke us over the intercom, so no sexist accusations please), and the train once more set off until eventually, we reached MY station: Paddington. And, guess what? I was still in time to catch Old Faithful, the 18:33 to Exeter St David’s. Yes, His Podgeness has done well today for he has struggled through the warrens beneath London, beaten the efforts of Machine and still arrived early. Ha Ha, I am truly Podgethepuffer who will not suffer.

Obviously, nobody had told the land of the overland grown up trains as they had contingency plans, determined to thwart my attempts to get home in time for, well, anything really!

Anyway, not only did I board Old Faithful, but she also gave me a seat (sounds quite saucy really, doesn’t it). So naturally, I was feeling pretty smug. Then, almost with an air of smugness, the faceless voice came over the air to tell me that the service was running approximately 20 minutes late because of, guess what?, a broken down train at Reading (bring on the Olympics, for Yes, we are ready). So once more, I have to give in and accept it, machine does rule over man, and woman.

Tomorrow, I shall try once more. Why? I have no idea except to say, what choice have I? I have no practical alternative. It’s almost like our travel is governed by a monopoly 🙂

Go Podge, Go

footnote – The big nasty train must have sensed my anger as once we were past Reading, it must have red-lined itself all the way, so we weren’t that late after. Woo Hoo.

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