I know I am skipping some weekends' description to the ones which are more eventful and recent.
Date : 14-Feb-2004
Plan : To start from home by 5, catch Thames Rail train at 6:18 to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. Go around there till afternoon, start back and get down at Oxford by evening 4 and just visit the University and campus. Start back by 7 and reach London by 8:30.
Team : Me and my favourite Nikon.
All plans end when the war begins. And when I plan to start from home at 5, I think the plan has already failed !
5:10am : Got up ! Realised that I have to make it today. Got ready and started by 6 after a bread toast for breakfast. Got a bus from White horse junction, to East Ham tube station and waited for a tube till 6:25which dropped me at Paddington by 7.
7:10am : I got through the counter to get an offpeak-standard return ticket to Stratford for 23pounds. The person at the counter informed me that I have to wait till 9:18 for the next train even if I am ready to change the trains.
7:13am : Went to the information counter with my print out of the plans taken from net and there was a working plan with a train at 7:15. The person at the counter said it is possible and asked me to run to the train going to Temple from Platform no. 3. Just made it. And thus started my trip.
The train was more luxurious than the ones I have seen before in UK. It was running at a very speed, with not a small shake inside. I was supposed to get down at 'Reading'. According to the plan on my print out, it reached Reading by 7:40. Now my next train will take me to Birmingham. Waited for it in the same Platform till 8:05. The platform was clean and tidy with lot of cigarette bits, empty cups etc. The only thing missing was the litter. I also contributed to it by throwing my cup after having a coffee from the automatic coffee machine. I swear, I looked for dustbins before doing that !
8:05 am : My train to Birmingham arrived. It is going to Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland. It was more luxurious than my previous one, with a small snack and publications shop with a cafeteria. It had personal music points like in the flight
and above all, a small panel on the top where it was displayed whether the seat is
reserved , and if reserved from what place till what place ! I had not noticed it till
the announcement came to look at it before you sit and sat on a window seat which was reserved from Oxford. My aisle seat was unreserved. Placed my jacket there. Till Oxford I can enjoy the country side scene from the window seat.
The journey started with an apology for being 5 mins late ! The daylight is on. The
beautiful countryside in front of me ! Like there is no ugly mother, there is no country
side in the World which is not beautiful. It was fully green, with a small settlement in
the middle dominated by a Chapel, and again it is vacant beautiful land. Then, you
find here and there, some huge farm house or ware houses, and you can see sheep or horses near them.
8:30am : It reached the first stop, Oxford. I just waited for someone to come and ask me to leave his seat. A young man came and saw the panel above me, I was about to stand. He told me he doesn't like window seats and so better he will seat in my aisle seat ! He thanked me too for that ! He is doing his Ph.D in Maths at Oxford and is going back to his home in Coventry.He sat back with some papers on Fourier coefficients.The train stopped at Banbury and Leamington Spa. The gentleman next to me got down saying Bye at Coventry. The journey is on with beautiful scene on your window passing by.
9:45am : Train reached Birmingham. I got down and looked at my print out plan. Next stage is a walk to the Snow hill station from the main station from where I will get a train to my destination at 10:25. I had no idea where this Snow Hill station is. Asked some two three people, all showed some directions and I couldn't understand anything in their local accent. Some protesters were shouting slogans and shouting at people getting into the station. There were a handful of police officers accompanying them. I just took my camera out and hung it in my shoulder and that did the trick. They just gave a smile to me and gave a 'Hi'. Asking someone outside the station, he told me to follow the protesters and they are going to the Snow hill station. I blindly walked with them. Took sometime in between to stop at a place where I think it is the town centre, to take a snap of the main Cathedral and the meadow in front. Reached the station by 10:05.
10:25am: It was a local train to pick me from Birmingham to Stratford. It stopped in all the stops every 2mins and dropped me at Stratford by 11:35. A small station like the local stations in India. Walked out, saw the map, took notes and walked towards the birthplace of Shakespeare. Just happened to pass through a village market, got in and took some snaps of the sellers which are really unique with their costume and appearance. People are more happy, wishing each other, and a smile on everyone's
face. You will, in no time, fall in love with the place.
Walked to the house where Shakespeare was born. Took some snaps, bought some
souvenirs, walked to the river Avon's banks. It was a beautiful sight, no words can
express it completely ! Walked through the banks of the river for more than an hour and
I am done. I felt my money is paid off. I can now go back home and sit at home for the
whole weekend ! The peace which Big Ben or Trafalgar can't give, this peaceful, merry
place gives you ! You have crowd here also. But this crowd has time, it has all the time
in the World to help you, to tell you about the places.
I met an old lady at a signal struggling to cross the road. I just stopped to offer her a
helping hand and we parted. Later she found me in front of a village map, she stopped
and taught me all the places to see ! A sudden change of atmosphere !
Again, I looked for a McD for my lunch, had it and walked back to the station by 2:30.
Surprises waits for the fools, always ! And the good thing is, sometimes they are pleasant! I was just checking the route I have to go back through. I was to take a train to Leamington Spa checking the stations in between, I saw the station Warwick ! The place where is situated the castle which is voted by BBC as the best in UK !
Just confirmed with the officer in the station that I can take enough breaks on the journey and get down at Warwick. May be that will delay my visit at Oxford, but it is worth. The next fear was whether I will get the connection trains properly as these
are all villages and you may not be lucky enough on a weekend to find enough trains !
I will stop at this point. Will continue next week as it is getting too long. I know I will
lag a little more, with my next week plans to Windsor and Leeds may have to wait for
some more days to be written down.
It is 8:30 here now. I am the only person sitting in the office writing this mail. This is
because I am fully busy till 7 everyday. It will a great pleasure for me if I can get some comments on the above, if not at least please don't ask me have you got no work to do.
