State of the Meh...

I've been back home since a week last Thursday, and not really back into the routine of I live here yet. I know I do poorly with disrupted routines, but I seem to be having a harder time of it this year. Mostly I've been goofing off and playing computer games (Ark and Xcom II). And DW got caught up in my repeated pattern of "Oh, I didn't do that yesterday. I should have done that yesterday. Now I'm too stressed by that to do it today". Helpful that isn't.

I didn't actually see that much of Dad while I was up as times I can get a lift to get over to the home now tend to be times he's asleep, but we did have a good session with him on his birthday (82) and a solid couple of hours on my last day.

The train trip back from Durham was the usual adventure: 

PA: "Hi, this is is the train manager. If you're wondering why the train is currently stationary, we've just been told that the train ahead of us has hit a herd of cows just north of Doncaster station. We may be here for a while."

45 minutes later: "We've now been given permission to  proceed slowly. The train ahead apparently hit three cows and while the track has now been cleared, those who may find these things distressing may want to avoid looking out of the windows for the next few minutes."

Which of course meant half the people on the train promptly plastered themselves against the windows. "It was definitely cows," to quote the young mum opposite.

That meant we were about 55 minutes late into London, so I should be able to claim part of the fare back, and unfortunately pushed me into rush-hour traffic on the leg from London to Rochester. That's really not my idea of fun, but at least I'm guaranteed a seat. No problems with wheelchair assistance this time, but I do need to talk to LNER (the new train operating company for the East Coast Main Line) about problems with luggage around the wheelchair spaces making it impossible to access the accessible toilet.  I got a taxi for the final leg of the journey as usual and the taxi driver was able to prove that, contrary to my previous belief, it is possible to fit my chair in the boot of a Prius (which 90% of the local taxi drivers use). It's incredibly tight (because the Prius boot is very shallow given the batteries underneath it), but if you push the chair right up against the back seat, and take one wheel off, and very gingerly press down on the hatchback (given the glass is touching the chair) it will lock. Just. Seriously, Toyota, if the taxi role is a big part of the Prius' market, you may want to look at the boot design!