Returning

Back at home in London and I’m not doing my morning walk, even though I used to do it before we went down to the island for this month. I’m not sure why, but I don’t really have the motivation. 

Today was a relatively easy day. I did not go in the office but worked from home and there were only a couple of calendared meetings which allowed me to get on with writing requirements for other things. Our status review meeting seems a little pointless until we have much more detail about what we’re going to do. This is one of the places where we’re going to miss our deaprating colleagues the most. 

My train back south left Raynes Park at 4:55pm and with changes at Surbiton and  Woking got me into Portsmouth Harbour at 7:15 pm. It was timed to meet the 7:20 pm sailing to Ryde and we made it. I have actually found these journeys to be the most stressful of all of them: the tight connections at Portsmouth Harbour being the most important transfers on the journey and therefore, the last 10 minutes of the train ride on approach to the harbour, being the most nerve wracking. Are we going to make it?  I have always allowed a buffer zone of one ferry but I am still checking my watching constantly.

The connection at Ryde Pier head for the train back to Shanklin is always easy when the trains are actually running. Once I’m actually on the Isle of Wight, it’s still about an hour until I get back to the Airbnb. The last bit is the steep climb up the hill which is not too bad when I’m not carrying luggage and it’s just my work backpack. it’s lovely to be back even in the dark. 

So far all the commutes that I’ve had to make back to the office have been relatively straightforward. That bodes well for the rest of the stay.