Travhell

Today I am back in the Reading office after a few great days on the run. However, the week did definitely not start as I had planned.

This was my itinerary for Monday a week ago:

Guildford - Coventry

6:12 – 6:52 Train from Guildford Station to Reading
7:10 – 8.22 Train from Reading to Coventry
8:30 – 8:45 Taxi from Coventry Station to the Ericsson site at Ansty Park
9:00 – 17:00 Graduate training in Coventry

This is what happened:

6:00 @ Guildford Station


I turn up in Guildford in good time to get the train to Reading, only to find out that the train was cancelled. The next train departed half an hour later, ensuring that I would miss my Coventry train in Reading.


7:20 @ Reading Station

I knew that the next train to Coventry would depart one hour later, so after a breakfast sandwich in Reading I took the 8:12 train instead. I also sent a text to my colleagues, so that they would be aware of my late arrival.

My estimated arrival in Coventry is now 9:22. Not ideal, but still reasonable. Unfortunately, the following announcement came on the PA after the train had rolled on slowly for a while:

“If you are wondering why we are moving slowly, this is because of a freight train hanging around the area. We will be able to overtake it shortly.”

The expected arrival at Birmingham New Street Station (final destination) would occur 20 minutes or so later than planned, according to the announcement.


Approaching Coventry:

Cheery PA Announcement: “I am sorry, but unfortunately a train is blocking our platform at Coventry Station. This means that we will not stop at Coventry or Birmingham International. So you will be joining us up in Birmingham instead!”

Great. I thought. This could not really go any worse. We were told that a train taking us to Coventry would depart 10:10, and we actually reached Birmingham just in time to take that train.


10:08 @ Birmingham New Street Station

However, the following announcement sounded at Birmingham Station: “Unfortunately the train to London Euston has been cancelled due to a fire on a train at Coventry Station. Further announcements will be made once we have more information.”

Great. I sat down waiting and after 1 h and 10 mins (11:20) I finally got onto a train that would take me on a 20 minute journey to Coventry Station.

PA Announcement by the cheery Virgin Trains steward:

“Good morning everybody. We seem to have lost our crew, so we won’t be running a catering service on this train. We seem to really have a great day!”

Two minutes later:

“I am sorry, but I forgot to tell you where we are going today. But as much as I like magical mystery tours, here are our stops on our way to London Euston….” (stops announced)


11:40 @ Coventry Station

I get to Coventry 11:40. I am very hungry and looking forward to lunch. After a few minutes of waiting in the taxi rank, I eventually catch a cab. This cab looks older than any of the other cars available. But I thought that he probably knew what he was doing.

I had been told by a colleague that the taxi journey would cost me around £15.

After getting into the car, I find out that the driver does not know where the Ericsson office at Ansty Park is, so he asks me for a post code for his sat nav.

“CV2 2TF”, I tell him, specifying the last two letters using a makeshift interpretation of the NATO alphabet.

After 40 minutes the taximeter shows £25, and still no office in sight. He is asking me repeatedly whether that really is the right postcode.

After a while, I get to see it on a note where he had written it. The note says CD2 2TF. As there is no such post code, he looked up the region CD – which apparently is quite south of Birmingham.


Around 12:45 @ The Completely Wrong Motorway

When I see a sign saying Birmingham International Airport, I realise that this is probably very wrong. The taxi driver was nice though, and it was partly my fault that he did not get the postcode right.

He switches of the taximeter when it is showing £58 (700 Swedish Kronor), saying that it would not be fair to charge me that much.


13:40 @ Ericsson, Ansty Park

After nearly two hours, and some help from my sat nav, we reach the office. As I only had £23 in cash – he was happy to accept that. I was also given a book by this Muslim driver on why you do not have to say goodbye to your brain when becoming a Christian(!). Very kind of him and I will read it properly at some point.


After Arrival

I managed to get out some of the training, although I only got a couple of hours of it. As Jonas (the other Project Management graduate from the UK) and I were departing Birmingham to Stockholm (via Copenhagen), we had to leave 17:00. This as our flight would leave Britain at 19:00.

Thankfully, our taxi found Coventry Station, and our train stopped at Birmingham International. In addition, our flights departed on time and we were ten minutes early arriving in Stockholm Arlanda. Our Stockholm taxi driver knew where our hotel was, and I hit the bed just after 1 am local time. Phew!

All this was written on Thursday night onboard the flight to the UK from Stockholm.

Today Simon has:

Listened to an announcement in Guildford about a cancelled train - that did not affect him!
Read stuff on the new Ericsson website, particularly this section
Noticed that he has all reasons to be proud of the place where he works