Recently, we went to Coventry. I was looking forward to the Cathedral, but in the morning I did a stupid thing.
When growing up, my Gran, with whom I lived, taught me to use ear buds. Modern thinking has changed and gradually, so did I. But this particular morning, I was cleaning the outside of my ear and the bud slipped in. I quickly pulled it out, but the end had got detached. I managed to get a bit out, but the rest was out of reach.
Mrs S and her folks were there for a funeral, so I bid them farewell and grabbed a number 9 bus from outside the purple hotel to the bus station thinking I'd head to the Cathedral and see a doc at home the next day.
When I got to the bus station, my ear was aching a little, so I looked up the nearest walk-in centre. It was less than half a mile away, so I wandered over there and waited. I got there around 11.45
As is the case, you wait around a lot in these places, but I had an appointment to meet Mrs S, who was dropping off her folks at the railway station at 15.10.
At 13.20, I got called. The nurse asked me what I had done. I answered, "Something which someone who is nearly 60 should know better not to do!" Any way, a quick fishing expedition with some long noses tweezers and it was out.
At 13.30, I was walking out in search of the Cathedral. I remembered seeing a sign for it on the way out of the bus station, so headed back that way. There is a dual purpose cycle/ pedestrian pathway there and you take your life into your hands. One side (rough stone) is meant for bikes and the other (paving slabs) for walkers. But the cyclists don't give a hoot. And they all seem to rise these electric bikes that do 30mph. Crazy.
Anyway, as I got close to the bus station, I noticed something I missed on the way out.
I have killed two birds with one picture here.
The transport museum in the background and Sir Frank Whittle in the fore.
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I shall have to bribe Mrs S to take me back to Coventry to see the Transport Museum another time. If only I hadn't slipped with that earbud!
So I got to the Cathedral and managed to take a few more pictures before my phone, which is long suffering (I drop it a lot because my condition makes me clumsy) shut down on 28% battery.
The old building.
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The new, built (or at least commenced) in 1956.
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The old again, looking the other way.
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The stained glass window.
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I restarted the phone and it kept shutting down, so now I was without phone to take messages from Mrs S or use the SatNav to get to the station. By now, I was cutting it fine to walk to the station, so I walked through to the shopping precinct and found a bus stop. Lo, there was a timetable for the number 9, and I was just in time for the next one! Yay!
Except it was late. Boo!
It came eventually and I hopped on and off a stop or two later at the station.
Coming to the first set of barriers I met a very jolly bloke and I thought my luck was in.
I told him I was having a mare of a day. "So am I he said", cheerfully.
"I'm here to meet my missus who is dropping off her folks for the train to Euston. "
"But I can't find her and my phone's gone dead."
I gave a suitable pause, hoping he might offer to send her a text for me.
"Are there any phones in here?"
"Not any more...", he said, still cheerful.
"Any outside, nearby?"
"Ditto", he replied.
"Have you just got one car park?"
He laughed quietly. "No. Several. It depends which one she's gone to."
I was thinking what to do.
"Can I buy a platform ticket?"
Then he laughed louder, but not mockingly. "This isn't Brief Encounter!"
"I'll let you through."
So I went down to platform 2 and found her folks. As I was saying goodbye, a message came on the tannoy, "Could Simon make his way to the main entrance to meet with his wife?"
I looked across the track and there was Mrs S waving like a loon and pointing frantically at her watch.
I walked as quickly as I could back up the stairs, across and down the other side, as fast as my broken-but-now-mended-ankle could carry me.
As we caught the lift, she explained how initially she had to park in a 5 minute spot, eject her folks then move to a 20 minute space and we only had a minute and a half left to get out of the car park. We managed it with seconds to spare. A real Dick Barton moment though!
We then went back to the city centre to see more of the Cathedral and Mrs S took more pictures for me.
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After leaving Coventry, we headed for Canley services, as they had some free Instavolt chargers.
Had a bit of service station food, always good (well if you're at Tebay, it is genuinely good!) and then headed North on the M6.
Bought some stuff from the Waitrose there and subsequently found it in our local Waitrose and it was very nearly half the price!
Anyway, when we joined the M6 out of Canley, there was an almighty hold-up. Some of it, the gantries said, was due to a car fire (there was nothing when we got there), but most of it was due to idiots clogging up the lanes for destinations they didn't want because they wanted to cut in front of everyone in the lanes they did want. So frustrating when drivers do that. So we ended up waiting an age because there was a massive stationary queue of traffic, most of which didn't even want to go out way. Grrrrr!
Also, drivers who think it's fine to speed along in lanes that have a WHACKING GREAT RED X above them. The badges most noted doing this were Mercedes, BMW and Audi.
You know how sometimes you wish you had done something slightly different?
If we had gone back to the hotel, there was a high speed charger at a BP station next to there and we could then have entered the route home and avoided the mess on the motorway.
C'est la vie, I suppose...
Edited to add information.
