Karma

I know, I know, you all want to hear about my amazing Doctor Who Experience and the Doctor Who Exhibition, read about how I almost met Peter Davison, visiting the Powell Estate, filming a new spoof, with myself playing a new character and with the facebook-popular Steven Clare as the 10th Doctor, and everything else that made this weekend so amazing.

I went through so much crap for it!!

The karma experienced this weekend was unreal and if I were you, I would keep out of ear shot until the storm has past. I'll try keep this short, as we're about to delve in abis that is my bad luck, brought on by the shambles that is Britain's privatised rail systems and my own stupidity.

The reason I'm splitting today's and tomorrows blogs into the good and the bad is so that tomorrow's blog can be totally awesome!! ...And because I haven't taken the pictures of the camera yet and you know you want pictures!!

So the plan was the go to London on Saturday, the 26th of February, go to the Doctor Who Experience, hang out at Steven's, do a bit of filming, return home on the Sunday. Then we found out my mums birthday celebrations were on the Saturday. But that was fine. I decided to go down on the Friday, hang out, film, go to the Experience on the Saturday and be back in Birmingham in time for the party.

This sounded like a better plan as I wouldn't have the stress of travelling on the Saturday and getting to the experience on time. So, we booked it all in advance. The coach down and a 1st class train back, so I could really chill out on the Saturday in the 1st class lounge, have a couple of drinks, chill out before the party.

As it turned out, the Saturday was sold out for the Experience! Luckily we'd phones and checked a few days before, and luckily I'll already booked tickets to go down on the Friday, so we bought the last remaining 3 tickets for Friday afternoon. What luck! Unfortunately everyone we had invited on the Saturday could not make the Friday. That was a little disappointing and we were left with a ticket spare and £20 down. Luckily, Steven asked his friend James who was totally awesome and we had plenty to talk about.

Now we were set for what was shaping up to be the best weekend ever, and it actually was!! But I'll save the good stuff for tomorrow. They'll be the parts I'll remember for years to come. What I'm about to type should only stay with me until my complaint is made with London Midlands rail services.

Over excited and under-prepared, I only went shopping to complete my costume on the Thursday, but luckily found what I needed and barely slept the Thursday night. Then, predictably, I over slept that morning. Jumping out of bed like lightening, it was a rush to the coach (especially with Birmingham's bus services suffering severely with the cuts, despite rising prises) but I made it! With enough time to go to Tescos and buy wrap and drink. I was too tight to stretch to chocolate, which was stupid and I later regretted. I just like my money were it is.

Oddly and unrelated a friend of mine was also going to London this weekend by coach, I found out Thursday afternoon. I got all excited that we might be on the same coach, but his left an hour earlier. No way I was getting up that early!

Finally arriving at Victoria, before the Doctor, I found the most amazing thing in Tie Rack! I'll shoe you the photos tomorrow! So it was looking like a good day. Steven looked great and we did some running, just to show off his coat. We visited the Powell Estate and another tube stop that has it's own police telephone box, which was so cool. Unfortunately the Powell Estate had huge holes in the ground all over the place and huge fences blocking you from falling in. I hadn't managed to find any hair dye before coming down, but I had picked up a spray on black dye just as Boots was closing the day before. The spray is only supposed to last one night so I waited until the actual day to use it, in case it rubbed off, so we used it at the Powell Estate before filming. Unfortunately it was way too windy and most of it just blew away. That was a waste of time. By this point, quite early in the day, but having already experience more than I usually do in a day, my feet hurt like hell! In my lack of preparation, I hadn't packed plasters, knowing I was going to be wearing these stupid black boots and my feet were covered in blisters. We hadn't even got to the actual event!

At the TARDIS we met up with Steven's friend James, who works in a similar field to me so we had plenty to talk about while Steven ran ahead (very quickly looking very super hero-ish as his coat blew in the wind) to get the tickets. We were now running late for the Experience, or at least cutting it very very close. We had stopped to do some filming with the TARDIS, but we didn't know we were going to have to wait half an hour for the next train to the Olympia.

Arriving at the Olypia, it all looks a bit formal and not particularly inviting. Not dissimilar to Birmingham's NEC really. I'm guessing it's usually used for more business-y purposes. Then once we received out £20 tickets, we had to pay £1 pure item in the cloak room. This was disappointing given I had my sleeping bag, over night stuff and didn't want to wear my coat inside. In our haste and with everything moving so fast, I hadn't even managed to get money out. The cash point at the Tesco's that morning had been typically out of order. I still owe James the money and feel quite guilty about it as I'd only known him a half hour at this point.

The following three hours were absolutely amazing!! It was well worth every penny and aptly named 'The Experience', because I can't even see the point in attending another event. It can now be out done.

We were there long enough that we were asked to leave. They were in no way rude or rushed up, but just explained to us they had a private party in that night, which we had sort of realised once they started setting up the wine and beers within the exhibition itself. As we were leaving I actually pushed the boat out to treat myself to a Doctor Who mug to remember the experience by. Of course I left this at Steven's house the following day so that was a waste of time.

The train to Steven's was painful in the boots and Harrison, my hard drive, had now caused an irritated bruise on my back from where it was placed in my ruck sack. I hadn't packed well. I was so unprepared. The train back was awful, with us having to sit on the floor for lack of seats and we kept having to get up to let people go past. I was expressing to Steven how much I was looking forward to my first class train experience the following day when it suddenly hit me; I'd left my tickets at home.

I never forget my tickets because I always collect at the station, but a couple of weeks earlier I'd had my card blocked and haven't bothered to sort it yet, so having paid on a different card, I had the tickets posted out. I was absolutely gutted and it really put a downer on the end of our amazing day, but the day wasn't over yet.

I probably should have mentioned at the start of this blog that this was all for Steven's birthday!! It was also coincidently James' birthday, and I was returning home on the Saturday for my mums birthday, and all this meant I hadn't got to go to Lauren's party, also celebrating her birthday. Well, on the Friday night, we went to the pub to celebrate the birthday of one of Steven's friends. Me and Steven shared two shamefully embarrassing games of pool, of which we won one each, but it was so good to finally get a drink and chill out. The bouncers were as crap as usual, proving it's not just Birmingham who has to put up with them. One had a go at me for trying to walk up a flight of stairs with glass on it. Why didn't he just clean it up or put a sign up? I didn't know. I was concentrating on the drinks I was carrying. I didn't put up an argument as there's just no point with bouncers. They'll immediately assume you're too pissed, whether you've just walked in or not. I was literally holding my first pint of the night. So I walked round and used the other stairs, in full view of him having a go and starting on two other guys, who were just trying to use the stairs. The bouncer was clearly looking for a fight.

We didn't manage to get there until almost 10 and still hadn't eaten since the Tescos wrap on the coach. I really should have bought those chocolates to eat during the day. James had very kindly bought me a cup of tea after the Experience. I really owe him one. Anyway, 2 drinks later we were heading back to Steven's as the others carried on to the clubs.

Luckily we'd managed to stop at boots and buy plasters, which were applied the second we walked through the door while Steven put the pizza's in. I was still stressing over how I was going to get home, trying to get in touch with friends in London to see if I could get a lift back and googling train and coach fares. Steven very kindly indulged me by sitting through 3 episodes of the X Files to calm me down. He really made the whole day amazing and tomorrow's blog will reflect that far more than today's wining! Steven had never seen the X-Files, which is a crime in itself and had to be put right! By 3am it was time to sleep.

***

It was 10 o'clock before Steven woke me as his alarm hadn't worked and you will have never seen me move so fast, straight on the phone to the rail services to see if they could re-print my tickets. They couldn't. I asked if my mum could provide them at New Street station, but I had to have them on the train with me. They were entirely un-helpful and didn't care. I would have to pay the full £55 ticket prise for a standard seat if I wanted to travel that day. I tried to get in touch with Kailash but he was getting a coach on the Monday, so I'd miss my mums birthday and the Birmingham Carling Cup Final if I waited until then. Steven's not really in to Football and he already had birthday plans for the rest of the weekend, so in all likeliness I would have missed it. I tried to phone Matt, who was in town for Lauren's birthday in the hope that he was getting a lift back to Birmingham. He wasn't answering. I knew he was with Hannah, but her phone was off, so I facebooked Lauren, but predictably she wasn't online as it was her birthday party. It was looking more and more likely I would have to pay up for new tickets.

Then my dad hitched a genius plan.

He was out shopping when I called, so I had some toast, continued to do the call round to see who else was travelling, until he called back. I even called Matt's mum, hoping he could bring the tickets down for me on the way to the party, but his mum informed me he'd left on the Friday and was travelling by train. So I waited for the call.

The plan was to give the tickets to someone at New Street, travelling down to London, and I'd meet them at Euston. So we had a plan to get me my tickets and although still worried it might not work, my back up plans were to beg a coach driver at the Carling Cup Final at Wembley the next day, or book the £9 Monday train we'd found online. So, waiting for the second call, when my Dad would tell me who had my tickets and when they would arrive at Euston, Steven and I completed out video plans for the day. That was an adventure in itself.

The shoot included filming on a bus, but we had each spent all our money in the pub, so we set out to find a cash machine. We found 2 that both charged more than if we used out last pennies for a single bus fair to town, to use a free cash machine and then buy a day pass, which I thought was ridiculous and refused to pay, but we needed the money. A very helpful lady who heard me moaning said Iceland do cash back. So I bought some lucozade and chocolate. They didn't have any normal sized bottles of coke. I'm not a big fan of lucazade, but I had to buy something and figured it would probably do me some good.

Eventually we started filming and finished in the nick of time for my dads phone call. It would have taken over two hours to move the footage on to Harrison, so the footage is all currently with Steven, so the bruise in my back was for nothing, and the blisters on my feet were still growing as I was still in costume by this point.

Turns out the trains from Birmingham to London on take 1 hour and a half, and I had a train to wait for, 40 minutes on that train, then had to figure out the tubes to get there. The station at Steven's had a ticket machine, out of order, and a ticket desk with no staff. It was a total joke. So I sat on the train, panicking over my lack of a ticket, worrying about my other tickets, checking the time every 30 seconds and my phone battery was dying after my over use of it. That didn't matter though. I could charge it in the 1st class lounge, if I got my tickets.

Arriving at Victoria station, I ran to the barriers but of course couldn't pass and they pointed me in the direction of a pay station. £18 later, I had 13 minutes to get to Euston from Victoria. I asked one member of staff how to get there and he totally blanked me. I asked another and he totally blanked me. I tried to check a map but couldn't find either Victoria or Euston on it. Asked a third member of staff and finally got an answer. Platform 3. I ran to the tube and jumped on in the nick of time. Whether it was the right one, I hadn't had time to check. I asked a stranger, but he was Russian and didn't understand. I asked someone else but they were French and didn't understand. I asked someone else who was African and luckily he worked for the tubes and was really lovely, and I was on the right one.

I arrived with 3 minutes to go and ran, still in costume, to the platform and met the wonderful stranger with my tickets. I was quite out of breath by this point, but managed to pull myself together, feeling so much relief as the tickets were placed into my hand. I said thank you, shook his hand and gave him the tube pass I'd just had to purchase, so we went for a drink together. It was great. We sat in a pub full of other Brummies, all preparing for the game the next day. Unfortunately the pub didn't have food on due to lack of staff.

So, feeling much calmer, feeling very silly for causing so much stress for Steven, my parents, and this poor stranger carrying the tickets. Now I could relax in the first class lounge as I was 2 hours early for my train and look forward to my 1st class meal. But no, the lounge closes at 5 on weekends!! And I had sat in the pub until 5!! A nice man outside the pub randomly told me how pretty I was though and then decided to share his life story as I made my way to the closed lounge. I was gutted. Least I had my meal to look forward to, as I was now starving. But I checked with a member of staff. Turns out they don't do that on weekends either! It was biscuits and crisps. So frustrated and hungry, I gave in and went for a shitty Burger King. They chips really are foul, but I was so hungry.

Then Hannah finally called back. It didn't matter much now as I had my tickets, but I could see how Lauren's party was going. Turns out it was a pocket dial. And another one. And another one. I was sat in Burger King yelling "Hannah" down the phone to try get her attention. I tried to call Matt to tell her but his phone was still off, so I ended up calling her boyfriend, who was elsewhere, but might have had more numbers for people at the party. Luckily he did and the calls stopped.

2 hours later, and very annoyed and bored, I finally got on the train, 10 minutes early.

10 minutes early, 1st class ticket and I still only just managed to nap the last seat. People piled in to the 1st class seating area as the other areas filled up. The train was so packed people were asked to get off and use an alternate route. I couldn't do that as I had a connection to catch. This was odd in itself as I've never known there to be a change between London and Birmingham. I also thought I'd booked a Virgin train, which this was not. The internet had also said the change was at Coventry. It was not. After bragging about the 1st class experience to Steven, I know felt very stupid, and also like we were all being punished for booking cheap advance tickets. They say nothing good comes for free. It doesn't come if you pay for it either.

At this point I very much regretted being too tight to pay the 30p to pee at the station. I didn't see why I should have to pay for the toilets when I should be chilling out in a lounge, with toilets, and free coke and biscuits. Now I was having to struggle against angry commuters, a bike, suitcases, a cat, screaming toddlers, just to get to the toilets that were out of order!!!

Once the train set off, people travelling to Birmingham were asked to move to the rear of the train, which included my coach, which meant more people. They were really ramming us in, with people now sat on peoples laps and still filling the isles. We never saw a single member of staff and I didn't get my tea and biscuits. I was now quite please we'd gone for the cash-back option so I had chocolate and lucozade with me, and so pleased I'd had that burger king. Just a shame it had been burger king.

Even when we all switched at Northampton, with the huge stampede of struggling and frustrated customers, we never saw a single member of staff and were not helped to find the connecting train leaving in 5 minutes. This train was only 4 coaches long, so again, seating was an issue. Luckily 1st class was left slightly more alone, but still no drinks or biscuits. And I was still in costume! The plan had been to change on the train as I was going straight to my mums birthday bash but there was no way I was risking finding another London Midlands train after the state of the previous one, so I decided to wait until my final connecting train at New Street.

The train then proceeded to stop at every single stop between Northampton and Birmingham New Street. The same screaming toddler was now kicking and punching the floor of the 1st class and suddenly our couch wasn't moving at all. Having stopped at Berkswell, there was an announcement made to apologise for the delay. Apparently this was 'due to a fatality earlier in the day'.

From Euston to New Street, it took 2 and a half hours. I had actually left Steven's at 3 o'clock and still had one more train to go!!

Pegging it for my final train, I made it, and got changed just as fast. Having now covered over 150 miles of the country, I still hadn't seen a single member of staff. This was unfortunate given I may as well not have bothered with tickets and there were two men arguing on the train. One man wanted the other man to call him a taxi. The man with the phone gave the angry man his mobile, but the angry man couldn't find any buttons on it so couldn't dial for a taxi. The more wound up he got, the more he yelled, but the man who owned the phone wouldn't call him a taxi. I don't know whether they were together, but the angry man was rather threatening. I just wanted my pint at this point, a lot.

I was almost home now and had one final stretch of walking to do, uphill, ruck sack on, when I got a text from Steven that didn't help my mood! But amusing none the less. He'd found out who was at the private party at the Doctor Who Experience; Peter Davison!! If I'd known that I would have flashed them my BBC badge and blagged we were with them!

Finally at the party, it was great. Amazing. The band were fantastic. But something tells me they won't be coming back as there were two fights that broke out. We've never seen trouble in that pub before! It just wasn't my day.

But the lager was great and already on the table for me. Awesome.

Today, I'm very much in pain when walking from the blisters but the bruises are subsiding and the black hair paint came out fine.

Then the Blues won the Carling Cup!! Amazing!! Woo! We broke out the champagne :)

And I think that's all my moaning done. I shall now reiterate this to the train people.

1st class really isn't all it's cracked up to be.