hail the conquering train surfer

I finally figured out how to use the train advance ticket site here! Yay! This is the fruit of my morning's labours: hours spent figuring out the UK website, thetrainline.com, which helps you find cheap tickets. I was told it was 'extremely fiddly' and I realize now, that was a complete understatement.

But the whole experience wasn't without frustration. I was leery of actually buying my ticket online because they charge you $5 to use a credit card (!) and then my credit card company will charge me 3% *on top of that*--effectively erasing some of my hard-won profit of finding the bloody ticket online in the first place. And *then* you can't even get the tickets mailed; you have to pick them up yourself. Supposedly from a ticket machine, which I can't access because my credit card doesn't have that special Euro chip.

So. I went to the ticket office in person tonight to buy the tickets I had found online.

I explained to the nice agent that I had spent some time researching it, and I thought I might have figured out the cheapest 'advance singles.' Unfortunately she didn't believe me. So, she tried to sell me several tickets priced at two or three times what I had found, myself. She tried to tell me that my itinerary would cost me 80 GBP, instead of 35 GBP.

I was like, 'Yeah, I saw those expensive tickets when I was researching it. So, do you think you could check the 9.06 am train from Paddington to Exeter because I think it has an Advance Single left for 22.50GBP. Please.'

Finally she figured out that the itinerary I wanted was in fact the cheapest and fastest route. But it took a while, and the queue had begun to line up behind me. I started to feel bad for causing trouble. I was like, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help." At last I even said "Thank you for being so patient." And she didn't say *anything* back! She didn't even look at me. I knew what that meant. It meant, "Thank you for making me obsolete."

Sorry! Sorry I tried to get the cheapest ticket!! Sorry there are search engines out there that do what they're supposed to! Sorry...

But it's true that, in the end, I am not sorry that I got the price I wanted for the journey I wanted.

And now I really have *no* excuse for not writing the conference paper!!!

Sleep, bus fares, and Eleanor of Acquitaine

I hate it when you wake up too early and can't go back to sleep. My early hours are never productive. For example it's 9am and I just spent 2 hours surfing, searching for cheap fares to Oxford and London on the train and bus. And one advantage of lots of public transport is that you can always get there from here. But the problem with that is, it will always be CHEAPER by some other route which you forgot to research, which drives the OCD part of me COMPLETELY NUTS and probably exacerbates my insomnia.

What we need to learn to do to combat the problem of sleep is perhaps to *read as we sleep*. Then we could be productive without even thinking about it. Like the fabled Eleanor of Acquitaine, reading the Bible as she sleeps:



Except that she's not asleep, she's dead. But Eleanor, we love you anyway, and you look great on a tomb with a book. How many people can do that? Thus ends my train of thought.

Back to work

The past week I've been on 'vacation'--so, no work at all; no libraries, no emails, no reading; just EL visiting and us doing lots of tourism. I got some satisfaction out of taking pictures this week, and especially yesterday when I was in Bath, but the prospect of leaving that behind is making me feel seriously dreary right now. I won't--can't--succumb to the loneliness, but it's tough.

Condolences

I'm thinking of you Spark. Lots of love to you and your family. It's a lovely picture of your granddad you put up. I hope your grandmother can enjoy some of the good memories she has and your family can share them with her.

In England again

When I got here a month ago it was such a novelty to be back in England, with all the trees leafy and the flowers blooming, and birds singing at 4am in the morning--don't they EVER SLEEP?? And lots of pork pies and gammon in the supermarkets and not being able to turn left at a red light--magical. I got to relive a bit of this novelty this weekend when my uncle, aunt, and mother turned up to visit. I could play tourist/guide and guess at which college I was standing in front of. I'm finally starting to know my way around after a month here. This was helpful as my uncle had an allergic reaction and we had to find some anti-hystamines--quick--at 4pm on a Sunday, which meant, everything was closed, including most pharmacies!! This (Cambridge) is a university town but it's also basically a small country town, and Sunday opening is pretty sparse. I am trying not to resent it.

It was also amusing yesterday to watch drunk rich kids--sorry, I know they're not all rich, but they do rather sound it--stagger around shoeless and shirtless this weekend in Cambridge, before/after the May Balls they go to. Some of them look like they are having a lot of fun. Doing things like singing 'Scarborough Fair' while standing on a bridge with only one shoe, and gazing passionately at the swampy river, as if they would so like to have a swim...

The other night I went to a symphony and lecture by David Crystal. I liked that his lecture was a delicate send-up of the entire event (which was commemorating an anniversary) as being empty and pointless. I was kind of wondering what he would say, since what's the point of speaking at something as cliched as an anniversary ... but expecting that at least it would be entertaining, since it's David Crystal. What was strange for me was the reception before hand. I know two (2) people in Cambridge by name, so it's not even like I can count them on one hand, and neither of them were there at the reception (silly me; I could have invited at least one) so I was basically wandering around in a crowd of people looking for free food and hoping not to stand out. It reminded me of a U of T gathering but lots of English people and no-one I knew, or could hope to know. I went in the washroom for 5 or 10 minutes but that seemed weird, so eventually I just went and sat down next to David Crystal and watched a woman from Hong Kong try to make conversation with her idol.

I don't mind not knowing people, I mean, I'm not here to make friends, and I should be (or am) doing my work anyway half the time. But I still get a bit jealous--people form such strong bonds in school, and I hear snatches of their conversations as they're cycling or walking around town, and it just reminds me that my friends are not here. Which I feel a bit sad about.