I'm Home

I had a good time in MadCity. Never been that far North before. Enjoyed the accents esp O's. Ate some Nigel Slater Veggie food. Shopped a lot! Saw My lovely friends and went home. Hmph the going home bit was a trial. I'd bought 1st class Virgin tickets for the journey home. I was looking forward to a bit of class and a peaceful journey. I sat down in MY seat, with a table and room and breathed a sigh of relief. For two seconds. A family got on. With a few kids...Young kids. I thought surely they haven't paid for 1st class. They hadn't. He was a train worker. Free travel presumably. They were noisy and obnoxious. I sighed. They got off three stops before me. We pulled into Birmingham three minutes late.
This meant I had ten minutes to get my connection. I rushed off the train and headed for the steps...Loads of them. There was a stupid Asian woman infront of me with a baby of about 15 months. She was letting her walk up the steps on her own. One painful step at a time. I was panicked. I finally reached the top and ran around looking for an information screen. I scoured the monitor for 16.42. There wasn't one. I panicked. I'd missed the train..Oh god what was I going to do. So I joined the queue at the information desk. A scruffy looking man asked me for money. He then asked for my ticket to look at. I was confused....Just wanted him to go away. I got to the desk. They looked at my lovely 1st class tickets and said something about there being no trains and catching a coach to Gloucester. I had to go right and through the glass door. I turned right but all I could see were masses of people. I began to have a major anxiety attack. I could feel myself going. I went back to the counter and burst into tears. But I don't live in Gloucester I sobbed. A man took me to a room and asked me if I wanted water. No I want to go home, I cried. Finally he took me to a coach and I got on. Then started a journey through rush hour Birmingham traffic to Gloucester train station and another train to Bristol.
Luckily a friend called me and calmed me down. Told me what was going on and not to panic. (They know me well. I hadn't missed the train. There were engineering works between B/ham and Bristol. No trains running all weekend)
So that was the sum of my much awaited first class travel. They took my money knowing I wasn't going to be first class infact i wasn't on a train for much of the damn journey. Bastards.