Back to Exeter
Jan. 5th, 2016 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylRather drawn out journey back to Exeter after I decided to leave Coventry an hour earlier than necessary to take advantage of the offer of a lift to the station before pater went off for his Tuesday bike ride.
Thus I spent an hour in Birmingham, pottering round the shops in the centre, and taking the time to checkout the new New Street. The station is a big improvement on the old one, not least because it features a large atrium and plenty of natural light. The change that threw me on my first trip through — the way the the blue and yellow overpasses are split, so that you can only access six of the platforms from each zone — makes more sense, espeically now that I know that the other overpass on the western side, towards the B end of the platforms, allows access to everything.
Ironically, having arrived very early, I discovered my train was actually running half an hour behind schedule — the automatic excuse generator claimed it was due to the train leaving the depot late. But the journey, when we did finally leave, was very smooth and although the trail was quite busy to start with, it emptied out at Bristol, by which point we'd made up something like ten minutes.
When we got into Exeter, the weather was nice enough that I was able to walk home — I'd been planning to take the bus if it was raining. I managed to schlepp myself and my baggage, which never felt heavier, up the unpleasantly steep St David's Hill, and made it home to my distinctly cold flat in time for a late lunch.
Thus I spent an hour in Birmingham, pottering round the shops in the centre, and taking the time to checkout the new New Street. The station is a big improvement on the old one, not least because it features a large atrium and plenty of natural light. The change that threw me on my first trip through — the way the the blue and yellow overpasses are split, so that you can only access six of the platforms from each zone — makes more sense, espeically now that I know that the other overpass on the western side, towards the B end of the platforms, allows access to everything.
Ironically, having arrived very early, I discovered my train was actually running half an hour behind schedule — the automatic excuse generator claimed it was due to the train leaving the depot late. But the journey, when we did finally leave, was very smooth and although the trail was quite busy to start with, it emptied out at Bristol, by which point we'd made up something like ten minutes.
When we got into Exeter, the weather was nice enough that I was able to walk home — I'd been planning to take the bus if it was raining. I managed to schlepp myself and my baggage, which never felt heavier, up the unpleasantly steep St David's Hill, and made it home to my distinctly cold flat in time for a late lunch.
