Travel in style

I can recommend the first class carriages on the Great Western railway, very comfy, very quiet and free snacks and drinks. It does cost a bit more, in fact if you book it far enough ahead it costs a huge £6 more. Which when you think how much a cup of tea on the train normally costs having a couple included really covers the cost of the ticket. The train was also ahead of time at every station. I've never heard anything like it, well except in Germany maybe.

Paddington station is a much more pleasant place out side of the rush hour I can tell you. At least you can move about and there is no rush for the train when the platform is announced. This is a very odd and slightly un-British event. Normally people over here are only happy in a queue, but at the station you don't know where to queue as they don't let you know which platform your train is at until about five minutes before departure. This means there is a huge knot of people around the departure board who all suddenly make a rush to the train and form a scrum to get on. Quite a sight I can tell you.

They have moved the statue of Paddington for some reason. He used to sit opposite platform 4 in the middle of everything. Now he's stuck under the stairs by Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Bit of a comedown for the bear that the station is named after. Possibly.

I have also found out that it is a lot easier for me to come back to the UK and work than I thought, in fact the GDC were remarkably helpful for the first time ever. I just have to fill in a 20 page form and give them £460! Still at least I know that my options to return here are still open.

Mind you the weather is making me realise how lucky I am in Oz. This morning we've had fog, rain, sun and snow. And it's only 12.30. I'll be glad to get back to the sun, even though it's 40º over there.

So just a couple of days left then back to Oz. What to do with that time? More chocolate and beer then I suppose.