It is a week since writing, due to activity and the weather forcing a reorganisation of plans. A week tomorrow I did sit at a restaurant making notes about what happened to create the worst driving experience of my life as it took over four hours to drive from the home of a relative to where I was staying for two nights, a distance of under ten miles by the most direct route. A series of mistakes resulted in being caught up in a greater London gridlock, a snowmare. I have decide only to read those notes after I have completed the first draft.
The writing begins with leaving the Morden Travel Lodge on Monday morning 21st December 2009. I was visiting relatives to go out for lunch and decided to find the nearest Halford’s to ask if there was anyone available who could check my car radio as I had failed to locate the position of the fuse box which the manual stated should be found under the dashboard inside the car.
I had passed the Halford’s the previous evening without realising I had done so more intent to getting to the Travel Lodge. It is located at one end of the one way system, St Nicholas Way, going north towards London on the left hand side of Sutton High Street, but realised this after reloading the Halford’s site on the laptop and obtaining a map and then the route to the store having inserted the post code of the Travel Lodge. My first instinct had been to retrace the route of the previous evening which continues until reaching the end of the pedestrianised High Street and then turns left and heads south parallel to the pedestrian High Street and then to the set of junctions with roads to Carshalton, Wallington and Croydon or swings round and across the High Street with exits south to the M25, towards Epsom and back into St Nicholas Way for central London. The Halford site suggested a different approach which was to make a large detour towards Epsom and then back into Sutton and this I followed only to find that the car park entrance was not in St Nicholas Way but around the corner at what has now become the end of the pedestrianised High Street. Previously it was possible to continue a little further to The Grapes Public House where I would alight with the “aunties” on the 654 Trolley bus on the visits to Sutton during my childhood.
Unfortunately although the fuse was located by the available assistant it was not blown which suggested the problem was with a second fuse within the radio itself and the radio man was not due in until 11 would could make me late for my visit to relatives and going out for an early roast lunch. I decided not to go in search of the Halford’s at Croydon but have a coffee and look around Sutton, parking the car in the Times Square Car Park.
During the last decade before the death of my care mother and before the admission of my birth mother into residential care I would usually take the car to the park along St Nicholas Way next to the Cinema with a bridge overpass into the St Nicholas Shopping centre where there was a food court on the top third floor and where we go for a fish and chip lunch followed by a short walk around the shops. The Times Square is a small shopping precinct also reached by a bridge over the one way road system and then into the High Street crossing over to the other centre and taking escalators or a lift to the food court level where I was greeted with a surprise because although all the tables remained the fish and chip and the other two food outlets had disappeared and all that remained was a coffee and sandwich shop. This was a change which from the look of the area suggested it been made before the recession affected High Streets, everywhere.
After the drink I was surprised that the two bookshops did not have any of the writings of Galsworthy in their sections on the classics. Perhaps the Forsyte Saga books had only achieved fresh success over the years because of the two TV productions and film releases.
I then had my third meal in a restaurant within four days. A freshly sliced roast turkey dinner with the plate piled high with vegetables- roast potatoes, cauliflower cabbage, Brussels sprouts and some Swede. Missing were parsnips. This feast only cost £5 in Christmas week. I usually have the beef with a giant Yorkshire Pudding. There is a choice of sauces including apple and blackcurrant jelly as well as gravies, mustard and such like. Arriving early it was unusually quiet for the time of the year the year although several parties arrived later for the Christmas lunch with the same carvery roast as the main course.
As I was travelling only a few miles to the Travel Lodge there was plenty of opportunity for a long exchange of news with the relatives and encouraged that the roads had become clear with rain more than sleet, there was no indication of the horror to come.
It was moving rapidly towards dusk when the first flurries were noticed and settling, but these were not the cause of the problem which I shortly faced, along with the hundreds of thousands of car and bus using commuters, shoppers and travellers. Train and air travel in the greater London area and South East were also severely affected.
I hurriedly left, failing to realise that my mobile phone had slipped between the cushions on the settee. The quickest route was to have turned right across the traffic and then taken the couple of miles to Purley from there a few more miles to the Travel Lodge. However the traffic was solid in both directions, and moving very slowly so I elected to turn left and motor the mile or so to five ways road junction close to Waddon station turning right along Purley Way passing through the former Croydon Airport where the control Tower and a Battle of Britain plane are the only reminders of what used to be London’s main civilian airport between the two world wars.
I quickly understood why the traffic was moving so slowly as the earlier rain and turned to ice above which the falling snow had quickly frozen. Any sudden movement and the vehicle skidded. It was only safe to edge forward when the opportunity arose. It took me an hour and a half to reach Purely and then I made a decision which added at least an hour to the journey. Traffic going on the direct route to the Travel Lodge appeared to be a standstill whereas it was moving on the road to M23 and then quickly onto the M25. I chose this route and it seemed to be the right decision with traffic at a standstill in the opposite direction. This was the clue as to what was to happen although there was no point in trying to turn round and back.
I joined a stead flow of traffic on the road to M23 and then to a full three lane M25 going towards the Dartford Tunnel and then approaching the road to Caterham and the Travel Lodge the inside line formed at a snail’s pace over a mile from the exit. The cause was a combination of a traffic light at the exit and the ice on the long winding ascent and descent of Caterham hill. I had forgotten that the hill was between the motorway and the Travel Lodge and not between the Travel Lodge and Purley, The road from the Travel Lodge is along a valley with steep sides with several road closures and residents living along some of the slopes having to leave their cars in the valley. It took me over an hour to travel the mile to the exit and a further hour to Travel Lodge. I had left the home of the relatives at 4 and arrived at the Lodge at 8.30, I was told of someone who had taken 14 hours to drive from Cardiff, usually a two hour run along the M4 and M25.
I developed a great urge to have a pee and having spotted a police and emergency vehicle area set back from the hard shoulder and gone there, thus avoiding view from the stationery traffic on the inside lane. I was then immediately let back into the line of traffic which had only moved a few yards forward.
It was only on entering my allocated room on the first floor that I realised I had left the phone behind and with no public use phone at the Lodge or nearby, I was marooned until the morning. I had soup, beans and rice with me as well as sliced salami with peppered crackers, dates and grapes. I eat voraciously more as a reaction to the ordeal experienced than hunger. I purchased a cold diet Pepsi from a machine on the ground floor.
I had arranged the trip with an extra day at the Lodge with the intention of visiting the Calle exhibition again at the Whitechapel, having a pre Christmas meal at the Cafe Rouge at Victoria station and a relay from Barcelona of Il Travatore at the Odeon Convent Garden. I will write separately about the plan to spend Christmas with Calle and the Opera although continuing to attend both were in question that morning. I had set off early with the intention of getting the train to East Croydon and walking to West Croydon for a train to Wallington, possibly using the bus to collect the phone, assuming it was left at the home of the relatives. The decision to take the train was reinforced by the slow line of traffic heading towards Purley. I arrived at the railway station across the roadway from the Lodge forgetting that the cheap day travel ticket commenced at 9.30 and it was around 9 am with a train to London Bridge via East Croydon a few minutes away. I debated paying the premium double rate of £14.70 as it was cold and did not fancy standing around for half hour but settled on doing so which in the circumstances was a brilliant judgement. This did not immediately seem so when I found that the next train to central London was cancelled. I would have to wait an hour.
The electronic notice board announced that Capital Connect trains were operating an emergency service because of the weather conditions. I then read a poster which explained that during Christmas week and continuing until the New Year trains to and from central London would end mid evening. Anyone wanting to return late evening would have to travel to Victoria and get the train to East Croydon and then a taxi or buses to Purley and from there to Whyteleaf and Caterham. A change in plan was required and I returned to the Lodge for the car which I then drove first to the home of the relatives when the phone was found and a cup of coffee enjoyed before driving to Croydon and finding a long stay car park close to East Croydon Station.
The car park is located at one end of Dingwall Road and where with the exception of the Warehouse Theatre at the other end all the land between the roadway and the railway is to be transformed to a major office and residential complex of building including a 4.5 acre area of parkland. There are to be five office blocks providing 900000 square feet, over 8000 square metres of space immediate facing the railway line. At the carpark end there is to be 500 residential units half of which are to be low cost. The Warehouse theatre is to be replaced by a new 200 seat auditorium between two of the train track side towers and in addition there are to be restaurants and cafes and a GP centre as part of an area for health and fitness. There are to be five towers with 18 to 25 storeys and the development is to be known as Ruskin Square.
John Ruskin was the Victorian and Edwardian art critic and political and social commentator who exercised significant influence upon British culture in his day and subsequently, especially through his support for J M W Turner and the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood. His period at Oxford is remembered with the creation of Ruskin College which I attended 1961-1963 and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. His connection with Croydon is that his mother was born there and his parents are buried at Shirley and he erected a statue to his parents at Carshalton, visiting the town and area throughout his life. Ruskin Road Croydon is already a major thoroughfare. His thoughts on Christian Socialism influenced me as a young man together with the work of William Morris.
At East Croydon station the position of a reduced and uncertain train service was confirmed and by the time I arrived at Victoria it was midday and I chose to have a leisurely lunch and then considered what to do for the rest of the day. I chose the Cafe Rouge despite learning that the low cost menu on offer was achieved by paying the basic statutory wage and which had been made up through the service charge which had only been changed a couple of months before.
I choose items which were filling but appealing with Camembert Enrobe as the starter- Camembert cheese melted on toasted croutons with tomato and wrapped in Jambon Cru. This was followed by two small baguettes filled with turkey and back bacon with caramelised onion, sage and chestnut stuffing and a cranberry sauce dip with salad garnish and French Fries. A small glass of Merlot accompanied the meal followed by American coffee. The restaurant became packed between one and one thirty but eased before I left so there was no pressure.
I then made my way to the cinema intending, according to the available information about its location to change at Green Park for the Piccadilly Line to Convent Garden station. The pavement at Convent Garden station is only reached by lift unless one is an enthusiast for the 153 spiral stairway. The was a great crush and the available lift would not move until some of those trying to cram in waited. I went back to the platform area with the intention of returning to the Leicester Square Station and walking from there but got on a train going in the opposite direction by mistake and therefore had to alight again and return back from Holborn. At Leicester Square I looked at a local map to decide on the best exit and this revealed that the Odeon was just off Cambridge Circus and therefore this was a better station than Convent Garden. My reason for going straight to the cinema was to check that that the ticket ordered by telephone automatically was available as I had received no reference number or printed out confirmation. The theatre just opened as I arrived at 2.45 to the annoyance of some customers who had arrived for the first showings due at that time. I inserted a credit card in a small seat collection machine on one wall and obtained a printed paper ticket.
There was still time to visit the Whitechapel Gallery and beforehand to look on Blackwell’s where I had found the volume of contemporary art which had such an influence on the direction of my life in 2002 and then to Foyles to see if they had an edition of the Forsyte Saga novels. Foyles and to my surprise there were something like nine novels collected in three volumes with only the first three appearing to cover the most recent ITV production. The full set cost of the order of £45 in paperback so I held back and determined to see what Amazon had to offer.
I then went back to the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross and from there the District Line to Aldgate East for the Whitechapel. The main purpose was to watch the 30 performances of reading the email on which Take Care of Yourself is based, and which will form part of a separate writing, New Year with Calle. I also wanted to obtain an additional copy of the broadsheet about the first showing of Guernica in 1939, the creation of the tapestry, its exhibition at the UN Security Council and its coverage by a blue curtain when Powell made his statement about the Iraq War. After experiencing the performances I had a cup of tea observing everyone else at six seater tables made up of three twin seats. There was a party of westernised Asians, some North Americans, two mothers with children although they could have au pairs, and elder man like me on his own and a young couple debating Calle.
I then made the journey on the District line to Victoria Station to check on the trains for the rest of the evening. There appeared to be no problem and indeed the non stop Gatwick Express which leaves for the airport every fifteen minutes was stopping at East Croydon because of the weather conditions. I had time to look in on Smith having collected my free copy of the Evening Standard and looked through the latest edition of Community Care, noting a letter praising the former Children’s Inspectorate of the Home Office from Bob Holman which prompted me to say ho ho and rubbish and the urge to write a letter. I will publish the letter here if Community Care magazine decides not to do so. I arrived back at the Odeon at half past six as a number of other early customers for the Opera had assembled in the small coffee lounge and bar. The theatre was opened shortly afterwards and I was able to take a coffee into the auditorium and eat the final Danish pastry I had brought with me for the travels.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the cinema had allocated its largest screen area with about 240 250 comfortable seats especially those in the centre area classified as Premium. The theatre was over half full when the curtain was raised although I had spare seats on either side which made the experience more comfortable to the point of luxury at the amazing price of under £9 including credit card charge. Although the show commenced at seven it was over before ten as the four act opera is performed with one interval of thirty minutes. I then reached Victoria Station in time to get on a one stop train to East Croydon as it prepared to leave the platform, but I managed to find a seat albeit next to anew European who appeared t have been drinking heavily although there was also evidence of some office partying among others returning to Sussex, Brighton and other south coast homes. My car was one of only a few left in the car park and I had a brief moment of anxiety as the machine fully consumed the credit card which it read automatically without my needing to insert a pin number. The roads were clear and quiet and was back in my room well before 11.30 having spent several minutes sorting out the room key card which had lost its potency and to be recharged although it led to my having a short conversations about the conditions with the duty receptionist.
I only realised my familiarity with Il Travatore when we came to the well known chorus, The Anvil Chorus. The opera was the most satisfying of all those experienced this year to date. I will write more fully separately. I set of for what was to have been a brief visit to the Midlands with an overnight stay back at the Mansfield Travel Lodge. The weather was about to intervene once more.
The writing begins with leaving the Morden Travel Lodge on Monday morning 21st December 2009. I was visiting relatives to go out for lunch and decided to find the nearest Halford’s to ask if there was anyone available who could check my car radio as I had failed to locate the position of the fuse box which the manual stated should be found under the dashboard inside the car.
I had passed the Halford’s the previous evening without realising I had done so more intent to getting to the Travel Lodge. It is located at one end of the one way system, St Nicholas Way, going north towards London on the left hand side of Sutton High Street, but realised this after reloading the Halford’s site on the laptop and obtaining a map and then the route to the store having inserted the post code of the Travel Lodge. My first instinct had been to retrace the route of the previous evening which continues until reaching the end of the pedestrianised High Street and then turns left and heads south parallel to the pedestrian High Street and then to the set of junctions with roads to Carshalton, Wallington and Croydon or swings round and across the High Street with exits south to the M25, towards Epsom and back into St Nicholas Way for central London. The Halford site suggested a different approach which was to make a large detour towards Epsom and then back into Sutton and this I followed only to find that the car park entrance was not in St Nicholas Way but around the corner at what has now become the end of the pedestrianised High Street. Previously it was possible to continue a little further to The Grapes Public House where I would alight with the “aunties” on the 654 Trolley bus on the visits to Sutton during my childhood.
Unfortunately although the fuse was located by the available assistant it was not blown which suggested the problem was with a second fuse within the radio itself and the radio man was not due in until 11 would could make me late for my visit to relatives and going out for an early roast lunch. I decided not to go in search of the Halford’s at Croydon but have a coffee and look around Sutton, parking the car in the Times Square Car Park.
During the last decade before the death of my care mother and before the admission of my birth mother into residential care I would usually take the car to the park along St Nicholas Way next to the Cinema with a bridge overpass into the St Nicholas Shopping centre where there was a food court on the top third floor and where we go for a fish and chip lunch followed by a short walk around the shops. The Times Square is a small shopping precinct also reached by a bridge over the one way road system and then into the High Street crossing over to the other centre and taking escalators or a lift to the food court level where I was greeted with a surprise because although all the tables remained the fish and chip and the other two food outlets had disappeared and all that remained was a coffee and sandwich shop. This was a change which from the look of the area suggested it been made before the recession affected High Streets, everywhere.
After the drink I was surprised that the two bookshops did not have any of the writings of Galsworthy in their sections on the classics. Perhaps the Forsyte Saga books had only achieved fresh success over the years because of the two TV productions and film releases.
I then had my third meal in a restaurant within four days. A freshly sliced roast turkey dinner with the plate piled high with vegetables- roast potatoes, cauliflower cabbage, Brussels sprouts and some Swede. Missing were parsnips. This feast only cost £5 in Christmas week. I usually have the beef with a giant Yorkshire Pudding. There is a choice of sauces including apple and blackcurrant jelly as well as gravies, mustard and such like. Arriving early it was unusually quiet for the time of the year the year although several parties arrived later for the Christmas lunch with the same carvery roast as the main course.
As I was travelling only a few miles to the Travel Lodge there was plenty of opportunity for a long exchange of news with the relatives and encouraged that the roads had become clear with rain more than sleet, there was no indication of the horror to come.
It was moving rapidly towards dusk when the first flurries were noticed and settling, but these were not the cause of the problem which I shortly faced, along with the hundreds of thousands of car and bus using commuters, shoppers and travellers. Train and air travel in the greater London area and South East were also severely affected.
I hurriedly left, failing to realise that my mobile phone had slipped between the cushions on the settee. The quickest route was to have turned right across the traffic and then taken the couple of miles to Purley from there a few more miles to the Travel Lodge. However the traffic was solid in both directions, and moving very slowly so I elected to turn left and motor the mile or so to five ways road junction close to Waddon station turning right along Purley Way passing through the former Croydon Airport where the control Tower and a Battle of Britain plane are the only reminders of what used to be London’s main civilian airport between the two world wars.
I quickly understood why the traffic was moving so slowly as the earlier rain and turned to ice above which the falling snow had quickly frozen. Any sudden movement and the vehicle skidded. It was only safe to edge forward when the opportunity arose. It took me an hour and a half to reach Purely and then I made a decision which added at least an hour to the journey. Traffic going on the direct route to the Travel Lodge appeared to be a standstill whereas it was moving on the road to M23 and then quickly onto the M25. I chose this route and it seemed to be the right decision with traffic at a standstill in the opposite direction. This was the clue as to what was to happen although there was no point in trying to turn round and back.
I joined a stead flow of traffic on the road to M23 and then to a full three lane M25 going towards the Dartford Tunnel and then approaching the road to Caterham and the Travel Lodge the inside line formed at a snail’s pace over a mile from the exit. The cause was a combination of a traffic light at the exit and the ice on the long winding ascent and descent of Caterham hill. I had forgotten that the hill was between the motorway and the Travel Lodge and not between the Travel Lodge and Purley, The road from the Travel Lodge is along a valley with steep sides with several road closures and residents living along some of the slopes having to leave their cars in the valley. It took me over an hour to travel the mile to the exit and a further hour to Travel Lodge. I had left the home of the relatives at 4 and arrived at the Lodge at 8.30, I was told of someone who had taken 14 hours to drive from Cardiff, usually a two hour run along the M4 and M25.
I developed a great urge to have a pee and having spotted a police and emergency vehicle area set back from the hard shoulder and gone there, thus avoiding view from the stationery traffic on the inside lane. I was then immediately let back into the line of traffic which had only moved a few yards forward.
It was only on entering my allocated room on the first floor that I realised I had left the phone behind and with no public use phone at the Lodge or nearby, I was marooned until the morning. I had soup, beans and rice with me as well as sliced salami with peppered crackers, dates and grapes. I eat voraciously more as a reaction to the ordeal experienced than hunger. I purchased a cold diet Pepsi from a machine on the ground floor.
I had arranged the trip with an extra day at the Lodge with the intention of visiting the Calle exhibition again at the Whitechapel, having a pre Christmas meal at the Cafe Rouge at Victoria station and a relay from Barcelona of Il Travatore at the Odeon Convent Garden. I will write separately about the plan to spend Christmas with Calle and the Opera although continuing to attend both were in question that morning. I had set off early with the intention of getting the train to East Croydon and walking to West Croydon for a train to Wallington, possibly using the bus to collect the phone, assuming it was left at the home of the relatives. The decision to take the train was reinforced by the slow line of traffic heading towards Purley. I arrived at the railway station across the roadway from the Lodge forgetting that the cheap day travel ticket commenced at 9.30 and it was around 9 am with a train to London Bridge via East Croydon a few minutes away. I debated paying the premium double rate of £14.70 as it was cold and did not fancy standing around for half hour but settled on doing so which in the circumstances was a brilliant judgement. This did not immediately seem so when I found that the next train to central London was cancelled. I would have to wait an hour.
The electronic notice board announced that Capital Connect trains were operating an emergency service because of the weather conditions. I then read a poster which explained that during Christmas week and continuing until the New Year trains to and from central London would end mid evening. Anyone wanting to return late evening would have to travel to Victoria and get the train to East Croydon and then a taxi or buses to Purley and from there to Whyteleaf and Caterham. A change in plan was required and I returned to the Lodge for the car which I then drove first to the home of the relatives when the phone was found and a cup of coffee enjoyed before driving to Croydon and finding a long stay car park close to East Croydon Station.
The car park is located at one end of Dingwall Road and where with the exception of the Warehouse Theatre at the other end all the land between the roadway and the railway is to be transformed to a major office and residential complex of building including a 4.5 acre area of parkland. There are to be five office blocks providing 900000 square feet, over 8000 square metres of space immediate facing the railway line. At the carpark end there is to be 500 residential units half of which are to be low cost. The Warehouse theatre is to be replaced by a new 200 seat auditorium between two of the train track side towers and in addition there are to be restaurants and cafes and a GP centre as part of an area for health and fitness. There are to be five towers with 18 to 25 storeys and the development is to be known as Ruskin Square.
John Ruskin was the Victorian and Edwardian art critic and political and social commentator who exercised significant influence upon British culture in his day and subsequently, especially through his support for J M W Turner and the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood. His period at Oxford is remembered with the creation of Ruskin College which I attended 1961-1963 and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. His connection with Croydon is that his mother was born there and his parents are buried at Shirley and he erected a statue to his parents at Carshalton, visiting the town and area throughout his life. Ruskin Road Croydon is already a major thoroughfare. His thoughts on Christian Socialism influenced me as a young man together with the work of William Morris.
At East Croydon station the position of a reduced and uncertain train service was confirmed and by the time I arrived at Victoria it was midday and I chose to have a leisurely lunch and then considered what to do for the rest of the day. I chose the Cafe Rouge despite learning that the low cost menu on offer was achieved by paying the basic statutory wage and which had been made up through the service charge which had only been changed a couple of months before.
I choose items which were filling but appealing with Camembert Enrobe as the starter- Camembert cheese melted on toasted croutons with tomato and wrapped in Jambon Cru. This was followed by two small baguettes filled with turkey and back bacon with caramelised onion, sage and chestnut stuffing and a cranberry sauce dip with salad garnish and French Fries. A small glass of Merlot accompanied the meal followed by American coffee. The restaurant became packed between one and one thirty but eased before I left so there was no pressure.
I then made my way to the cinema intending, according to the available information about its location to change at Green Park for the Piccadilly Line to Convent Garden station. The pavement at Convent Garden station is only reached by lift unless one is an enthusiast for the 153 spiral stairway. The was a great crush and the available lift would not move until some of those trying to cram in waited. I went back to the platform area with the intention of returning to the Leicester Square Station and walking from there but got on a train going in the opposite direction by mistake and therefore had to alight again and return back from Holborn. At Leicester Square I looked at a local map to decide on the best exit and this revealed that the Odeon was just off Cambridge Circus and therefore this was a better station than Convent Garden. My reason for going straight to the cinema was to check that that the ticket ordered by telephone automatically was available as I had received no reference number or printed out confirmation. The theatre just opened as I arrived at 2.45 to the annoyance of some customers who had arrived for the first showings due at that time. I inserted a credit card in a small seat collection machine on one wall and obtained a printed paper ticket.
There was still time to visit the Whitechapel Gallery and beforehand to look on Blackwell’s where I had found the volume of contemporary art which had such an influence on the direction of my life in 2002 and then to Foyles to see if they had an edition of the Forsyte Saga novels. Foyles and to my surprise there were something like nine novels collected in three volumes with only the first three appearing to cover the most recent ITV production. The full set cost of the order of £45 in paperback so I held back and determined to see what Amazon had to offer.
I then went back to the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross and from there the District Line to Aldgate East for the Whitechapel. The main purpose was to watch the 30 performances of reading the email on which Take Care of Yourself is based, and which will form part of a separate writing, New Year with Calle. I also wanted to obtain an additional copy of the broadsheet about the first showing of Guernica in 1939, the creation of the tapestry, its exhibition at the UN Security Council and its coverage by a blue curtain when Powell made his statement about the Iraq War. After experiencing the performances I had a cup of tea observing everyone else at six seater tables made up of three twin seats. There was a party of westernised Asians, some North Americans, two mothers with children although they could have au pairs, and elder man like me on his own and a young couple debating Calle.
I then made the journey on the District line to Victoria Station to check on the trains for the rest of the evening. There appeared to be no problem and indeed the non stop Gatwick Express which leaves for the airport every fifteen minutes was stopping at East Croydon because of the weather conditions. I had time to look in on Smith having collected my free copy of the Evening Standard and looked through the latest edition of Community Care, noting a letter praising the former Children’s Inspectorate of the Home Office from Bob Holman which prompted me to say ho ho and rubbish and the urge to write a letter. I will publish the letter here if Community Care magazine decides not to do so. I arrived back at the Odeon at half past six as a number of other early customers for the Opera had assembled in the small coffee lounge and bar. The theatre was opened shortly afterwards and I was able to take a coffee into the auditorium and eat the final Danish pastry I had brought with me for the travels.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the cinema had allocated its largest screen area with about 240 250 comfortable seats especially those in the centre area classified as Premium. The theatre was over half full when the curtain was raised although I had spare seats on either side which made the experience more comfortable to the point of luxury at the amazing price of under £9 including credit card charge. Although the show commenced at seven it was over before ten as the four act opera is performed with one interval of thirty minutes. I then reached Victoria Station in time to get on a one stop train to East Croydon as it prepared to leave the platform, but I managed to find a seat albeit next to anew European who appeared t have been drinking heavily although there was also evidence of some office partying among others returning to Sussex, Brighton and other south coast homes. My car was one of only a few left in the car park and I had a brief moment of anxiety as the machine fully consumed the credit card which it read automatically without my needing to insert a pin number. The roads were clear and quiet and was back in my room well before 11.30 having spent several minutes sorting out the room key card which had lost its potency and to be recharged although it led to my having a short conversations about the conditions with the duty receptionist.
I only realised my familiarity with Il Travatore when we came to the well known chorus, The Anvil Chorus. The opera was the most satisfying of all those experienced this year to date. I will write more fully separately. I set of for what was to have been a brief visit to the Midlands with an overnight stay back at the Mansfield Travel Lodge. The weather was about to intervene once more.
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