Having walked to Dover station which took about an hour trudging through the deep snow with suitcases avoiding the black ice under foot as taxi's were few and far between. To then be greeted with no toilet facilities on board the HS1 and absolutely no heat was yet another challenge to endure but thank goodness it was only an hour to reach St Pancras when we could grab some hot drinks and use the facilities.
I returned last night, firstly to a frantic St Pancras station with no timetable of trains as they were all running late and subject to long delays or even maybe a no show. But as luck had it, out of the blue they announced that the Dover train had arrived and was about to leave on platform 13. A surge of people started running towards the platform and low and behold the train was about to leave. We had to knock on the windows to get them to let us on. I then found myself sitting beside our very own Charlie Elphicke and we shared a sarnie, some chocolate and a mini bottle of red wine so all was well again. Then just as we approached Ashford they announced that all for Dover would have to get off the train as it was heading for Ramsgate/Margate. Needless to say Charlie and I felt a little panicked but just as we were about to explode they announced that the train would split and we would get to Dover after all, Phew!
Charlie was a true gentleman to the end and walked me and my suitcase all the way home. Of course, I asked him in for coffee which he duly accepted and we talked politics but I couldn't possibly comment!
