tenpastmidnight blog
Making hay while the sun shines
» Sunday, March 21, 2004 «
Contracting
I have a contracting job, which is great, and it's in Leamington Spa, which is not, being 145 miles away from Brighton.
The trip wasn't too bad, considering it involved a train, tube, another train, then a bus. At London Euston a guard advised me to wait for the Virgin Train to Coventry rather than go on the Silverlink, which stopped many more places and was an older train. There was a Virgin train at the station, but only a few minutes to get it and I opted to go for the next one, which was a mistake because it meant I missed the bus service operating between Coventry and Leamington Spa and had a 40-odd minute wait for the next bus. Unfortunately, I exhausted Coventry Station's delights about two minutes after getting there.
I've been to places let down by their train station before. The area around Brighton Station is the worst looking part of the centre of town. Coventry also seems to be one of those places. The station is pretty grim, the views out of it being of 70s industrial-style blocks of flats of aging poured concrete and glass. I got a very bad first impression of the place, but when the bus took us around the corner, within a hundred yards we were in a very pretty little English town, then chugged out in to the country and along to Leamington Spa. Whoever ruined the area around Coventry Station really needs to be dragged through the town so the locals can rightfully flog them for bringing such an eyesore to their lovely area.
All in, the journey up here took about five hours and once I was in to the hotel, or rather, another hotel owned by the same landlord, I went for a look around. Once I'd found where I'll be working, which seems to be on the main high street, I had a wander about and seem to have now seen most of Leamington Spa. I found the Town Hall, the old Spa building, some of the bit of greenery (rather dark) and... well... that seems to be about it. I checked the tourist map by the Spa building and I've been almost everywhere on it, although some of it will undoubtedly look better with more daylight.
On the positive side, there is a selection of different places to eat. On the negative side, I may die of boredom by the end of the contract... or indeed the end of the week.
(I'm using my mobile and BlueTooth adaptor to access the web from my laptop... and grief it feels slow. Broadband... you can never go back!)
The trip wasn't too bad, considering it involved a train, tube, another train, then a bus. At London Euston a guard advised me to wait for the Virgin Train to Coventry rather than go on the Silverlink, which stopped many more places and was an older train. There was a Virgin train at the station, but only a few minutes to get it and I opted to go for the next one, which was a mistake because it meant I missed the bus service operating between Coventry and Leamington Spa and had a 40-odd minute wait for the next bus. Unfortunately, I exhausted Coventry Station's delights about two minutes after getting there.
I've been to places let down by their train station before. The area around Brighton Station is the worst looking part of the centre of town. Coventry also seems to be one of those places. The station is pretty grim, the views out of it being of 70s industrial-style blocks of flats of aging poured concrete and glass. I got a very bad first impression of the place, but when the bus took us around the corner, within a hundred yards we were in a very pretty little English town, then chugged out in to the country and along to Leamington Spa. Whoever ruined the area around Coventry Station really needs to be dragged through the town so the locals can rightfully flog them for bringing such an eyesore to their lovely area.
All in, the journey up here took about five hours and once I was in to the hotel, or rather, another hotel owned by the same landlord, I went for a look around. Once I'd found where I'll be working, which seems to be on the main high street, I had a wander about and seem to have now seen most of Leamington Spa. I found the Town Hall, the old Spa building, some of the bit of greenery (rather dark) and... well... that seems to be about it. I checked the tourist map by the Spa building and I've been almost everywhere on it, although some of it will undoubtedly look better with more daylight.
On the positive side, there is a selection of different places to eat. On the negative side, I may die of boredom by the end of the contract... or indeed the end of the week.
(I'm using my mobile and BlueTooth adaptor to access the web from my laptop... and grief it feels slow. Broadband... you can never go back!)
