Arctic Roll in Solihull

Well yesterday did not disappoint me.  Sun, sun sun, then the snow came and it was freezing. Made for a nice picture, with the flakes dancing around in the icy winds and another pause moment.  I do seem to be getting used to ‘pauses’ which is a symptom of not working.  You can actually see that the grass is green and as yesterday provided, when it’s white.  I promise to try hard to get a job when I return.

Finally cracked the Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) application.  I think their title is awesome.  They sell rail tickets, they provide food on them, they differentiate tourists from ‘generals’, it is a massive organisation and of course it is Indian.  It took me 5 days and a huge amount of pleasant email exchanges to register.  At one point I thought they were going to refer me to talk to someone in a call centre.  If the Call Centre had been in the UK that would have been funny.  Well I am registered.  My long awaited ticket to Agra is however…. ‘waitlisted’.  I am privileged to have a waitlist number of WL1, the next in line, which at a deli counter in Sainsbury’s means that you are probably going to get the last piece of Game Pie.  Whatever, I digress, being WL1 means that someone needs to cancel before I can get on the train, so a waiting game, literally.  I guess my Sainsbury’s analogy was well thought through after all?  I probably need the Phileas Fogg travel logic of …”there must be another way to…”  Self note to checklist, how fast do Elephants travel?

So, India is now all arranged, hotels, flights and a return ticket from Agra, as long as I can get there.

The last days for packing have now arrived and the collation of all the paperwork and receipts that I have been randomly sending to my printer.  One final glance at the checklist is expected this morning to see whose birthdays are coming up in the next 3 months (family Dugdale and Beardmore’s, I do try but I am useless at the task, we all know that Sue was my social secretary as well as everything else) and to pick up those final essentials.

On essentials though one that I should mention.  My Bose Noise Cancellation Headphones are awesome.  Even without music you can cut out noise around you.  Essential? maybe not, but cool all the same.

I must admit to be looking forward to sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow sipping a bit of sinful nectar, as there will be no more that I can do that can’t or will have to be done from somewhere South East of Europe.