Public transport, specifically the bus service. Everyone knows what a vile and overpriced thing it is. Buses stop at inconvenient places, at inconvenient times, and infrequently. Everyone knows this is true.
(um, sorry I did know what I was going to say next but I'm drunk and I've forgotten. why am I drunk? is this normal for me? questions, questions, questions.)
I arrived home about 9.15pm and the first thing I did was clean up cat and kitten poo. (See my other blog: http://catrescuesunderland.blogspot.co.uk/ for details.) Then I put the kettle on, heaped coffee into a mug, rebooted my computer and watched Holby City on BBC Iplayer. Fell asleep somewhere over halfway through, woke up for the last five minutes and realised I'd never made my coffee..
Went to the pub to meet Barry. I intended to get there a little earlier as he's always waiting for me. The vagaries of public transport, you understand. But I didn't; get there earlier that is, arriving at 6.58pm. And he wasn't there. The pub was crowded as Sunderland were playing an evening match at home. I sat down at a table in the meals section -only two were unoccupied- and rang his home number which proved to be engaged. Okay, went to the bar with the intention of getting a drink but Barry had just arrived so I let him get his first. He was late because the buses went over the bridge to the north side of Sunderland where the Stadium of Light is located and where Barry lives. They just don't seem to come back, hence him being late.
So: Barry seated, I bought a half pint of Ruddles and we talked for a little while as the pub gradually emptied. My drink finished, I went back to the bar, ordered our meals (including included glass of wine -it was grill night, we take turns paying for the meal), and a bottle of house red (for me; Barry doesn't drink much these days, partly because of a medical condition; I do because I like cheap Australian plonk and the house red is Hardy's Shiraz at £5.98 a bottle).
A couple of minutes shy of 9.00pm I put the bottle of house red (containing one decent glass full which I'm drinking now -11.02pm) and we went outside to wait for my bus.
Which brings me back to the point. Sunderland City council have been changing the flow of traffic in the city centre changing established one way systems into two way. The effect on me has been to enable me to walk out of the side door of the pub (a few feet from where we sit) to the bus stop outside where, after 6.00pm I can get a bus every fifteen minutes (during the day it's more frequent) to within (at most) three minutes walking distance of my house.
Isn't public transport just awful?
Post Script.
Reading this in the cold light of day tells me one thing: Never write a blog post late in the evening while under the influence of an excess of alcohol.
I should delete it but I won't, instead leaving it here as a salutary reminder in case I'm ever tempted to do it again. My apologies to those who wasted a minute or two of their lives reading it.
Normal service will be resumed.
Post Script.
Reading this in the cold light of day tells me one thing: Never write a blog post late in the evening while under the influence of an excess of alcohol.
I should delete it but I won't, instead leaving it here as a salutary reminder in case I'm ever tempted to do it again. My apologies to those who wasted a minute or two of their lives reading it.
Normal service will be resumed.
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