According to the Mass Observation people's tweet ...
Some great
Mine focussed much more my journey from Uckfield to Birmingham and back, mixing the way I used technology with observations about the countryside I saw from the train window.
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| Oxted Station - on the way home |
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| ... had a fabulous Margarita at @Bens_Place |
One Day Diary
I live in Uckfield, Sussex with my Mother. I am 53 years old. I am single. I work as a training consultant. This wasn’t a typical day because I did a round trip to Birmingham to run a virtual session, which means that my day was so much more focussed on travel than usual. Usually I work at home, or travel to Birmingham and stay overnight in a hotel.
6am
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Got up. Mum got me coffee.
Dressed in reasonably smart office clothes. Blue and white jacket, red
white and blue shoes, white top.
Breakfast comprised yoghurt and a papaya with lime.
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7am
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Left home and walked to the station about a mile away. Got cash from the bank machine on the way.
Also bought newspaper (Guardian) and Private Eye from independent newsagent.
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7:15am
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At Uckfield station purchased ticket from lady at ticket office. Nice
that she knows my usual routes as well as I do. £65.80 for return to
Birmingham International via London.
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7:30am
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Caught London Bridge train (Southern).
On way, noticed that woods were really blue with bluebells. Think I
caught a glimpse of a purple orchid on the embankment. Browsed through cartoons in Private Eye and
browsed through the Guardian. Interesting article on the election of the new
London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. It said that Greater London was created in 1963 in
the hope that the “blue donut” of the outer suburbs would overwhelm the then
“red” centre. Then talked about how control has switched to and from
Conservative and Labour. Private Eye cover lampooned the Prime Minister’s
scare tactics on European referendum.
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8:20am
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At Hurst Green, got off train.
Usual crowds of school children needing to get on the train. Two very
polite teenagers in wine red blazers got off at the same time as me. I walked along the platform to get a seat
near the front of the train. Noticed that a cherry tree on the other side had
dropped pink petals, which were lying in drifts along the platform. Picked up free Metro newspaper. Main story
about Boris Johnson (former Mayor of
London) hitting out at Prime Minister, David Cameron, about Euro referendum.
Browsed Facebook and Twitter on my Samsung Smart Phone, noticed tweet
about Mass Observation. Tweeted about what I was doing.
Got onto Victoria train. On
the way into Victoria, noticed that Battersea Power Station no longer has its
chimneys. It looks very wrong like that.
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9:15am
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Followed crowd through Victoria. Two heavily armed Police Officers.
Both tall and watchful. One had beard.
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9:20
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Down the steps into the underground. Went through automatic
barrier. Not very crowded. Went to Victoria Northbound. Train came
quickly. Some holiday makers with baggage amongst commuters. A few younger
men wearing shorts. Some people listening to music through ear-bud type headphones.
A few people wearing the more fashionable chunky headphones.
Got off tube at Euston. While on escalator noticed young Muslim woman
in robes wearing a bright pink set of the chunky headphones.
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9:40
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Got on 9:43 Virgin train to Glasgow, in order to get to Birmingham
International.
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9:50
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Fire up laptop and start clearing down inbox. Two business men joined
me at table. The man sitting next to me let me plug in on his side of the
table.
Glance out of the countryside from time to time. Very green and lush.
The man next to me bought £8 Wifi access for 24hr.
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10:15
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Stop at Milton Keynes, group of businessmen opposite leave, an
elderly Scottish couple came in with a younger woman. They were helped by
Virgin Staff.
Fields bright yellow with rapeseed crop.
Wind turbines seen towering over fields.
Announcement for shop includes apple and contactless payments.
People riding horses in the sunshine.
At Coventry, start packing up my laptop. Then wait by the door for
the next stop.
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11:00
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Leave the station through automatic barrier, which swallows my
ticket. Must remember to keep the other half for expenses.
Walk past taxi rank and pause to look at the flowers on a small
grassy area. Daisies, Cowslips, buttercups and forget-me-nots.
Walk quickly along to business park. Very hot. At entrance to business park, I notice
fabulous blossom on tree. Blossom very
good this year.
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11:15
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Get into office. Exchange a few words with colleagues. Mainly about the issues that stopped the
Customer’s virtual conferencing software working with my home broadband. Then
go to meeting room so I can do a test run on virtual conferencing software. Deal with new emails while waiting.
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11:30
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Test run successful. Also discussed next steps.
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12:00
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Go to get a snack lunch at a nearby garage. On the way noticed lovely
Hawthorn blossoms and green alkanet.
Took photos and tweeted one.
Lunch comprised Salmon sandwich, mango chunks and a Can of Coca-Cola.
It cost £4.59. Tweeted picture of lunch for mass observation.
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12:45
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After eating lunch, I print out some training materials and prepared
for this afternoon’s virtual session.
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2 pm
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Ran the virtual session to share information about changes to
computer system with offshore trainers.
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3:45 pm
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Finished virtual session; sent reference guides to one of the
participants and sent an email with a query to one of our own experts. I
gathered up my stuff and walked to the station. Noticed blue flowers by the
roadside.
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4:25 pm
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Just managed to catch the 4:20 Virgin train to Euston, which had been
slightly delayed. Shared a table with
people connected with the Open University.
I opened my laptop and started working through questions that people
on the virtual session had asked.
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5:05 pm
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Stopped at Milton Keynes. The Open University people got off. More
people got in. Only just enough seats so much shuffling and getting in and
out of seats.
Later, I look up and see narrow boats lined up alongside a canal.
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5:40 pm
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Got to Euston. Escalators to Northern line are being refurbished so
very crowded getting down to the platforms but not too bad once there. A
Busker was playing an electronic harp. Gave him a pound. Tube train not too crowded. Nearly
everyone had a seat.
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6.08pm
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Got to London Bridge main line a couple of minutes after the Uckfield
train left. Waited for the next East Grinstead train. Bought a snack to eat on the way home. A
roll with bacon, brie and cranberry plus a bag of crisps cost £5. Waited for some time, then the boards
showed the East Grinstead train was coming into platform 10.
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18:23
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As train drew out of the station, ate roll while looking back at the
buildings. Could recognise the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie. Saw top of
Tower Bridge. Seems that the old,
familiar landmarks are being swamped. Read the Evening Standard until Oxted
where I got out. News full of
politicians bickering about EU referendum.
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6:30pm
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Waited at Oxted until 18:37 Uckfield train. While on train completed the questions I
had been dealing with earlier. When I
finished, enjoyed looking over countryside in gold light of low sun. Noticed progress had been made on
lengthening some of the platforms.
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7:21pm
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Got off train. Strong smell of wild garlic as I left the
station. Walked up hill as far as
Ben’s Place, a new cocktail bar, Ben’s Place. Had a Margarita before walking
home. Staff very friendly.
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9pm
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At home, greeted Mum and we went into the garden to look at her new
plants. Loved walking on the damp grass in my bare feet.
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9:15pm
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Used personal laptop to check some TV info for mum. Checked train
times for Sunday. Tweeted about my cocktail, which was retweeted by bar. Played
round with Twitter and Facebook for a bit. Had a chocolate drink.
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11pm
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Went to bed.
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