Hectic Travel Plans for Anna
Anna’s Mum (who lives on the Isle of Man) has been in hospital in Manchester for a few days, so Anna had been on standby to collect here from the hospital and escort her home once she was discharged. Anna got that call on Monday afternoon and so left work and jumped on the train to Manchester.
However, we had been having some typical autumnal weather with heavy rains and flooding all over the place. Trains were cancelled, replacement bus services were put on and Anna was making slow progress without much in the way of mobile coverage to help her. I was therefore called upon to book her (and her Mum) a hotel room in Manchester.
You’d think with the power of the interwebs at my fingertips that would be easy. But once I got home, fired up my computer and started to find a room there was no chance. There just weren’t any hotel rooms available. I later found out that there was a Conservative Party Conference in Manchester which explained things, but without a single room within 30 minutes of the hospital or the airport things were looking desperate! So, after much scouring and attempts at bookings room and even after upping the price limit to include hotels that were a little more luxurious it was looking unlikely that Anna would have anywhere to stay. In fact for the hell of it I decided not to have any sort of price cap but even if we were willing to pay over £700 for a room (which we weren’t!) there were no rooms available.
Time for plan B. Anna had yet to make it to Shrewsbury and wasn’t having much fun on the replacement bus services anyway so it made sense for her to stop there for the night. Her Mum would have to spend an extra night in the hospital bed but that had to be better than having nowhere to stay and Anna could then get the early morning train to Manchester to collect her. With a new plan formulated things started to fall into place. There were plenty of rooms available in Shrewsbury so I booked her into a Premier Inn and she soon arrived there and settled down for the night ready for an early morning start.
I think things went OK on the Tuesday. She was soon on the train to Manchester and met her Mum at the hospital. From there it was a short trip to the airport and a flight to the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man had been hit pretty badly by the flooding and there had been several major incidents to the north of the island. Thankfully all was OK at the airport and Anna and her Mum were soon at home.
Anna will stay with here for a day or two and then fly back on Thursday. Trouble is, I’m heading up to Liverpool straight after work on Thursday and will be away for the weekend. Anna will be heading back from the Isle of Man and probably won’t be back before I leave. We may cross paths somewhere, but not at the same time. Anna will probably be on the train from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth while I’m driving north to Liverpool. We have some juggling to do with vehicles as well so that we both end up with the right car in the right places and in the meantime there has been some parental juggling going on to make sure Morgan gets to school, gets fed etc.
I have even made a contingency plan for him on Thursday evening – We aren’t expecting to need it but what with the flooding and the train cancellations there is always a chance that Anna doesn’t actually make it all the way back to Aberystwyth on Thursday. By then I’ll be in Liverpool and Morgan would be home alone – Not to worry, there is a contingency plan in place and he can go to a friends house for the night if needed.
It’s all fun and games here at the mo!!! It keeps things interesting though as there’s never a ‘normal’ week and it’s all part of the fun that comes with living in the wilds of West Wales. The good news is that Anna’s Mum is feeling well and is safely back at home after her hospital treatment. There’s even a brief respite in the weather today. Blue skies and sunshine – although the weather is going to kick off again tomorrow!
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[…] were a little hectic at home as well, but that didn’t stop me […]
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[…] a traumatic trip to the Isle of Man. Fortunately Anna’s journey back was smoother than her journey there and she made all of her connections so was due to arrive in Aberystwyth just after I would leave. I […]
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Glad all worked out and that Pat is feeling ok xxx give her our love xx