On the Plus-Side...

...what a great turn of phrase, the sort of thing I can hear my Granny repeating an awful lot. "On the plus-side...at least their eldest turned out ok.", "On the plus-side...at least nobody was in the sofa-bed at the time.", "On the plus-side..."

So I had my own plus-side experience today. I had the best laid plans to leave the office at 5 tonight. Sadly 5 became 7, and was soon to become 8 until, on the plus-side (not the main one - a kind of sub-plus), one of my colleagues very kindly texted to say that trains would cease to go south from Clapham at 7.30. So I bolted to the station, only to find that, on the down side (+1+-1 = parity, and why is it down-side and not minus-side?) the train was delayed by half an hour. Booooo!

Anyway, I eventually got on the train having chatted for a while with a nice chap with long hair - plus (the chat, not the hair) - and we made steady progress towards sunny Brighton. However - minus (again, parity) - having sat at Gatwick station for 20 minutes, I figured something was amiss (clever, me). Turns out the train in-front has broken down (plus-side, I wasn't on it). So, after 30 minutes, a lady down the carriage hollers "Anyone want to share a cab to Brighton?". "Yes!", I counter-holler.

Long story short. No cabs for 2 hours (minus-side, parity)....but, there was one other option....yes, you've guessed it, National Express!!!! An hour later and we're safely deposited in Brighton. Woohooo (plus, plus, plus). Plus, the posse of four intrepid cab/coach-seekers, got along swimmingly (very nice people, but at no point did anyone mention their name, otherwise they'd've featured). There was one bit to the story about a guy who'd been stuck at Gatwick Airport for 3 days, only to board his flight, get to 30,000 feet and be told that the Spanish air traffic controllers were on strike, and they'd have to go back to Gatwick (big minus for him...a small amount of which rubbed off on me, but not too much).

Plus, I got fish and chips when I got back to Brighton. Plus, the cats had a bit too.

What a smashing evening.