Saturday 29 October - Travel Market Rasen to London

Standing on the balcony to our room this morning I heard a couple of horses approaching.  Two horses with riders came by underneath, both wearing fluorescent yellow jackets to make them visible to vehicle drivers.  They had a small dog with them who also had an identically coloured high visibility jacket.
With a little time to spare before leaving for London, Brian took us to a chocolate factory in an old prisoner of war camp.  The selection of chocolate was very wide and there were free tastings, as much as you wanted.  We then came back into town and had a final drink at the Aston Arms before going to the station.

Aston Arms, Market Rasen

The silhouette was produced by a local arts group.

There is now an indicator which shows whether the trains are on time.  There was time to admire the silhouettes that a local arts group has prepared.  Brian has made up a very detailed history of the station together with some pictures that are very popular.

Right on time the crossing warning system changed from green to red indicating that the train was coming and we had a good ride to Newark North Gate although the one car train was full and standing.

Our train to London was only 6 minutes late but the car we should have been in, with seat reservations, was locked shut because the doors wouldn't work and the crew told us to get in where we could - in other words bugger off.  We did manage to get seats no thanks to the crew.  What a contrast to the trip down two days ago.

We met a pleasant couple on the train.  They lived in Harrogate and had expected a seat reservation from Leeds.  They won't travel again by train for a long time.  On arrival at Kings Cross we had to negotiate our way through the ticket barriers so it was completely chaotic.  My case was trapped by the barrier and had to be released by a barrier person.

This display at the Tate is called "I Love Kings Cross and Kings Cross Loves Me"   I certainly don't love Kings Cross and I am sure it doesn't love me if the way it bit my case and wouldn't let go is anything to go by.

Because most of the Underground shut down over the weekend we took a 205 bus from Kings Cross to Paddington.  This worked very well and we checked in to the Indigo hotel in good time.

Our train to Kings Cross was the last one that weekend that would be going directly to London.  After the passage of this one the line was to be closed for maintenance.  Later trains were to be diverted via Lincoln which puts about two hours onto the journey and enrages the people of Lincoln when the level crossing over the High Street has to be closed frequently for the passage of trains.  I have come to the conclusion that one should only travel in Britain during the week, on Saturdays and Sundays large parts of the transport network are closed down for maintenance.

We took a bus to and from Selfridges to get some teas.  This particular bus was so crowded that there were seven standing upstairs.   The store was packed and I shudder to think what it will be like at Christmas. However, Mary found what she was looking for and there were lots of free chocolates being handed out.

Mary wanted fish and chips so we found a local shop.  The fish and cod roe was good but the chips were very soggy - the Advocate Arms would have done a better job.