davidgillon: A pair of crutches, hanging from coat hooks, reflected in a mirror (Crutches)
My car, that is.

This might not seem so monumental an achievement, but it's the first time in years it's started when I turn the key after being away over Christmas. It's sort of my fault, sort of one of those things, but I drive it so little (c2000 miles a year) that there's never a great charge on the battery, and three or four weeks sitting outside in over-Christmas weather without being driven is often enough to drain the battery. I've actually had two batteries fail completely, the chemistry in one cell being just too far gone to charge them back up, but mostly it's been the case of getting the nice man from the AA or RAC (whichever has the Toyota contract this year) to hook up his boost box (battery on steroids) and jump it that way, then running the engine for long enough to put a decent charge on the battery.  I do have a battery charger, but mostly it doesn't have the oomph to overcome the chemistry problems in this situation, where the boost-box and car do. This year I thought my odds were even worse, as being hospitalized meant it had hardly been driven in December at all, but I turned the key and it worked.

Not sure there's a moral to this tale, other than thank god it started and I can go places when I need too!
davidgillon: A pair of crutches, hanging from coat hooks, reflected in a mirror (Default)
I'm finally back home, despite the best efforts of the British weather to stop me - got to the station this morning  to be told the local train I was supposed to catch through to Darlington where I pick up the East Coast Main Line had been cancelled due to something on the line near Middlesbrough after last night's gales 'and we're trying to arrange a bus'. Fortunately the guy on duty came out to tell us this before I actually got out of my brother-in-law's car, so he hadn't driven off into the distance, and even more fortunately was in a position to drive me through to Darlington. In fact I was actually on the platform at Darlington a good ten minutes earlier than I would have been if I'd caught the local train. (If I'd turned up on time rather than 20 minutes early there wouldn't have been enough time to drive to Darlington and still catch my train, so yay for neurodiverse travel anxiety!) The rest of the journey was trouble free except for a three minute delay outside Thirsk 'due to a signalling mistake'. Signalling mistake? On the East Coast Main Line? Not guaranteed to fill me full of confidence!

With being hospitalized and then heading north for Christmas/to recuperate I've spent precisely four and a half days at home since the paramedics scooped me off my bathroom floor on the 9th of December. Being here and on my own feels weird!
davidgillon: Text: I really don't think you should put your hand inside the manticore, you don't know where it's been. (Don't put your hand inside the manticore)
I needed to book my train ticket home, so checked on Trainline.com, the cheapest ticket was £129, which is weird as even this close to travel I'd normally be able to get a £46 or £67 ticket. A little bit of poking and prodding seemed to show it was the London to Chatham leg was the issue, no idea why, that's the high speed  commuter line and not normally an issue. Went to the local booking office instead (our local station is so noddy the ticket office is in a model railway shop), he pokes at his computer and gets the same figure, then pokes some more and says 'if I split it into two legs and do London to Chatham separately then it's £67.' So I asked if he'd had to switch to the non-high speed service to get that. 'No,' he says, 'it's exactly the same trains, but half the price, no idea why.'

Railway pricing moves in mysterious ways....

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davidgillon: A pair of crutches, hanging from coat hooks, reflected in a mirror (Default)
David Gillon

March 2025

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