Drivin' in my...

The English Countryside is glorious as I peer at it through the window on my (surprisingly) nice coach--it's amazing what £1 can buy!) en route to Wolverhampton (via Birmingham). For a country that I think of as a kind of frozen tundra, it's amazing how green the meadows are, how fluorescent the daffodils, how quaint the architecture. Why must the American great plains be so trashy?

It's good to be here because my morning in the city was NOT pleasant. After rising an hour and a half early at 4:30 instead of 6:00 (no doubt at least partly due to the fact that the sun was already COMPLETELY risen at that point), I ended up leaving for the Mile End Tube Stop at around that time, which ended up being a VERY good move. After an uneventful ride to Victoria, my misfortune started upon getting my gargantuan backpack stuck in the exit turnstile. I then had to ask ten people before getting proper directions to the coach station, which ended up being very confusing even when I found it. I had a ticket for the 7:30 coach to Birmingham; however, the only coaches listed on the monitor were at 7:00 and 8:30. Was the super cheap online fare a scam? Would I be stranded in London unable to enjoy my fabulous seats for tonight? What do I do?

The first thing I did was the stupid thing, by which I mean I lugged my backpack all the way down to the seventeenth gate (and yes, they ARE in numerical order, ALL on one side and NO shortcut), where I discovered the 7:00 coach (which I'd assumed to be mine, number 420, because, well they had the same number) had just left. I was furious. I stormed back to the ticket window, where the rude old cow behind the glass informed me that all the coaches from London to Birmingham have the number 420 (ummm OK that makes a lot of sense?) and that she was sure they came every half an hour.

So I went back and waited and she was right and here I am. This thing is VERY nice, not at all like to Greyhound to which friends had compared it. No, this is like one of those old folks' coaches. A rich, yuppy one. Nice, clean, new and yeah. SIX people on it. It's wonderful; couldn't have asked for better. It's not as fast as a train, but I kind of like this little journey through the nothingness north of London.

Oh and my phone works again, so feel free to text/call me!

Robert