Tuesday 20th January 2009 was not the day I had planned when Senator Barack Obama was elected by the voters of the United States to be their next President. It was my intention to watch the build up to his inauguration on CNN, switching from time to time Fox TV to note their take on the day and then to the BBC at four pm UK time to watch the British national TV perspective on this historic event, returning to US TV stations for the remainder of the day’s events, except for two special programmes again on BBC during the evening.
Alas for very sad and unexpected reasons, it was not to be so.
A member of my extended family, the husband of over forty years of a first cousin who had given her devoted attention to my birth and care mothers over several years, to enable them to live in their own home and remain part of the community to which they had come as world war II refugees, had died suddenly. I was therefore to spend this day in preparation and then in travel from my home in the North East to Croydon in South London for an over night stay, to attend the funeral the following morning.
Thirty years ago I would have booked the 6am train from Newcastle on the day of the funeral arriving in Kings Cross around 9am and then made my way across London for 11.15 am service and cremation returning in the evening and although apprehensive and say about the purpose of the visit would not have been nervous about travel, or spent so much time ensuring that I was organised before. Now as I approach my 70 year there is an unwillingness to rush, but also anxiety and apprehension as the number of male cousins by blood and marriage continues to dwindle. Whose turn will be next. Because there was two decades between the birth of the eldest of the six sisters and four brothers in the family of birth mother, the loss of first cousins commenced in 1945 when one of the two sons on an aunt with whom I was to live during first twenty one years of my life died in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp in the Far East. I remember the day when the telegram arrived. A few years after the end of the World War I, together with a cross section of relatives I journeyed to the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth to meet another first cousin who was serving in the U S Navy, his father, my uncle have emigrated to the USA in the 1930’s where he had become a citizen. That first cousin was to collapse and die at the funeral of his mother. The brother of the young man who had died for his country in a far far field returned from captivity in Germany at the end of the war but never fully recovered from that experience dying comparatively early leaving a widow and two young children. Another cousin has disappeared. A second American first cousin died and so the reality of our generation continues although our legacy of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren continues, such is span of generations, with the eldest of the brothers and sisters, by birth mother dying at the age of 100 in 2007.
I decided to travel by coach rather than train. My limited recent experience of the train was not a good one ,since the company decided to sell every seat for every part the journey, so that three or four people can occupy the same seat on a journey from Scotland to London. This means that luggage areas can be full to overspill for the entire journey. There is also constant noise and movement along a compartment in hazardous because of the luggage and people standing who have tickets but no seats.
The journey by coach and then train is much longer, total of nine hours, than the six hours door to door by train, train and train (walk from house to either Metro Station or Coach stop, coach journey to Victoria Coach station, or Metro to Newcastle Station, across station to Platform, and train to Kings Cross, walk to Underground station and train to Victoria Station, or walk to across London rail link at far end of St Pancras station and train direct to East Croydon, with from Victoria Coach station a short walk to the train station and then a one stop training to East Croydon. From East Croydon there is a short walk to the Travel Lodge).
Had I travelled by train I would have commenced the journey at the earliest available time for the cheapest ticket available, so if by 11am from Newcastle, I would have arrived in time for the two hour special inauguration special on BBC TV. I did check the cost of a single train ticket as my coach fare was only £5, called a fun fare for someone of my years, but could not justify the difference in cost. The compromise was to buy a battery mains Digital Radio and for the first hour of the journey the signal as excellent and I looked forward to listening to the special broadcast and the inaugural address live. Then the radio cut out and I was not able to get a signal until arriving at the Travel Lodge and have left returning home to find out if this is a battery problem, a signal problem or a set problem. The outcome is that I missed listening to event live.
There was also a near disaster as I discovered on checking the ticket after breakfast that the fun fare commenced from Sunderland and not South Shields. I was lucky because had I arrived at the bus station just before the appointed time, the coach would arriving and leaving at the Sunderland bus station 13 miles away and I would have been forced to travel to Newcastle and then paid an even higher price for a train ticket to London and without the guarantee of a seat,
What I should have done is quickly adjust my time table and take the every 15 minute bus from South Shields to Sunderland bus stations which would have involved no additional cost and getting to Shields bus station at 1.00 instead of 1. 45., but I was not geared up for the earlier the start so made the phone call which meant an additional £16 was paid to switch the starting place. It was well worth the additional expense because it meant I was able to have a relaxed meal and watch some of the before dawn Inaugural excitement as several hundred thousand people arrived in the freezing cold to stand up to a mile away from where the President would make his speech. It also meant that I could be certain of selecting my seat.
In the event there was only a couple with their two children and me waiting at South Shields and only half a dozen or so waiting at Sunderland, and even after stops at Stockton, Middlesbrough and then to York, there were still double seats available. An added bonus is that the seats are more comfortable than the train and I was able to enjoy a large cup of good coffee, called regular, ( what is a large?)£1.99 in a comfortable arm chair at Sheffield where the service station facilities have been done up in a very attractive way.
The weather was good for the outside walking and while it was very cold in South Shields and at Sheffield it was warmer at Victoria and Croydon. I enjoyed the trip in and out of York centre which reminded that I must visit again later in the year on a day trip. Arriving at East Croydon station at 10.15pm the supermarket was closed(10) which meant no croissants for the morning or inexpensive still water for overnight, the only item I had not packed.
Earlier I had tomato soup, two fish cakes and a banana for brunch and made four small wholemeal rolls with a tin of salmon and thin cucumber slices for the journey with more bananas. I paid at least twice as much for the water at the Travel Lodge but enjoyed a view over Croydon from the 10th floor and the satisfaction that I resisted the snack food available adjacent to the drinks cabinet dispenser at the Reception.
During the journey I was able to read the Prologue and the chapters on Republicans and Democrats, Values, Our Constitution and Politics in the book written by the new President, called the Audacity of Hope, slept for a good hour and enjoyed the late evening drive through central London. On arrival at the Travel Lodge I was able to watch three quarters of a Newsnight special from Washington. I will leave until tomorrow my reactions to the build up, the speech and the book.
Alas for very sad and unexpected reasons, it was not to be so.
A member of my extended family, the husband of over forty years of a first cousin who had given her devoted attention to my birth and care mothers over several years, to enable them to live in their own home and remain part of the community to which they had come as world war II refugees, had died suddenly. I was therefore to spend this day in preparation and then in travel from my home in the North East to Croydon in South London for an over night stay, to attend the funeral the following morning.
Thirty years ago I would have booked the 6am train from Newcastle on the day of the funeral arriving in Kings Cross around 9am and then made my way across London for 11.15 am service and cremation returning in the evening and although apprehensive and say about the purpose of the visit would not have been nervous about travel, or spent so much time ensuring that I was organised before. Now as I approach my 70 year there is an unwillingness to rush, but also anxiety and apprehension as the number of male cousins by blood and marriage continues to dwindle. Whose turn will be next. Because there was two decades between the birth of the eldest of the six sisters and four brothers in the family of birth mother, the loss of first cousins commenced in 1945 when one of the two sons on an aunt with whom I was to live during first twenty one years of my life died in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp in the Far East. I remember the day when the telegram arrived. A few years after the end of the World War I, together with a cross section of relatives I journeyed to the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth to meet another first cousin who was serving in the U S Navy, his father, my uncle have emigrated to the USA in the 1930’s where he had become a citizen. That first cousin was to collapse and die at the funeral of his mother. The brother of the young man who had died for his country in a far far field returned from captivity in Germany at the end of the war but never fully recovered from that experience dying comparatively early leaving a widow and two young children. Another cousin has disappeared. A second American first cousin died and so the reality of our generation continues although our legacy of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren continues, such is span of generations, with the eldest of the brothers and sisters, by birth mother dying at the age of 100 in 2007.
I decided to travel by coach rather than train. My limited recent experience of the train was not a good one ,since the company decided to sell every seat for every part the journey, so that three or four people can occupy the same seat on a journey from Scotland to London. This means that luggage areas can be full to overspill for the entire journey. There is also constant noise and movement along a compartment in hazardous because of the luggage and people standing who have tickets but no seats.
The journey by coach and then train is much longer, total of nine hours, than the six hours door to door by train, train and train (walk from house to either Metro Station or Coach stop, coach journey to Victoria Coach station, or Metro to Newcastle Station, across station to Platform, and train to Kings Cross, walk to Underground station and train to Victoria Station, or walk to across London rail link at far end of St Pancras station and train direct to East Croydon, with from Victoria Coach station a short walk to the train station and then a one stop training to East Croydon. From East Croydon there is a short walk to the Travel Lodge).
Had I travelled by train I would have commenced the journey at the earliest available time for the cheapest ticket available, so if by 11am from Newcastle, I would have arrived in time for the two hour special inauguration special on BBC TV. I did check the cost of a single train ticket as my coach fare was only £5, called a fun fare for someone of my years, but could not justify the difference in cost. The compromise was to buy a battery mains Digital Radio and for the first hour of the journey the signal as excellent and I looked forward to listening to the special broadcast and the inaugural address live. Then the radio cut out and I was not able to get a signal until arriving at the Travel Lodge and have left returning home to find out if this is a battery problem, a signal problem or a set problem. The outcome is that I missed listening to event live.
There was also a near disaster as I discovered on checking the ticket after breakfast that the fun fare commenced from Sunderland and not South Shields. I was lucky because had I arrived at the bus station just before the appointed time, the coach would arriving and leaving at the Sunderland bus station 13 miles away and I would have been forced to travel to Newcastle and then paid an even higher price for a train ticket to London and without the guarantee of a seat,
What I should have done is quickly adjust my time table and take the every 15 minute bus from South Shields to Sunderland bus stations which would have involved no additional cost and getting to Shields bus station at 1.00 instead of 1. 45., but I was not geared up for the earlier the start so made the phone call which meant an additional £16 was paid to switch the starting place. It was well worth the additional expense because it meant I was able to have a relaxed meal and watch some of the before dawn Inaugural excitement as several hundred thousand people arrived in the freezing cold to stand up to a mile away from where the President would make his speech. It also meant that I could be certain of selecting my seat.
In the event there was only a couple with their two children and me waiting at South Shields and only half a dozen or so waiting at Sunderland, and even after stops at Stockton, Middlesbrough and then to York, there were still double seats available. An added bonus is that the seats are more comfortable than the train and I was able to enjoy a large cup of good coffee, called regular, ( what is a large?)£1.99 in a comfortable arm chair at Sheffield where the service station facilities have been done up in a very attractive way.
The weather was good for the outside walking and while it was very cold in South Shields and at Sheffield it was warmer at Victoria and Croydon. I enjoyed the trip in and out of York centre which reminded that I must visit again later in the year on a day trip. Arriving at East Croydon station at 10.15pm the supermarket was closed(10) which meant no croissants for the morning or inexpensive still water for overnight, the only item I had not packed.
Earlier I had tomato soup, two fish cakes and a banana for brunch and made four small wholemeal rolls with a tin of salmon and thin cucumber slices for the journey with more bananas. I paid at least twice as much for the water at the Travel Lodge but enjoyed a view over Croydon from the 10th floor and the satisfaction that I resisted the snack food available adjacent to the drinks cabinet dispenser at the Reception.
During the journey I was able to read the Prologue and the chapters on Republicans and Democrats, Values, Our Constitution and Politics in the book written by the new President, called the Audacity of Hope, slept for a good hour and enjoyed the late evening drive through central London. On arrival at the Travel Lodge I was able to watch three quarters of a Newsnight special from Washington. I will leave until tomorrow my reactions to the build up, the speech and the book.
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