Yesterday’s adventure to London was good times; just the
journey both was a nightmare.
I meet Chris yesterday in Winton (here in Bournemouth) at a
cafe for breakfast, then we jumped on a bus and headed for the train station.
We got to the train station early and we had an hour to kill. He grabbed a
coffee and we just sat in the little cafe inside the station and chatted, then
he went for a quick smoke and I waited on the platform. A train lady came over
to me and asked which train I was getting, I said the 12.59 to Waterloo, she
then asked if I had booked ramps, I said yes I have, she asked my name, I said Justin Scrimagia. She said great I will
let my colleague know, but I think she may have forgot to as it was a fellow passenger
that told a train man and he got the ramp out. We got on the train and it got delayed
leaving Bournemouth and then delayed again at Southampton. Added about 20mins
on to our journey, we arrived at Waterloo and their meet us at the train with
the ramp to get me off the train. We then
headed for the underground for the tube, busy as hell and oh yes further delays
on the tube line we needed.
Having finally making to the O2 arena, we meet up with some
friends who were also going to the gig (Abi and Zoe) we all went to Garfunkel's
restaurant for food, it was nice good food and good company. After filling our
belly’s we had some time kill before heading in for the show to begin.
First up was the support band You Me At Six now Hate is a
strong word But I really, really, really don't like them. I will give it to
them though they did their job they got the crowd fired up, and for the people
who are into them they were loving it and having a good time. After You Me At Six
finished I think there was a delay with 30 Seconds To Mars as it took ages for
them to start. When they finally hit the stage it was great, a good set they played
of new and old hits. The only thing that did annoyed me a bit was Jared Leto
stopping to talk, now I understand why he was doing it to make the crowed feel
like they were part of it. It got to the point where I was like dude just shut
up and sing, when he did sing it was great and the stage show and lighting they
had was just wow, it was fantastic to be apart off.
After the show had finished and missing one tube back as it
was full. We made it back to Waterloo with about 15mins to go before our train
left, so we get to our platform and we see a train man and Chris goes or to him
to say we need to get on this train can you get the ramp. The man’s reply, I don’t
know nothing about it not my job. 10mins later he come to us and goes I’ll go
get someone for you, me and Chris just look at each other and go he could have
done that 10 bloody minutes ago. A train
man comes over with the ramp and we get on the train. Now the deal was because
they were doing work on lines, the train was only going to Southampton and they
were laying on buses back to Bournemouth.
I got told as I can’t get myself on the bus they wound lay on a taxi
back to Bournemouth. (Look see play things by the book and you still get nowhere)
Southampton Central (SOU) - Assistance in transferring between trains,
Assistance at station for alighting,
Wheelchair user requiring ramps at destination station,
wheelchair accessible taxi required to BMH
We got of
the train at Southampton and leave the station and go outside to no taxi, we go
back in the station to talk to the staff and explain it all to him. He goes
maybe they are the other side, so we go the other side and no taxi. We got
stuck in Southampton for just over 30minutes and then a taxi driver outside the
station, asked what was going on we explained it all to him and in the end he
was the one to bring us home.
Both he and the two staff at Southampton were fantastic, lovely
people. Bournemouth station will be getting an email of complaint by me, as it
was a complete fuck up and lack of communication by Bournemouth.
Apart from the nightmare of a journey, had wicked time at
the gig live music is just the best. :-)
