It started at Woking Station at 17:25 on Friday - there we all stood a motley collection of expectant Railair passengers with flights to catch at Heathrow that evening. Whilst I savour fresh air, standing in the rain with water dribbling down by neck next to an informative notice stating "This Room is Closed" on the door of the waiting room was unpleasant and made only slightly tolerable by the excuse for me to examine closely two BMW G650 models parked behind the building - one was a 2004 model Dakar that looked somehow nicer than the current model and the other a 2000 standard model with funny looking engine casings and front fairing.
It had transpired that 17:30 bus had departed at 17:20, according to a Virgin pilot - he had seen it driving out of the station courtyard as he had emerged. Station staff were clueless - operated by National Express. Naional Express staff said nothing to do with us - it's Railair. I have only ever missed a flight once before - from Stansted and that was the M25's fault. At 18:30 I raised a shout from the taxi rank "anyone for Heathrow? - we can split the fare!". The Virgin pilot and a smartly dressed management consultant type lunged forward and we arranged to pay the cooperative driver £10 each. The Virgin pilot was meeting his daughter at Heathrow to fly her to New York! The Management consultant type was returning home to Gozo, where he is able to live for £200 a month! He commutes to England every month and stays for8 days a to work. I do enjoy these chance enounters. It's started me thinking...Anyway, British Airways were 4 cabin attendants short so the flight was delayed 2 hours. Total Journey time Guildford to Frankfurt 7 hours.
The reason for today's picture? Simple - the second notable sight of today's motorway drive from Germany to Surrey was observed somewhere near Bruges where I chanced upon a motorcycle and side car driven by a bearded man bespectacled in goggles, sporting a jet style helmet, and with a dog standing nose to wind in the side car thoroughly enjoying herself. The Belgiums are eccentric and that's great! The first notable sight was a LJK Setrightesque figure clad in smart one piece leathers and sporting a Ducati 749 who swept into the service area where I was sipping a coffee, hopped off his machine . After dehelmeting, he lit up his pipe and puffed contentedly for 5 minutes before jumping back on the 749 and performing an extremely accelerative exit onto the E40 probably hitting the ton on the slip road. Very nice to watch. He was probably stopping off on his way back from Church.
Oh yes, journey time Frankfurt to Guildford via Norfolk Lines 11 hours.
Did the Ducati pilot have slippers and a sam browne belt to go with his pipe?
ReplyDeletenot noticeable - I was a little distracted by the white vapour coming out of his exhausts long after the motor was stopped... no plus fours either.
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