There And Back To See There And Back

Sorry to have taken so long to write about my day out with There and Back last Friday. I have no excuse other than that I really haven't felt like writing anything, but tonight I am forcing myself to write a few words.

My train left Waterloo on time and I arrived at my destination just a minute late. The arrangement was that I would meet There and Back at the station. She had a doctor's appointment and hoped that she would arrive at the station in time for the arrival of my train. We exchanged a number of text messages while I was on the train and I knew that she would probably arrive at the station a couple of minutes after my train arrived, and that is exactly what happened.

I saw There and Back walking towards me as I stood near the station entrance so I started to walk away from the station to meet her. And when we actually met there was a minute or two where we just stood there hugging each other and saying how lovely it was to see each other again. We had already decided in our daily emails that we weren't going to do anything too exciting, but rather just take the opportunity to sit and chat about whatever crossed our minds.

So, we headed off for a coffee for me and hot chocolate for There and Back. While we were drinking and talking I gave There and Back a few little presents. There wasn't anything really special, just a few bits and pieces that I thought she might like. I gave her Hat No 1 (well a girl really doesn't need three hats that are similar), a small piece of rock with amethyst crystals embedded on it, a small coaster made from a slice of purple agate (purple is There and Back's favourite colour) and a really cute, baby diplodocus cuddly toy (it was only about 4 inches in length and really cute, and as a vegetarian dinosaur it was the perfect gift from the Natural History Museum for There and Back who is also a vegetarian).

Then we went to a department store so that I could buy some tapestry needles and once they were purchased, the pair of us went to another area of the shop to drool over the knitting wool. I have to feed my knitting habit and There and Back has become a real wool junkie since I bought her a book on crochet and a crochet hook for her birthday. After a bit more wandering while chatting away we headed for the shopping centre's food area and made our way to Pizza Hut for our lunch.

We found ourselves being taken to a table, our drinks order was taken and we opted for the lunch-time buffet. This meant that we could eat as much as we wanted of the pizzas, salads and pasta on the buffet, but more importantly take as long as we wanted over our lunch. And we did; both of us having two platefuls of pizza and salad. We finished off with a visit to the ice cream machine.

After lunch we went for a walk to the park and sat in the sun on a park bench for about an hour. At this point I gave There and Back the other present that I had for her; the afghan that I had made once I knew that I would be seeing her. She was thrilled with it and I knew that she would like the colours because she had commented on how much she liked the photograph of my afghan that I had posted on the blog when I was knitting it some months ago.

When the sun disappeared and it started to get a bit cold, we headed back to the coffee shop where we had enjoyed our drinks earlier in the day. We had the same drinks again and chatted some more before heading for the station so that I could catch my train home. After having spent something like five and a half hours in each other's company we parted with a big hug and a goodbye. We had both enjoyed the day and are looking forward to meeting again in the coming months; it will be in London next time with the probability of a visit to a matinee performance of one of the musicals that are on in London.

Raring To Go

I have been awake since dawn; mainly because I didn't sleep much last night. I am like a coiled spring, just waiting to be released. It will soon be time for me to get myself ready to leave the house and make my way to the bus stop to start on my long journey for my awayday.

It is absolutely ridiculous, but I feel like a five-year old waiting to go on their first school trip.

There is no evidence of depression today; just a strange feeling of excitement and expectation. No sign of nervousness is apparent. I cannot believe that a woman of my age can feel like this.

Isn't it silly? Just because I am going to get on a train and go and see a friend that I haven't seen for a few months. And that opportunity to say 'Hi There and Back' and to give her a hug.

Awayday

I'm having an awayday tomorrow. Not a trip into London to visit a museum or another place of interest. No, this is an honest to goodness day away from home that necessitates me going to one of the London mainline stations and getting on a train to another part of the country.

My awayday has been planned for quite a few weeks now and I am really looking forward to it. I'm visiting a city that I haven't actually been to before, although I have visited some places that are not too far away from it. But I don't suppose that I will see much more than the railway station and a few shops because I expect most of my time in this city will be spent in a restaurant having lunch and talking with the person that I am going to see.

Although I correspond with this person on a daily basis, we have not seen each other in person since the beginning of November when we met under the clock at Waterloo. Yes, I am going to meet There and Back tomorrow, and it is she who will be the recipient of the afghan that I recently completed.

So, it will be an early night tonight, then an early rise so that I can get myself ready for my big day out. I'll let you know what we get up to and how There and Back is when I get home, and maybe I can persuade her to start blogging again.

There And Back To See How Far It Is

I know that quite a few people are readers of the blog There And Back To See How Far It Is.  This was one of the first blogs that I added to my blogroll and also one of the first which I submitted a comment to.  There and Back and I became email correspondents and we write to each other almost every day.  We have even met and spent an enjoyable couple of hours in each other's company drinking hot chocolate and chatting away.

There and Back has decided to take a break from blogging for a while, but so that none of her readers got too concerned about her well-being, I asked her if I could write a short post here so that you would all know that she is well.  Her last post was about a TMA that she was doing for one of her OU courses.  This was the first course that she had done at Level 3 and she was a bit worried about what would be expected of her at this level.  She didn't need to worry too much though because she got a very creditable 82% for her first TMA of this course, and has since managed to get 83% for her second TMA.

She is still producing the monthly newsletter 'Treetops' that she started working on when she was in hospital.  It is published on the first of each month and seems to be going from strength to strength.  There and Back has also gone to the placement that she talked about in her blog and seems to be taking on new things almost every week.

This is just a short update on a blogging friend so that you all know that she is still alive and taking on new challenges in her life. 

Under The Clock At Waterloo

It was reminiscent of a 1940s film. A rendezvous had been made to meet under the clock at Waterloo at 10am this morning. The station was filled with people searching the boards to find out which platform their train was leaving from. There were greetings between those who had not seen each other for some time; there were partings as some set off on adventures or off to some far away place.

I was there, standing under the clock, waiting for someone who I had never met before. Someone with whom I had never spoken. Yet I did not feel as though I was meeting a stranger. I was meeting someone who over the last few months I had come to look upon as a friend. There was no newspaper under my arm, nor a carnation in my buttonhole. I had told the person that I was meeting that I would be wearing my new blue jumper; I hoped that they would recognize it.

This was going to be a first for me. I had never made such an assignation before, I was suddenly a little apprehensive and yet I was looking forward to this encounter. Thoughts went through my mind. Would we get on together? Would we find anything to talk about? We both had mental scars, yet this was perhaps what had drawn us together in the first place.

Today was the big day. Today, I was meeting There and Back.

I have to admit that we have been corresponding by email for some weeks now, and as she was making a visit to London we decided to meet and chose under the clock at Waterloo as our meeting place as so many must have done before us. We walked from the station to get away from the crowds and went to Starbucks for a mug of hot chocolate. And we talked, and talked and talked. For two hours we talked and covered a wide range of subjects, but the thing that we talked about most was our addiction. Yes, we are both addicted to studying with the Open University. We talked about courses we had done, and courses we were yet to take. We talked about families, and about other bloggers.

It is a strange thing, this blogging world. We often comment to each other about how we will never meet and yet we seem to have so many things in common. But for There and Back and I, we shall no longer wonder about the person whose blog we read, for we have met and we enjoyed each other's company. In fact, we enjoyed it so much we have already agreed to do it again some time. What was important about this meeting is that both of us find it difficult to meet new people and we are often uncomfortable in crowded places. Today, I think we both went some way to beating this fear and we have lived to tell the tale.

Just in case you may think I am speaking out of turn, one of the first things I asked There and Back was whether she would mind if I wrote about our meeting in a post. She said 'No', and that she had thought of doing the same thing. So look out for a post on her blog in the days to come.