Back to London

My last two day in Chelmsford were fairly uneventful, apart from a short drive and the rain, which finally arrived. The grey clouds had been looming overhead for the last few days but finally the broke. Housebound, I packed my things and went back to work on fixing my friend's father's computer. Vista, you fiend! Thankfully, my suspicion that it was a Windows service, and not a third party one, was correct. Eventuating in a computer that no longer froze after boot and also worked nicely with the TV. Alas, my geeky ways have followed me across the planet.... though I do suspect that was predetermined as I had set up my desktop to be remotely accessible, controllable and even bootable...

Moving on. I ventured onto the train platform of Chelmsford Station, navigating my way through the old brick building, to find myself an elevator. I was, after all, not up to the challenge of multiple flights of stairs with wet sneakers and about thirty-five kilograms of luggage. The train arrived shortly after and I finally made my way back to the sprawl of London.

I disembarked at Stratford Station and made my way to the underground. Keeping an eye out for gates to pass through to make use of my ticket. Eventually, I found myself on the tube heading to my destination of Canada Waters, without passing ticketing gates. Unfortunately, this meant I'd have to exit without actually buying, or tagging on for, a ticket... Hoping my Oyster card would be rejected, and that I'd be able to claim that I was a newbie tourist at the ticket office, I made my way towards the gate. Surprisingly, tagging off did work and the gate swung open towards the grey streets of London. (Actually, it was more just the usual station lobby of stairs and escalators, but that doesn't sound as dramatic.) My Oyster card cried as the tagging finished, for it had been drain of about £4, about three times the normal trip cost.

Exiting the station, I was relieved to see other Asians about and not just those of the Indian sub-continent. My time in Chelmsford made me wonder if there were other yellow folk about, but perhaps the population in Chelmsford is much more akin to that of the population of Asians in Ipswich... amongst other similarities...

Three turns and a block later, I arrived at my new temporary home. Greeted with not only two brilliant chefs and a hot meal, but a classical guitar in need of some strumming. Perhaps tomorrow I'll greet my two-month old first cousin once removed, for she was asleep... mostly.

I'll have to show her Betelgeuse when she's older too.
Edwin
2011-07-16/17