The Insane Travel Saga

Spent the entire morning in the most awkward silence imaginable.  No joke, the only words he said to me were, "Would you like a cup of tea?"  You've got to love the English for that:  No matter what happens, they will always offer you a cup of tea.  Everything can be solved by a cuppa.  I swear, this is what got them through the war, as no matter what was happening outside, they were still stalwartly drinking tea in their bomb shelters as though nothing was wrong.  No offer of breakfast, but I wasn't going to raise that issue, I figured I could just starve for a while.  


Leaving later than I would have liked, we caught a taxi to the train station.  As quick as I could, after a hurried good-bye, I raced like an escaped prisoner to get on that train.  Except that 10 minutes before my train was supposed to leave, there was an accident on the tracks just one station ahead, and all southbound trains were cancelled.  Not wanting to go back for more awkward tea drinking, I asked around to see if there were some way, any way, out of there.  One of the officials on the platforms said it would probably be about 3 hours before any trains were moving south again.  And then, just as we were speaking, I noticed a train to Cambridge (due west) was just about to depart on the platform opposite.  Without even having time to think about it, I hopped on that train.

I used my iPhone to figure out when the train I was on would be arriving in Cambridge.  And learned that there was a train to London departing from Cambridge 4 minutes after this one was due to get in, but it was a slow train.  If I actually waited for the one departing 10 minutes later, I'd actually arrive in London sooner.  So, got to Cambridge, everyone hopped on the next London train, while I waited, and yet arrived in London quicker.


On the train, I called the Young Dutchman, as I had to explain my delay.  We were planning to meet so I could pick up a jacket that needed to go up to Oxford (he'd borrowed it from a friend), so I could bring it back on my journey up there.  Funny enough, when he called earlier that morning (while I was still at CBDG's house), he somehow instinctively seemed to know not to ask too many questions about it.  Then again, not like he ever likes talking about me with other boys anyway, but for once I was glad of it.  


Met up with the Young Dutchman on a street corner by Green Park, did the handoff (I was a bit irritated at him for being late even after I was late, but that's typical of him), and then I hopped on a bus back to my flat.  Dropped my bags, grabbed my things, and then ran to go catch the Oxford Tube.  The bus got somewhat delayed (traffic came to a standstill on the M40), but eventually I made it to Oxford at around 6 PM.  Oh yeah, and I'd originally been supposed to meet everyone at 3:30...sigh!  How I wish I'd stuck with my originally planned 7:30 AM train from Norwich!


Got to the pub, met all of my friends, and successfully returned the jacket to its owner.  I was further irritated at having arrived so late, because the conversation proved to be so interesting.  I'd forgotten how much I liked these people.  


The conversation ranged from why we can't return to the Gold Standard (and the macro economic theory behind it), to how the best solution for the Euro crisis would be for Germany to quietly withdraw (not that it will ever happen).  And we talked about how the modern era, when we live now, is the best time to be alive in history, just from a nutrition and health perspective.  Apparently in his day, George Washington was considered to be a giant at 6'1" tall, which is utterly average for men in this day and age.


I also had a good rant with a friend of mine who works for the Justice Department (he laughingly calls himself "al-Qaeda's lawyer" since he defends inmates at Guantanamo Bay) about how stupid people who work in government can be (he related a hilarious story of a paralegal screwing up three times the fact that the cover of a brief needed to be blue), although I had a few anecdotes of my own to share about some of the people I work with who don't understand maths.


Most of all, just intelligent, interesting conversation with people who were so thoroughly engaged in the conversation, and kept saying, "I'm so glad you came."  Such a difference from my time in Norwich!

I finally headed back down to London at around midnight, chatting to the Young Dutchman the whole way.  I got back to my flat and we had a Skype video chat for about an hour.  Eventually we just ended up "hanging out" while I got ready for bed and occasionally interrupted him with passages from "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac (I'm re-reading it at the moment).  Because we do that: Set up Skype as sort of a portal link between wherever we are, and just spend time together.