Sussex bound .....

20th December 2017 (Wednesday) .... 07.00     We have another grey morning, but forecast is for it to break up a bit and give ‘sunny spells’ by afternoon, and it is to be warmer for the time of year.     The grey weather is, as I am, moving South. 

I am ready for the taxi, which won’t be here for another hour and a half ;  that gives me  time to unplug stuff and do the final checks.      I’ll have a short walk after breakfast.... need to check the beach before I go.

‘The Hutte’ might not be updated every day when I’m in Sussex;  it all depends on what I am doing, and what there is to write about.    My ‘project’ is to find out how much Uckfield has changed since the 1850’s.     I’ll start by going to the Uckfield Preservation Society shop;   it’s next door to a Cafe.

The next update will be from Sussex this evening. 

21.30     We (Michael me me at Kings Cross, hence the 'we') arrived in Uckfield  at 18.00.     This was one of the best journeys down I have had.    The taxi  arrived 10 minutes early;  the taxi driver was an interesting bloke, so we chatted all the way to Kirkcaldy.    The London train arrived at Kirkcaldy one minute early, and was still a minute early when when we reached Kings Cross.    

This was one of the most enjoyable journeys that I have ever had on the London trip;   I ended up sitting beside three ladies... two of whom were farmers, one from Aberdeenshire the other from north of Dundee.    After lunch we chatted all the way from York to Kings Cross.... so much that  one of the 'girls' forgot to wave to her son's house as we passed Welwyn Garden City.

From Kings Cross, Michael and I crossed to London Bridge (via the underground) to catch the Uckfield train... arriving at London Bridge with 15 minutes to spare.    Unfortunately this is when things began to go wrong:  we were going onto a route run by Southern Trains.     The train we were to leave on was ‘cancelled’, due to a malfunction, the next train was timetabled for half an hour later, but, it turned out to be the aforementioned malfunctioning train repaired version;   but after sitting in it for 20 minutes we had to leave it because it was still malfunctioning.     We eventually got onto a replacement train (at a different platform because the malfunctioning train was stuck at the original platform).    Southern trains do have comfortable seats.... apart from that, everything you read about Southern is true.  

I shall now bumble orf to bed being ever so slightly tired after a, enjoyable trip .... apart from the delay at London Bridge;  though even that was enjoyable from a people watching point of view.

Everyone is fine down here;   Janice is looking, and feeling well, and even ‘Bonnie’ (dog) recognised me after a few perfunctory sniffs.    I’ll have a better update tomorrow.