Underground - June 29/30 2002

Yesterday I got up at 6 ish, I wrote up my entry for the day before
(28) and then set about making sure I had all the stuff I needed to
take such as poems and gifts for ... I'd actually made a note about
that before I went to bed Friday night, even being online till midnight
seventeen. I played a few Jam songs, including Going Underground. Then
armed with a holdall and a lot of nerves went down the station. I got
the 9.17 into London and amused myself on the train reading Maccas
poetry and some Brian Patten stuff too. Next to me were a family of
Northerners going up to London and taking a picture of themselves by a
sign saying Fenchurch Street so they could add it to their monopoly
board. I was feeling helpful and tried to take this old bloke's bag
onto the train at my station, but he was from another country and said
he could manage.

When I bought my ticket at Tower Hill, I found out that the line was
closed between Farringdon and Baker Street so I had no way to get to St
Pancras. Until, that is someone pointed out that I could go to Monument
and get the Northern Line (remember this its important) to KIngs Cross
St Pancras. I hurried like a mole along several corridors and found the
platform for the tube to St Pancras. I come out of the tube and there
is this huge Rasta selling a Big Issue. I gave him ?2 for a copy, and
asked him the way to St Pancras, which he told me.

St Pancras is like a victorian hospital. Inside there are exactly two
shops and a ticket hall that hasn't changed since before the first
world war. I asked at the Information Centre about my train, I was
booked on the noon one you may recall and I decided to get the eleven
o'clock one. When the train came in on Platform 4 I rushed over to the
Information Centre again and asked if it really was a proper train to
the North as it only had two carriages. I was told that trains come in
all sizes.

I got on and after a bit foun d that I was in a reserved seat but the
lady who had reserved it didn't want to sit in it as it was too cramped
so I could stay where I was. Opposite me was a young mother and her
partner and their baby. Baby wanted feeding so they gave it too bottles
of milk which seemed a lot, and baby cried a bit then fell asleep. They
got off the train before I did. I looked at the window, and saw a
battlefield of abandoned cars, there were at least ten or fifteen
dumped about, and it looked like they had been in a big battle or
summat.

I get to Market Harborough where I am staying for the weekend. I get a
message from ... and its about ... unable to go. I have to tell ...
which i then spend twenty minutes carefully typing up, I am sure if I
went on a course I would be faster but I dont text well at
present.

I walked into town and recreating the words of another Jam song, found
myself in a Strange Town I bought an A to Z guidebook except in my case
I bought a street plan from the first Newsagents I found. Steve Harley
and Cockney Rebel were playing tonight, I saw.

The town centre is part pedestrianised and is basically a war memorial
with four roads leading to a square, its quite open and quite clean
too. I asked someone the way to the Union Inn, and checked in without
much fuss in my motel style room, very nice with two beds.

I had a Roast Beef dinner for lunch and a pint of Guinness. Then I went
back to town and went in Ottakars Books to look for a Zelazny but they
had Bradbury and Wells so I bought them instead. I then hiked back to
the hotel and found that the t shirt i had brought for the evening was
too small even though the label was XL. I read some of Fahrenheit 451
and had a coffee, then put on the tshirt.

Back to town I went into Enigma and got myself a Guinness and waited.
Then some people came in and I went out, I went over to the war
memorial to collect my thoughts as I think I realised it was the people
I was meeting. I then went back in and immediately went over and
introduced myself to M and by then I knew that these were the friends I
had come all that way to see.

Liana was in a good mood and I was pleased that Martin made it. I said
hi to Stormy, Dave, Fish, Robert, Hox, Andy, and Helen during the
course of the evening. We had a really good time chatting away.

I was sad that .... wasnt there so I rang ... and told them about whats
been happening and what the town looked like etc, and then had a lot
more beer, probably more than was good for me. We raided an off license
and made off with a lot of Stella, before trying to thumb a lift in a
lorry. Then we wnet back to Fishs for poetry and everyone sampled the
Slivovice and the food. I fell asleep later and got a cab back to my
hotel. Quite tired fell asleep almost straightaway.

Woke up this morning at 7am having had the prescience to set my alarm.
I had a shower in freezing cold water as I dint understand how it
worked and then got dressed and had a huge english breakfast in the
hotel while trying to message people on the phone. I wandered into town
having paid my bill and sat in the square for a long time. I was still
seeing double at times and had to collect my thoughts. I walked to the
station and got the train home. I listened to half the world cup final
on the radio before I lost reception on the train.

I got to St Pancras and bought another Big Issue going on the tube, but
this time Monument is not on the Northern Line. I could have sworn it
was and thats why I said about it being important because for a brief
moment I thought I had entered a parallel universe where Monument is
actually on the Northern Line.

I finally got home at three having taken two hours to travel a quarter
of the distance I travelled from MH. I was quite knackered and had
written some stuff about my experiences here. I went online and posted
a new set.

I talked to ... on chat again. Which rather weirdly leads me to say
that I am now typing this entry and i am about to post it, which is
uncanny almost spooky as I am now writing about what I am
writing.......