Crowne Plaza staircase

Oh my, what a day!

Overnight my colleague RR sent me the latest version of the grant proposal that I had supplied to him on Friday night. I spent four hours this morning in my hotel room editing it further. Then I shut down my machine, grabbed my belongings, and ordered a taxi so that I could go and  meet my friend S at the airport for our afternoon of fun together.

Disaster 1 was that S's flight was heavily delayed due to fog. The service was so late that the plan for us to travel together to Leeds was abandoned. My ticket from Liverpool to Leeds was only valid for the train at 15:32. I left the airport before S's flight had even taken off from the tarmac on the Isle of Man.

Disaster 2 was that soon after I left my hotel room I lost all my work on the grant proposal that I completed this morning. Where it went I have no idea. It may just be the case that I didn't save the file, although I thought I was saving it regularly as I went along.

Disaster 3 actually took place on 31st January, the day that I bought all my train tickets for my 24 hour trip around the north of England. I discovered this at Leeds when I noticed that my ticket to Edinburgh said that I had a reservation on the 18:08 train, whereas the board was displaying details of a train that left at 18:05. When I questioned this at the customer services desk the staff explained that the Sunday service leaves at five past the hour, and the weekday one at eight minutes past. I checked my ticket again. It was dated for a journey on 31st January!

The good news:

1. I saw S for 5-6 minutes at Leeds when we both changed trains. It was lovely to see her, even for that tiny amount of time.
2. I finished the grant proposal while travelling.
3. The lovely guard on the Leeds to Edinburgh service was extremely sympathetic when I confessed that my ticket was invalid. He let me off any excess fare, no questions asked :-)

My blip is of the staircase at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, taken at breakfast time this morning.

Exercise today: none.