Guernsey to Poole to London

Posted on 2011/07/24 11:34:12 (July 2011).

[Saturday 23rd July 2011]
We were booked on the 12:35 ferry back to England today, so didn't really have much time to do anything significant in the morning. After breakfast we got our things together, checked out, and went for one last meander through the streets of St. Peter Port (by way of a Post Office to send some postcards). As a nice extra touch a marching band was going along Le Pollet as we were leaving - very thoughtful of them to lay that on for us.

Journeys home are never much fun. The ferry was delayed by about 45 minutes (something to do with a yacht race), and having very conscientiously got there in plenty of time we ended up with a long boring wait in the ferry terminal. The crossing was much, much calmer than it had been on the way over, but it was still pretty windy out on deck, and as before there wasn't much in the way of shops etc to pass the time. We had at least thought ahead and bought a baguette in a boulangerie in St. Peter Port, so at least we had something reasonable to eat.

I'd booked tickets for a train from Weymouth, with a good hour between the time when the ferry was supposed to arrive and the time when the train left - thinking we might even have time for a quick drink inbetween. As it happened though there was no way we were going to make that train. We got on the next one instead, and fortunately the guards on board were kind enough to accept our tickets, which were technically only valid on the earlier train. Rather superbly the first guard said to us "It's fine - because I want you to use the train again - if I make you buy another ticket now you probably won't bother with the train next time". What a nice man, and what a welcome bit of common sense.

It was quite a long, slow train back to London, and we eventually got back to the flat just before 8. For dinner we had spaghetti "al crudo" - I made a very simple fresh pasta sauce from the tomatoes we'd bought on Guernsey - raw, chopped, mixed with olive oil, lots of black pepper, and a touch of garlic paste and chilli paste. It was very nice.

As always whenever we go away I'm reminded just how much I like our flat - all the furniture is so comfortable, everything is where we want it to be, and thanks to some excellent 1930s institutional plumbing our shower is still better than any hotel I've ever stayed in.

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