I had to come home today. Back home to one of the many places, rooms, apartments, houses that I have the privilege of calling home. Perhaps I shouldn't write at night, because I always feel so sentimental in the evenings! My mind is simply ready to explore all the thoughts that it was fed but didn't have time to taste during the day. I think though that that highlights the best way to live: you have to let your mind think during the day, because when you get to the end, and the moon has overtaken the sun, you don't have the energy to wonder.
I woke up and wandered downstairs this morning. Jules made me a lovely cup of coffee and then we all went to get ready for the day. I stand by the idea that you should ALWAYS pack the night before, and so this morning all I had to do was get dressed, brush my hair (which reminds me, I need to do that now!), and pack away my pyjamas. And Toby. Can't forget Toby! Then I went downstairs again and we ate another yummy breakfast. I always love eating other people's home-made granola, but when it comes time for me to make it, I usually don't, so I have been eating raw rolled oats for the last 31 days! We could have stayed there sitting and chatting for the entire day, but unfortunately I had to go back to London! I mean, it's not that I didn't want to go back, it's just that I wanted to stay there, with them!
We made it to the station in good time, and I used my electronic ticket - on my phone - to swipe in. I get great joy out of using my phone as a ticket, for some odd reason! I knew I was supposed to be in Coach B, because it's the quiet coach, and that's what I'd asked for, but I couldn't remember which way the train was going and so I didn't know which end of the platform to sit on. If I'd thought ahead, I would have asked Jules and Brian, but I didn't and so I found myself having to make the great trek down to coach B, right at the other end of the train. When I was at about coach D, the conductor walking past looked at me as if I were possibly a little mad, and told me to just get on the train and then walk down the passage to wherever I needed to be.
"Oh," I said, the air heaving in and out my lungs, "that makes sense! Thank you!" and I promptly hopped on the train. My only issue with that is that it does cause congestion in the narrow doorways, but I suppose that since the train ride is an hour long, it doesn't really make much of a difference if it takes you three minutes extra to get to your seat. Or you could just be prepared and know where your coach is going to be! Either way, I learned an important lesson and from now on I will know what to do! I've tried to cultivate that spirit of enjoying travel since I became a long distance traveler last year. Now even if something goes wrong, or someone tells me I can't sit here, or I need to move there, I try to just do what I'm told, follow the signs and instructions, and not take offence. I think really that that last point is the most important one: don't take offense! It's something Mum has being trying to teach me for the longest time, but it's only recently (the last few years) started to sink in. Other people's bad auras are not worth absorbing. It is highly likely that, after the journey, you will never see said BAP (Bad Aura Person) ever again, and so it is better for you and the general aura of the vehicle if you simply say no when their negativity comes knocking! Don't sacrifice your enjoyment for a BAP!
That being said, I had to struggle to maintain my calm when an unruly posse of strident-voiced teenagers entered the QUIET coach. I wrote this when they came in:
PEOPLE ARE
MAKING NOISE IN THE QUIET COACH>>>>>>>>>!!!!!!! SHUT
UP
They didn't. But I was determined not to let them spoil my enjoyment of the journey, and so I plugged my earphones into my computer and opened up some music. Unfortunately, the sound wasn't working for some unknown reason, and so once again I lumped the metaphorical ice onto my seething spirit and cooled down, or calmed down - whichever you choose. I transferred the earphones to the phone and all was well. The only problem is that I don't have much music on my phone, and so over the course of my travels, I have become very well-acquainted with Granny's "Cream of Country" CD, which I have on my phone. At least the music is good!
I got home safe and sound and made myself some lunch. It was not much to speak of compared to the lunches I'd been spoilt with over the weekend, but hey, hummus toast is good for you, and you can't go wrong with lettuce, carrot, and tomato. I even put some salt on the tomato, which always makes a huge difference. I didn't want to sit inside and waste the day (though it was overcast and not at all a sit outside sort of day!) and so I took my plate and a little flask of tea and my book-bag down to the Floating Park place I discovered the other day. It's the one that I thought you had to pay to go onto, next to the weird Scandinavian restaurant. You don't have to pay. I sat by the water and ate my eats, drank my drink, and read my reads. I'm still going with Tuscan Living if anyone was wondering what I'm reading.
My leisurely repose was disrupted by a loud quack just below my right elbow, and I looked over the edge of the floating park thing (it's basically a big raft) to find a mummy duck and eight little ducklings powering by. Of course I dropped everything and watched the ducklings and their mumma duck intently for the next ten minutes. They truly are the most delightful little creatures! I'm not such a fan of actual ducks, but when they're babies, they're precious! It was obviously nearly lunch time because pretty soon a whole menagerie of water birds was floating by. They were mainly different families of ducks, but there was also a scary looking fishing bird which didn't eat the bread a kind lady was throwing into the water because he preferred to dive down into the murky depths and gobble up what I can only presume are invisible fish. Purposeful pigeons picked their way around me too, in the hopes of finding some food on land. They always remind me of pompous, self-important businessmen in grey morning suits making their way down the road to the office!
I didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon. I decided what to write about for my history essay and I Facebook-Messenger-called Mummy. But other than that, nothing to report! For supper, I embraced the spirit of adventure and made butter-bean and sweet potato "curry". I actually looked up a recipe for it, but since I only have the ingredients I have, recipes aren't much use except as an inspiration. So it is supposed to be a curry, but I don't have nay of the stuff that makes a curry a curry, and thus it is a butter-bean and sweet potato dish! I put in some garlic and tomato and tomato paste and the ever-present carrots, a splash of salt here and there, some of my infallible spice from Waitrose (which goes with EVERYTHING!) and that was that. Heaped on a bed of lettuce with freshly chopped spring onions and coriander to serve. It was incredibly delicious and I am proud to say that I scraped that bowl clean! Also, now I have yummy lunch for tomorrow!
A lovely day!
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