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smallhobbitI went to London yesterday, to meet up with friends, go to the chocolate market and see The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.
I arrived at the station to discover that my train was "delayed". That was the technical term - stuck in Worcester would be more accurate. After a long period of "listen for further announcements" we were told to take the train heading for Great Malvern and get off in Cheltenham, since the London train was not stopping in Gloucester. This is because at Gloucester the driver has to stop the train, get out, walk the full length of the train, get back in and start it up again - a process that takes a good seven minutes.
So, off we went to Cheltenham. Once there we watched a train that was "not stopping" stop at the platform - it was a charter hire. Someone got on - I hope they were supposed to be joining the trip and not just confused. We watched the train to Swindon depart, to be told by the announcer that "we apologise for the late running of the Swindon train, which will arrive shortly" - mass laughter on the platform. And then finally our train arrived - or at least they'd found another train they could use, because this one was devoid of passengers. After which the journey went smoothly if over an hour late. They apologised that there was no hot food in the buffet, but there was porrige - I doubt anyone tried it.
Don't read if you don't want to be spoilered for The Hobbit:
Smaug was truly impressive and needs to be seen to be appreciated. Bilbo Baggins was great. I, personally, enjoyed looking in the eyes of Thorin Oakenshield, and seeing him start to change. There was far too much of Legolas versus the Orcs, which was boring and predictable. We know Legolas survives, so an Orc is never going to kill him. The same could be said of Bilbo, but the interest comes in seeing how he survives. The dwarves were marvellous and made up for a lot, the barrel scene sticks out, but there were many other instances - imprisoned by the elves, entering Lake-town covered in fish - which weren't just comic pieces, but made them very endearing. But no, there shouldn't be an elf/dwarf love interest.
And then it was time to come home. All went well until I changed train at Swindon, and then, two minutes outside Swindon we were stuck at points, for twenty-five minutes. As I said, never catch a train with me.
I arrived at the station to discover that my train was "delayed". That was the technical term - stuck in Worcester would be more accurate. After a long period of "listen for further announcements" we were told to take the train heading for Great Malvern and get off in Cheltenham, since the London train was not stopping in Gloucester. This is because at Gloucester the driver has to stop the train, get out, walk the full length of the train, get back in and start it up again - a process that takes a good seven minutes.
So, off we went to Cheltenham. Once there we watched a train that was "not stopping" stop at the platform - it was a charter hire. Someone got on - I hope they were supposed to be joining the trip and not just confused. We watched the train to Swindon depart, to be told by the announcer that "we apologise for the late running of the Swindon train, which will arrive shortly" - mass laughter on the platform. And then finally our train arrived - or at least they'd found another train they could use, because this one was devoid of passengers. After which the journey went smoothly if over an hour late. They apologised that there was no hot food in the buffet, but there was porrige - I doubt anyone tried it.
Don't read if you don't want to be spoilered for The Hobbit:
Smaug was truly impressive and needs to be seen to be appreciated. Bilbo Baggins was great. I, personally, enjoyed looking in the eyes of Thorin Oakenshield, and seeing him start to change. There was far too much of Legolas versus the Orcs, which was boring and predictable. We know Legolas survives, so an Orc is never going to kill him. The same could be said of Bilbo, but the interest comes in seeing how he survives. The dwarves were marvellous and made up for a lot, the barrel scene sticks out, but there were many other instances - imprisoned by the elves, entering Lake-town covered in fish - which weren't just comic pieces, but made them very endearing. But no, there shouldn't be an elf/dwarf love interest.
And then it was time to come home. All went well until I changed train at Swindon, and then, two minutes outside Swindon we were stuck at points, for twenty-five minutes. As I said, never catch a train with me.
