Murphy's Law

I'm almost all caught up from spring break.  The final leg is one big long story of Murphy's Law in action.

The initial error was definitely mine, but the consequences gave me a sharp lesson.  See, my train from London to Holyhead had been one train doing the whole trip, but on the way back from Holyhead to London I had to change trains twice, once in Chester and once in Crewe.  The train from Chester got into Crewe about half an hour before my next train was set to leave, so I found out what platform I needed and went there.  At about 8:30, still fifteen minutes before my train is supposed to leave, a train arrives at my platform.  It's Virgin Trains, which was the train I needed, and it was at the right platform -- the only issue was that it was too early, but I've seen trains arrive at a platform and just wait for twenty minutes before.

What I should have done is look at the departures board, because then I would have seen that this particular Virgin train was going to Manchester, not London.  I didn't, though.  I just assumed that the train was going to wait a bit, and got on.  I realized my mistake moments later when the train started moving, but by then it was too late.  I didn't even know where this train was supposed to be going.  I hoped it was the same general direction, so that I could just get off at the next station and still catch my proper train, but that hope was dashed when I did get to the next station, Wilmslow.

At Wilmslow, I went to the security station and told the guard I think I got on the wrong train; I needed to get to London.  He informed me that I had indeed gotten on the wrong train, because I was now halfway to Manchester.  Furthermore, by this time the train I should have been on was already gone, and it was the last train of the night going to London.  There I was, stuck overnight in a place I couldn't have pointed to on a map.

This would have been bad enough, but what was worse was that I had plans the next day.  I had my ticket for Star Wars in Concert, which I really wanted to get to.  It was at three, but getting there would have been complicated because the Jubilee line, which would have taken me right there with only one change, was down for planned engineering work over the holiday weekend.  The route I had mapped out involved different lines and replacement buses and would have taken nearly two hours, but that wouldn't have been a problem if I'd been home on Sunday and could have left early enough.

Instead, I had to spend my Sunday getting back to London, getting from the train station back to my homestay to drop off my stuff and get my ticket for the concert, and then getting there in time.  The security guard in Wilmslow said that I could stay the night in Manchester and get a train that would get in around 1:30, which would not have given me enough time, so that was out.  My other option was to go back to Crewe and get a train that would get me in around 12:30, which would be cutting it close but would still probably be all right.

I bought a train ticket for the next morning, and went back to Crewe.  Once there, I asked the station personnel for overnight options.  They did say I could stay the night in the station, but I'd have to sleep in the waiting room, and when I got back to London my host mum said that's what she would have done, just to save money, but I couldn't.  Stay the night alone in a train station in a foreign country?  I wouldn't have been able to sleep, and not just because all I had was the floor, short benches, or chairs.  And I seriously can't function when I don't get enough sleep -- I probably would have bungled getting home even worse than I already had.

Crewe, being in the middle of nowhere, didn't have any hostels, and I hadn't meant to be there so I didn't have any research on places to stay, and had to rely on the station people for recommendations.  The place they directed me to was fairly close, but one night was fifty pounds (at which I winced, but what other options did I really have? I didn't know where else to go), and they did not have any internet access.  No business computers, no wifi, and no open internet cafe anywhere nearby.

This just made things even worse, because my host mum was expecting me home that night.  I'd accidentally left my paper with her phone number in my room in London, so I thought the only thing I could do was get into my email account and fish out my roommate's number, call her, and have her explain to my host mum what happened.  Unfortunately, though, no internet.  I made it clear to the receptionist that I really needed this (all the while thinking, what kind of hotel doesn't have any internet access at all in this day and age?), so he sent me one of their employees with an iphone he was willing to let me try.  No dice, though -- couldn't get into my email.  I was basically stuck hoping my host mum would call me so I could explain, but I didn't know when.  I wasn't supposed to get home until around midnight, so it would have to be after that, but I just wanted to go to bed.

I waited for a bit, but finally decided to just take my shower and go to bed, and just answer if it woke me up.  But then I couldn't figure out how to turn the shower on.  There was a bathtub I could turn on, but I couldn't find anything for the shower.  So I had to go to bed without taking a shower, which always makes me feel uncomfortable.

My host mum did text me in the middle of the night, waking me up, but I did feel relieved at being able to explain a bit of what happened and that I'd be home the next day.  I did not sleep as well as I would have at home, but I did get enough sleep to function, and far more than I would have gotten had I stayed at the train station.

I got to the station bright and early, and this time made sure of the train's destination before boarding.  Unfortunately, the train encountered delays along the route.  It left Crewe at 9:17 and was supposed to get in to London at 12:32, but it managed to get there at about one instead, and I was almost despairing.  I could have made it to my concert on time if I'd left my house around one, but I was still at the train station and needed to get home, and had to take circuitous public transportation back.

I made it home at 1:40, where my host mum was a marvel.  After wanting to cry at finding out there was no way for me to get there by public transportation that wouldn't get me at least an hour late (and the show was only two hours, so I would have missed at least half of it), she found me a cab that could get me there in an hour.  It was more expensive than I would have liked, but I'd been looking forward to this concert for weeks, and really wanted to get there, so I paid it, and I got there only fifteen minutes late.

It was Easter, so the show wasn't full, and I got my seat upgraded so I could sit closer.  The concert was basically music from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra set to a theme montages from the films, narrated by the actor who played C-3PO.  It was so awesome listening to the Imperial March played live, and the theme music, and so much more that I recognized and loved.  Live!  Exactly what I'd been waiting for.  I did not regret rushing to get there.

I especially did not regret it after seeing how long it took to get back home.  Had the Jubilee line been working, it would have taken me forty-five minutes.  Instead, it took two hours and fifteen minutes, which really emphasized that I could not have taken public transportation to the show without missing two-thirds of it.

But I got back, and ate dinner, and spent time online, and went to bed, peaceful in the knowledge that Monday was a bank holiday and therefore I could spend it doing absolutely nothing.