Hello!
I thought I would end all of the wonder (for those of you that were unaware) with some stats from the last 731 days of my life:
1) To clarify: the CrossCountry travel minutes were a count down from my time spent on the CrossCountry rail network travelling between Birmingham New Street and Reading--> old job.
2) I have spent approximately (and not approximately like +/- 10%, more like +/- <1%):
216 days in 2010 and 203 days in 2011/12 travelling between Birmingham and Reading.
This = 46,224 miles in 2010 + 43,442 miles in 2011/12= 89,666 total travel miles: also taking into account time spent travelling from Craig's parents vs. our new house. That is 3.6 times the circumference of the earth at the equator! I wish I had the passport stamps to show for it.
216 travel days of 330 door to door minutes= 71,280 travel minutes= 49.5 full 24 hour days in 2010
108 travel days of 330 door to door minutes & 95 travel days at 350 door to door minutes= 68,890 travel minutes in 2011/12= 47.9 full 24 hour days in 2011/12.
Therefore, (97.4 full 24 hour days/ 731 days in the last two years)*100= 13.3% of the last two years of my life travelling between somewhere in Birmingham and my post in Reading.
£5372.40 in 2010 and £5284.40 in 2011 and £530.40 in 2012= 11,187.20£ from Jan 2010 - today. About the cost of an around the world cruise where I would have got the passport stamps to show for it.
So, what I have learned in this time?
-What a Reading and Leamington Spa accent sounds like
-if you punch the train manager in the face, you will cancel all remaining services on that line (not that I punched the train manager, but I was on the train where someone did)
-where the carriage doors are on platforms 1,2,3, and 11 at New St and 4,7, and 8 in Reading
-that the CrossCountry carriage B has extra table seats, but cutbacks, they only put the carriage on when it is inevitably dead and leave it off on busy Friday night travel
-you can claim for some of your money back with the Delay Repay form when you "meet with delay" for +30 minutes...29 minutes and your are SOL
-that it is not that easy to have your text printed in the Metro
-there is a black spot in reception between Banbury and Leamington Spa, just when you go to click "pay" on your online shopping transactions
What will I miss:
-the English countryside at dawn when it's frosty and foggy
-my 165minute of me time on the way home
-my solid Coventry - Didcot nap in the AM in the quiet coach
-reading the Metro on the way
-sneaky M&S wine and cheese on the way home every now and again
-M&S prawn cocktail and house salad
-watching two seasons of CSI, two seasons of CSI:NY, two seasons of House, two seasons of Peep Show, three seasons of Weeds, the Mighty Boosh, and the IT Crowd
I won't miss:
-5:40 am and less than 7 hours sleep in my memory foam bed
-train (station) loos
-erratic AC on the train
-erratic mobile broadband signals
-my travel expense
-loud talkers in the quiet coach
-getting home at 10pm when I have to work with our evening panel just to get back up again in the a.m.
And what does all of this really mean?
That I do now officially have a new job in the same company in Birmingham. Hooray!! Well, sad, too because I truly am leaving behind a fantastic group of colleagues who would be fantastic friends in an area of study that I truly love! I am now doing something different; more research and development orientated where I will be attempting to channel the Oompa Loompa for the next few years of my life.
This also means that I now officially have more time (and money) to spend with YOU! So book a visit: your room is waiting :)
