A Load of Bull

We espied this magnificent 'recycled' animated bull in Birmingham New Street as we passed through the station en route to Oxford today.  Not the best of journeys:  four carriages instead of eight on the leg from Leeds to Birmingham; an equally busy train from Birmingham to Oxford with no view; twenty minutes sitting outside the station waiting for a broken train to be fixed on our platform; the most annoying guy sitting behind us on the bus gabbling nonstop in to his mobile phone; the driver of the bus getting out to chat to a passenger half way out of town, would we never arrive!  Suffice to say we are here now and spent a lovely couple of hours collecting Euan from school and in his company before bedtime.  We are both ready to go the same way now!

On a positive note we were able to help four American tourists who did not understand the system be reassured about their three leg journey.  They hadn't realised they needed to book seats so we got them to sit in ones around us until it was clear whether or not the reservations were going to be used.  From the ticket office in York they thought they had to change five times when in fact she had simply got them the cheapest seats by breaking down the journey.  They were mightily relieved to be told they could stay on the train to Birmingham.  Tony and I had been seated apart so I passed an enjoyable two hours talking with Theresa from Portland, Oregon, whilst he passed an equally enjoyable two hours talking with his fellow passenger who was one of the few survivors who did National Service on Easter Island when they tested the atom bomb, some scary stories!