48 hours ago, I was looking forward to rounding off the
week, with a day out in
Bath. The
occasion was another
“Proper Day Out,” in the company of a few select members
of the
Tapatalk - Beer & Pubs’ Forum, and involved visiting a handful of
Bath’s finest pubs, including the legendary
Star Inn, home of
Draught Bass
served direct from a jug.
As sometimes happens with the best laid plans, it seemed
like nature had other ideas, because when I mentioned the trip, to a couple of
work colleagues, they looked at me rather skeptically, and asked if I’d seen
the weather forecast for
Friday. Admittedly, I had been keeping an eye on the
forecast, and saw there was another named storm
(Eunice), due to hit the south
of the country, on
Friday, but like many of these warnings, paid it little
heed. Far too often, these events are beefed up, out of all proportion, by the
news media.
Not so, in this case, because mid-morning on
Thursday, the
storm was upgraded, with a rare red warning given.
Mrs PBT’s wasn’t at all keen
on me travelling, and after checking the websites for the train companies whose
services I would be using, neither would I. Both train operators would be
operating a much-reduced service, and with
50 mph speed restrictions in place,
the return train journey was starting to look untenable.
With one prominent participant also pulling out, I also
decided to follow suit, and then set about cancelling my rail ticket.
Unfortunately, as my pre-booked tickets were Advanced ones, cancellation wasn’t
possible, although time and/or date of travel were, providing the journey was
still between the original start and end points.
So, after a bit of faffing about which involved checking the
availability of other participants on the trip, I managed to re-schedule my
tickets for three weeks’ time. All I need do now, is return my current tickets,
by post, to the
Trainline and wait for them to process my refund.
Thursday threw up a cancellation of a different kind, this
time regarding our long-awaited cruise to various locations, scattered around
the Baltic Sea. Queen Victoria, the vessel we were due to sail on, will be
staying longer than scheduled in the Caribbean, ahead of some work that
requires dry-dock facilities. So as the ship will not be returning to full
service until 5th June, our voyage which commenced at the end of
April, has regrettably been cancelled.
That was the bad news, but the good news concerns a similar
cruise that embarks during the middle of
June, and as compensation for the
cancellation, we will receive a
110% credit against the deposit we have already
made. So, slightly longer to wait, but the weather should in theory be warmer,
and the seas calmer, two months further down the line.
Today, storm Eunice hit with a vengeance, and I’m certainly
glad not to have ventured outside. Given the ferocity of the winds, it was no
surprise that train services across a large swathe of southern England were
cancelled, so the decision to postpone the trip to Bath was definitely a wise
one. Son Matthew had to go into work, but reported that Tonbridge was extremely
quiet, and trade at his shop was very slack.
The day wasn’t entirely wasted, even though it wasn’t the
one I’d planned for, and instead of a pleasant saunter around some of
Bath’ s
finest pubs, I found myself stuck indoors, for the second
Friday on the trot. I
manged to complete the task I’d started during my period of enforced self-isolation
– that being sorting out various paperwork relating to pensions, health matters,
house, and home improvements, but it really wasn’t what I wanted to be doing.
We’ll see what the weekend brings and how much damage has
been done outside, as there’s at least one fence post requiring additional
support. I’d also like a pint or two at a local pub, as it’s a long time since
I enjoyed that particular pleasure.
4 comments:
Sounds like the storms weren't too bad to you, Paul. I also stayed indoors as the BBC told me to expect 70-80mph winds throughout most of the day. Perhaps our position at the foot of a hill helps, as the Sheffield clouds were moving quickly but we only got a stiff breeze.
See you in March.
The storm wasn't too bad for us, Martin, even though we live just off the brow of a hill. Southeastern cancelled all their trains though, due to the number of trees blown down onto the line.
Eileen's niece posted a video clip of a tree that had blown down into the car park, at the back of her apartment. No-one was hurt, and no vehicles damaged either, but we were amused by the presence of a trampoline that had taken off from someone's garden, and was lying on its side. These are the type of objects the authorities strongly advise people to secure, or remove before a storm arrives!
Looking forward to meeting up in March.
What's a photo of the White Hart in Shifnal doing in there?
Well spotted, Mudge. The reason I included that photo of Shifnal, was it depicted a wet and windy day. This was demonstrated by the well-known beer blogger and pub-ticker, leading the charge, whilst struggling to keep his red umbrella from blowing inside out.
For copyright reasons, I prefer, wherever possible, to use my own photos, but this sometimes means they are from previous situations, locations or they depict persons, both known, or unknown.
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