Was a man on a mission today, for a variety of reasons. My friend called me yesterday afternoon to explain, I would need to go to the Mobo office to collect our tickets. Not a problem, I had only planned to spend the day at home working on a few bits and pieces. I did not mind, it gave me an excuse to get out of the house, but it was a trek into London and I did not know all the obsticles that would be placed in my way. I got up around 8am and was ready just after 9am. In fact, I sent a message to my friend via MSN to explain I was leaving, I got no reply, they were away from their computer screen. I collected my suit first from the dry cleaners and then came back to drop it off at home. This created a longer delay then I wanted because of all the roadworks taking place at the top of my road. They were supposed to be completed at the beginning of August, but as usual they have over run and it will be a few more weeks before the work is finished. Then I drove into Wycombe and my adventure began. I pulled into the car park at the train station and it was full. I drove around but some people had just abandoned their cars without a care, so the middle aile was blocked by a lovely silver VW Polo. Thank you! I then drove around the corner to Railway Place. This has 160 places, all taken. I then drove over across to the other side of town, George Street, which had 41 places all taken. Opposite this, Baker Street with 41 spaces was full. My final car park to check was Desborough Avenue with 115 spaces, all taken. (The district council provide a beautiful map if you are really interested!) So, I made an executive decision. I would dump the car at home, catch the Park & Ride service direct to the station. However, as I pulled up to my estate the first obsticle appeared. I could not get to my house.

I drove across to ASDA, parked my car there and walked up to the park and ride area. The service is every fifteen minutes and it was at 10.30am, I caught the 100 into town. The cost, £1.50 (parking at the railway station is £2.50 for a day off peak). I got to the station and caught the next available train to London. Thankfully, my luck turned. The 10.57 service was direct to Marylebone. Great and it was only a few minutes before the train arrived on platform three. The train was busy, as you would expect and I found myself in the quiet coach. No music, no mobile phones and ‘quiet please’ were clearly visible signs on all the windows throughout the carriage. I resisted the temptation to plug in my Zen.

I had text Rikki, twice but the text messages had not got through, so I gave a them a call just before I jumped on the Tube. I took the Bakerloo Line, one stop down to Baker Street. Here I changed onto the Circle Line eastbound towards Liverpool Street. Three stops down the line, I came off at Euston Square. Now, I had to find the offices. I had printed off the map from Google Maps this morning, Stephenson Way was a road behind the tube station. I came out of the correct exit and walked around and eventually homed into the offices. I went downstairs and collected the A4 envelope, after showing my driving licence as ID. We were going, I could start to get officially excited now. Before I left, I could not resist taking a photograph of the logo.

I called Rikki to pass on the great news and headed over to Picadilly Circus to meet with them for lunch. We met at the Eros statue. With London, there are countless options for food. We went to Wagamama. Somewhere I’ve never been to dine before. I like Chinese food and have tried Thai a few times but this Japanese menu was completely new to me. Thankfully my friend had been a few times so guided me on the best options. I was very happy with the food, and service was prompt. During lunch, we opened the enevelope. Obviously as it was not named for me, I was legally not in a position to open the envelope. Rikki opened the evenvelope and then let me take the booklet out. In a gloosy pamphlet, we had our tickets, security wristbands and information / schedule. I felt much better that we actually had tickets now, in our hands. We agreed on arrangements for tomorrow. As we walked back from Haymarket to Picadilly Circus, I noticed Nancy Dell’Olio head into a posh restaurant. After saying goodbye to Rikki, I headed down Regent Street, then Oxford Street in search of a pair of shoes.