On a stormy morning!

It was a big day for me! I had been looking forward to it ever since my intern in UK got finalised. It was the day when i visit London first! Monday 28th of May 2007.. And it began all wrong!

My coach for London was booked for 7 AM. I clearly remembered seeing the Uni Link city buss time table and getting a connection for the Central coach station as i was sure i cant walk till there early morning. Central coach station is atleast 40 mins walk from my hostel. So, there were 2 buses which could take me there in time
6:06 and 6:26...
I woke up quite early, 4 30 or so.. Got ready and packed my bag, took something to eat on the way, everything done by 5 45. I was seeing outside and was very very worried about the weather in London. Hell it was a stormy morning in Southampton! It had been raining all night and from the looks of it, rains were going to continue for quite some time. Still, remembered the BBC forecast for London predicting light rains and was smiling a bit! :-)

5 55 sharp i leave the hostel for the bus stop which is just 2 mins away. 6 06 bus might come early, some weird thinking, i shud be ready and all that! After i stepped out of the hostel, i realised that i had made a big big mistake leaving early! It was freezing cold! Temperature of about 5 degrees, heavy rains and even wind to top it all!!! Went and stood at the bus stop praying that the bus arrives soon!

It was 6 06, then 6 10 and then 6 15 too! No sign of a bus...Noone walking in the streets (well who wud!) and no taxis too! Getting nervous about the whole thing i decided to go to a bigger bus station hoping to find another bus there. I reach there and there are 3 people standing! One of them came and went off in a bus going in opposite direction. The other one asked me "Man its a cold morning, do u have a smoke", I said No and got back to the time table of buses.. There was no Bus which i wanted scheduled for the next 40 mins!!! This is CRAZY!!!

I was all down by then and started walking towards the coach station. It would take me atleast 45 mins to walk to the place, and it was already 6 25 in my watch! In a desperate attempt i even ran 2-3 kms in between! All the while i was searching for a taxi, asking passers by for lift, but no luck! I think i asked atleast 10 cars for lift!!! But things just go wrong somedays! :-(

It was 7 and it was going to take me atleast 10 more minutes to reach the coach station... Gave up there and walked at an easy pace. Reached coach station at 7 15...Noone was there. Even the office was closed, last bus had left and obviously i had missed my coach!!!
Felt terrible and it looked like the day i had been looking forward to was going to end there witha a big flop show!

Managed to think a bit. Saw the next coach time...It was 8. I had time in hand to go to railway station and check if i cud get a train! Went there and was truely stumped by the ticket cost! 28 GBP for 1 and half hour journey!!! Silently cursed the rains and the Uni link bus service and decided to take a risk by waiting for the 8 o clock coach!

The coach arrived at 7 45 and i showed my 7 o clock ticket to the driver. Told him what had happened and how i missed the bus and also that i need to reach London for some URGENT work! :P The driver, an old man obviously rejected giving me entry in the bus. Then it was requesting him for a ticket! I told i will buy one as there seems to be place in the coach! Finally he agreed and said that no credit card business... You pay cash to me! I gladly accepted and purchased the 14 pound one way ticket! The one which i had missed was just 6 pounds! :((

So, it was a bad start! My jacket meant for light rain was completely wet, even from inside! I had 2 shirts on me but none of them full sleeved and i was shivering inside the bus! Decided to remove the jacket and sleep off immediately! Just when i was removing the jacket, noticed the same Uni Link time table claiming 6 06 and 6 26 buses on Monday and it looked so different now!

Saw a footnote saying, buses will operate according to Sunday time table on bank holidays!!! SHIT, how the hell did i miss that was all i could say and there was nothing more to do than to listen to songs on my player and just wait for London to come!!!

This was the most careless incident ever in my life!!! I saw the Uni Link time table wrong and payed dearly for it! :(

London was GODmax and a happy post next one! Keep reading! :-)