Ferry

I ended up not sleeping very well last night.  After I got back from my Tai Chi class, ate and watched TV I went to bed (which was lovely and warm as I’d had the heated blanket on for a while) at about midnight but spent some time scrolling YouTube shorts and then not really getting to sleep.

I managed to get up and to my desk for 9am (which is earlier than I often do these days) and was surprisingly awake all day until I boarded a train later.  This morning we had a regroup with the Australian team about the meeting that happened before Christmas.  We’re still waiting for feedback but they feel confident that we will have a next stage meeting.

At 5pm I was out the door for the first leg of my journey to the Island.  The train to Guildford was standing-room only. This makes sense as it’s commuter time but it caught be a little bit by surprise as I was carrying an extra bag (with a lamp and an iPad stand).  I managed to get a seat at Ewell West and made the very tight connection at Guildford.  My train was a couple of minutes late and the Portsmouth train was a few minutes early so I made a bit of a mad dash across the footbridge to onto the train (which was also quite full).  We made good progress for most of the journey but as got closer to Portsmouth there was a signalling issue and the driver was having to contact the signaller at every red light to get permission to proceed.  This meant our predicted arrival into Portsmouth Harbour was at the exact time the ferry was due to leave. Something similar happened to PY last night and his train made the connection but, sadly, at Fratton there was supposed to be a change of driver.  I have no idea why we needed to change drivers for two stops but the relief driver was not there and we ended up waiting long enough that we were not going to make the connection.

A few people got off the train and ran down to the ferry but we were clearly late enough that it had left. I grabbed a coffee from the machine - the Costa had closed - and waited for the next one. I was glad I had left early enough that there was an alternative. If the same had happened an hour later I would have missed the last FastCat and had to take the car ferry into Fishbourne.

We sailed on  to schedule. PY messaged asking if I wanted to be met or if I’d prefer to get to the flat with dinner waiting and I opened for the dinner option. There was steak and chips when I got in - the smell was amazing - and I had a very relaxing evening.  Being on the Island had an effect on me even after a stressful journey.