As
reunions go this was one that was 26 years in the making. By the way you may want to go and pour
yourself a cuppa J
To cut
a very long story short it took nearly 9 hours (yes 9 hours) to get from
Lincolnshire to Victoria and then from Victoria to Brighton by coach. To get there and back it took 4 coaches, 3 of
which were appalling and 1 was luxury. The 1st one made me
feel sick, the air coolers did not work, the heat was unbearable.
When I managed to squeeze into
the loo, which was the size of a drawer, the lights went out (literally). There I was staggering around, holding on for
dear life, in total darkness with my knickers around my ankles.

The coach made a unscheduled
stop at Peterborough, a coach load of hot sweaty sickly feeling passengers
could get off and breathe! After about
15 minutes we all boarded again for the next part of our journey and I had stopped feeling sick (nothing worse is
there?). After what seemed like an
eternity we all got off at Victoria coach station and myself and hubby literally
ran like the clappers for the connecting coach, we had about 3 minutes to
spare.

This coach was no better, the
air was filled with a stale urine aroma and to top that the loo was out of
order. That meant I could not drink
anything.

After convincing myself that I
should have stayed at home I amused myself with people watching while my hubby
was fast asleep. All human life was here, students, old ladies, old men, fat ones, thin ones, grumpy ones, smelly ones, kids
with smart phones, Ipods, Ipads, tablets, texting at a hundred miles an hour or
listening to something called music. Even 2 young men at the back of the coach practising Friday prayers. By
this time 3 hours had passed and we were all getting excited at the prospect of
getting off the coach. We had arrived!!
The Reunion %
It consisted of my
hubby’s sister, brother in law, and their children, all the in-laws, nieces, nephews, their husbands
and wives and children, great nieces and great nephews. The list was loooooooooooooong. After meeting me for the first time my great newphew said "Are you from the North Pole?". It could have been worse.
We
spent 3 nights in Brighton before heading off to Hayling Island for a 4 day
break. Went shopping in Brighton and
managed to visit Choccywoccydoodah (I was in chocolate heaven).

Too
gorgeous to cut don’t you think?
***********************
After
11 days of far too much alcohol and food it was time to bid farewell to Hayling
Island and Brighton. The coach from Brighton to Victoria was pure luxury, the
connecting one was not. Again I had
issues with the loo (why me??), this time the door jammed and no one could get
in, so the driver had to stop and use his “magic” key to the relief of the
passengers.
We arrived home in good time,
the market place was all lit up with Christmas lights and it looked beautiful.
%
Enjoy the rest of today %
~
What a journey. But WOW what a reunion. :)
ReplyDeleteYour trip there seemed like a disaster, so sorry. It's always nice to reconnect with family for the holidays. I hope the new year is a prosperous one for you.
ReplyDelete~Sheri at Red Rose Alley
Hope the family part made up for the awful parts. I like the holidays but am always happy when it's all over. Back to work! :)
ReplyDeletethe journey sounds pretty horrendous-you're brave even attempting to use the loo on a coach-i'd be too claustrophobic! love the photos you used to illustrate your post! sounds like some reunion and am sure it was worth the journey! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you are filled with Christmas Joy! and all that didnt even take it away...I am proud of you ....hang on to those patience...they get less and less in time lolol you have brightened my day indeed....I thought of you and other blog♥s when I watched the New Year ring in in the UK....Huge Hugs ♥Debi
ReplyDeleteWow and I thought I was the one who always got the problems. What a fiasco. You need another holiday to recoup your energy now. Chocolate and Coffee.
ReplyDelete