A series of unfortunate people

For all those who have been checking this blog to find out where I am and what I am doing - well, I made it to Edinburgh! I will write more on that later, but first I wanted to share with you a description of several people I met on my way to London - they all seemed to be rather miserable people, but hopefully you will find the tales amusing!

Right, so imagine me having an incredibly hectic morning just trying to finish packing. My suitcases were pretty much packed the night before, I just had to finish packing boxes which I was going to ship to Edinburgh. I was stressed, sweaty, and struggling to even close one of my suitcases. Thankfully, my friend Tom provided an extremely calm and helpful presence. Eventually I realized I was going to miss my train that I had booked to London for only £7 (Unfortunate event #1), but I didn't let it bother me too much. After all, it was my own fault for not having finished packing the night before (instead I went out for dinner with friends) and now here I was. So the new plan was that Tom and I were going to take a taxi into Weymouth, first stopping at a post office and then stopping at a cash machine to get money to pay for a taxi and then going to a restaurant for lunch.

Unfortunate person #1: The Taxi Booker Lady

So, in line with our plan, I called a taxi company to get someone to pick us up. I asked the taxi booker lady very nicely if the taxi driver could call me on my mobile once he got to our centre, so that I could meet him at the gate to let him in. That way, he could park right outside my chalet and I wouldn't have to carry those 5 heavy boxes up the hill. Ingenious plan, I thought.

"What do you mean "call""? she asked incredulously.

"Um, well if he could just phone me on my mobile to -"

"We don't call." (spoken as if I was a crazy person asking for gold nuggets in my coffee).

...later in the conversation....

"Are you paying by cash?"

"Um, yeah." In my head I wondered if it would be possible to pay by card, but was so stunned by their non-ability to call, I just decided to let that pass.

After the phone call ended I talked to Tom and we decided if I could possibly pay by card that would be better because then we wouldn't have to make that extra stop. So, I called the taxi booker lady back.

"Hi, I just called about a taxi?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if I could possibly pay by card?"

"We don't accept card." (again spoken as if I was asking for gold nuggets in my coffee)

"Well, why the #$£% did you ask if I would be paying by cash then? What other form of payment would I be using - pebbles?!?! Arghhhhhhhhh!" and then I slammed the phone down.

... actually, in reality, my response was:

"Oh."


~More to follow~