Stick or twist

Mostly stuck, but thanks to Tivoli bringing her expertise along to a specialist tile place in Kettering I have managed to buy most of the tiles I'm going to need. I haven't yet worked out how to get almost a ton of baked clay transported back to Oxford but at least the choice having been made is a hefty weight off my shoulders.

We thought the train strike was going to stymie our 19-minute journey to Kettering this morning but management and the RMT agreeing late yesterday to talk made it very easy. Naturally we then assumed the journey back to Bedford would be as straightforward but after almost a full day in the tile warehouse, and a lot of fun bonding with the two fabulously friendly and helpful staff there, it turned out that so many trains were in the wrong place that our choice was 2½ hours on three buses or a 25-mile walk. Have to admit, though, that after waiting 50 minutes for bus number three we did start to discuss the merits and risks of hitching. Instead we used our time on what was probably a better decision -  to buy a fortifying bottle of wine before the bus, in the end, did turn up.