Skip to main content

The first steps are the hardest (we hope)

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, it was. Not only was the prematurely blackened sky lit by the fireworks of lightning, there was thunder under our roof as well. Baby Alex wouldn't settle.

The start to our trip began poorly indeed. The morning itself was enjoyable, as we spent the morning up in Sydney's north dropping off our dog Kita and my mother at my brother's house and celebrating my niece's second birthday. But on the way back Alex became steadily crankier. I don't think he's ever been so upset for such a long time and I fear he has taken ill.

Our plan was to catch buses and trains to the Formule 1 hotel near the domestic airport. However, Alex's constant crying delayed our last minute packing. Outside, a previously clear day had taken an ugly turn with the onset of a powerful storm. Eventually, it was clear that we would need to order a taxi.

The taxi arrived, but with only a child seat and not the promised infant capsule. Left with little choice, for once I was glad a taxi driver kept to the speed limits. At least Alex slept a little.

He was back whinging when we entered the hotel and didn't stop until after 11:30 pm. I had bought us a very late dinner of McDonalds, which was surprisingly quiet in compared with the adjacent Krispy Kreme Donut shop and finally we could relax. But I don't think that I'll stay in a Formule 1 again, there's just nothing particularly comfortable about it, nothing special, which is fair enough as they don't advertise otherwise.

I did see the Iraqi Prime Minister's aircraft parked nearby. I'm sure he stayed somewhere better though.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The little Jedi of Kinosaki Onsen

A long time ago in a land far, far away. That's what it felt like as we walked the streets of Kinosaki Onsen dressed in our yukatas, the clop-clop of wooden getas sounding in the air. In his robes Alex looked the spitting image of a young Jedi padawan, all that was missing was the lightsaber. Incidently, Padawan is a district of Kuching in Malaysia. The town was so far back in time that my 4G router couldn't get a signal, hence the lack of an update. Plus I was feeling a little under the weather. There can be few better places to rest than Kinosaki Onsen. We dragged our luggage on the Midosuji subway to Umeda, then barely caught the Ltd Exp Hamakaze in time. An older Japanese train it lacked a food service or vending machines, leading to big issues. Alex was hungry for breakfast. B and I had eaten slices of Kobe cheesecake for breakfast, but Alex didn't like it. As we raced past the huge Akashi bridge Alex was pleading for food and drink. The kind ...

Springs, castles and the end of the line

I am never happy to stop before the end of the line. It irritates me to know that there is still somewhere unexplored lying ahead. So when I only got as far as Gujo Hachiman on the Nagaragawa Railway last year I knew I needed to return for more. Especially as this private third sector railway is, by its very nature, always at threat of closure due to low patronage. But did Gujo Hachiman deserve another visit? Sure it's a nice enough town, but had we missed out on enough last time to return? Mum's trip provided the excuse. I originally planned the Oito line, which wI'll be partly closed when the Shinkansen line is extended to Kanazawa. However, when I thought of special places in Japan that deserved to be shared Gujo Hachiman was at the top of the list. Before we could go anywhere Mum needed her coffee. There was a Tully's Coffee opposite the hotel entrance, so I parked her there while I booked our seat reservations. Mum got her fast train ride on a ...

The Carlingford Line

We close the year and the decade with a local adventure to mark the closure of a railway line. On the January 5, 2020, the Carlingford Line from Clyde will close to be partially replaced by the Parramatta Light Rail. This is Sydney's quietest line, a single track branch for most of its length from the industrial centre of Clyde to the northwestern suburb of Carlingford. According to Wikipedia, power supply and signalling issues mean that only a single four car train can utilise the line at a time. Newer Sydney trains run in fixed eight car configurations. This will be the first and last time I traverse the Carlingford Line in its current configuration. The weather of the day is certainly appropriate for an ending, the brown smoke haze lending an apocalyptic air to proceedings. I drive to Padstow and catch the T8 line to Central, followed by the T1 towards Parramatta and Penrith. The historic homes of the Inner West give way to industrial complexes, rail storage yards and t...