I left Blackpool on the Friday & made it to Aylesbury in pretty good time thanks to a lucky connection at Preston where the train arrived as I got to the appropriate platform.
The reason for the trip was a birthday BBQ “Sausage Party” for Becs on the Saturday, with the idea that people would bring weird sausages. I managed to miss the fancy dress element, but was reminded in time.
Maybe wires got crossed, or maybe the folks I was with just ran with a theme, but that theme was ’90s. It’s slightly worrying that all I needed to do to hit a 90s theme was out on a bandana & tie my flannel shirt around my waist.
I didn’t take any pictures of the party, but I did take one of a cafe breakfast that day, so here it is
It was a fun day. 🙂
The very next day I went to Aberdeen, which was a mistake in terms of planning. Should have booked a sleeper trip instead for a few days later so that I could enjoy the weekend, instead of leaving very early to get a train to London so that I could not quite run but certainly walk at my best speed to get to the unreserved carriage in the hope of getting a seat
The booking websites were uncooperative, and I ended up with a ticket to Aberdeen but no seat reservation, which isn’t ideal. I got a bit lucky when it came to boarding; A family with a million suitcases was blocking the closest door to the unreserved carriage, so I went to the other one. Turns out only half of the carriage was unreserved, but my route let me walk through the reserved bit to get to the unreserved, where there were still seats free because nobody could get to them through the million-suitcase-family.
The trip back to Aylesbury from Canterbury was more or less uneventful, and fitted into the middle of a working Thursday. Going to try not to do that again, because it was kind of disruptive, but it worked out.
Visiting a post office with a giant-ass pack isn’t as fun as it looks in travel advertising. It’s a bit tricky navigating the aisles.
The same goes for quaint little souvenir shops where the till is right at the back.
Staying in the guest quarters at Chateau Guineapig while I’m in Aylesbury, as one does when one is visiting Buckinghamshire. The vague plan was to rethink the packing/bag system, to marvel at The Glorious Coronation Of King Charles III, and most importantly to celebrate a birthday.
I tried really hard to take the Coronation seriously, and mostly succeeded. It was a big ol’ spectacle of a thing, as you’d expect. The Rockwood decorated with bunting, flags, and plastic hats, as demonstrated below.
The sudden shifts between “For all people of all faiths” and “Church of England above all else” were jarring. Bit of a mixed message there.
Oaths to support and maintain the church administered by the representative of that church have a certain “maintain the job security” feel to them.
The bit where screens are brought in reminded me of the “23-19” scene from Monsters Inc.
Or for another angle, any comedy bath bit, where increasingly ridiculous objects are passed over the screen or draped across the top rail as storage.
King Charles looked a whole lot happier by the time the coronation concert happened the next day. There are probably expectations of being formal during your coronation, plus there’s the whole “here’s your late mother’s job” aspect, so it’s understandable, but it was nice to see him laughing at a Kermit the Frog bit.
K’s birthday celebrations went well, possibly in two parts; I’m not sure whether the Friday trip to a fancy rooftop cocktail bar was part of the festivities or not. Probably was.
The official Birthday event was slightly re-vamped due to a whole bunch of rain the previous day, but went well, apart from a couple of unplanned balloon detonations. It might have been better if one of those hadn’t been confetti-filled, but you’ve got to accept that sort of thing when playing tennis with a balloon in a room with a textured ceiling. ( It rained during the coronation, and a commentator did go so far as to relate all of the other coronations where it had been noted to rain, as some form of Coronation Tradition, and not the fact that said coronations happen in England )
Bag re-thinking happened. Big Red is good for lugging stuff around, but because it’s basically three compartments, getting at anything involves moving almost everything, and it makes it tricky to actually live out of. Attempt number 2 uses two bags, a 35l sports-adjacent backpack with a laptop sleeve & a 22l clamshell carry-on backpack with a laptop sleeve; I’ve divided things roughly into daily clothing + personal electronics in the 22, and work things and occasional items into the 35. We’ll see how it goes.
I discovered, long after I got Big Red, that there are backpacks made with the digital nomad, or at least the more urban traveller, in mind. I may end up getting one, but I’m not yet convinced that this travelling while working thing is something I’ll enjoy long-term, so I’m a bit reluctant to buy anything just yet.
After A+K talked me down from a spot of panic when I figured out that my planned next destination wasn’t going to work because the hotels filled up very quickly, they pointed me in the general direction of the seaside town of Bournemouth, so that’ll be the next stop.
