Back in Sheffield after another trek ‘darn sarf’. Found it very difficult to drag myself out of the very comfortable (if a little small!) hotel bed this morning and managed to stretch out the snooze on the alarm from 8am til 8.45am. The 45 minutes extra in bed are all well and good, but it meant I missed breakfast and had to get to the datacentre pronto.

There are no ‘wardrobe malfunctions‘ this time, thankfully and the required 3rd party integration work goes well. It was a long day, and with no food in mah belly by the time 6pm came round, I was very glad when the 3rd party integrator announced he was finished, and had gotten his software over its problems with our application.

Had just about enough time before the train to grab a bite for dinner. Jumped off the DLR at Canary Wharf and nipped to the upmarket burger joint Chili’s. Had some ‘Baby Back Ribs’ and Garlic and Lime Shrimp^H^H^H^H^HPrawns. It was quite nice, but exceptionally overpriced (17 quid!) for what is essentially TGI Fridays/Boardwalk identikit American cuisine.

I expect to pay a bit more to eat in London, but 17 quid for some ribs and four king prawns is stretching it quite a bit. Though I was at the point where eating half-eaten commuter sandwiches from the overflowing bins of Marsh Wall was becoming appetising, so they probably could have charged me 170 quid and I’d still have coughed up the cash!

The journey from South Quay to St Pancras is now so finely ingrained on my brain that alterations to the schedule really throw me off. I fear that this will now happen more often, as TFL are embarking on rebuilding South Quay station to accommodate longer DLR trains. I guess that’s an illustration of the success the DLR has become – I wish the tram in Sheffield was as well run – at peak times, there’s a train every 2 minutes from Canary Wharf to Bank. In Sheffield, you’re lucky if there’s a Yellow tram from Cathedral to Hillsborough once every 15 minutes.

Speaking of London’s transportation situation – St Pancras International‘s rebuild and reopen was done with months ago, but there’s always been something missing – a station pub. Since the station had its grand re-opening, I’d found myself needing to burn some time waiting for trains and a pub seems to me to be the ideal thing. All I could ever find was the world’s most pretentious ‘Champagne Bar’ selling overpriced fizzy piss to idiots waiting for their Eurostar.

Last time I returned, on Friday night, I found the pub! They’ve finally opened a temporary pub – ‘The Baby Betjeman‘ . It’s located close to the giant ‘Embrace’ statue (the giant statue of the man and woman passionately kissing) on the platform level. It’s an odd little affair – literally just plonked on the platform, in the open. Very cosmopolitan for good old England! There appear to be no signs or posters, or announcements, or anything – at all – promoting the place. Perhaps it’s because a ‘proper’ pub is opening ‘real soon now’. I probably should have put that little diatribe in Friday’s entry, but I forgot about it back then.

The train home was uneventful, and I arrived home around 11pm definitely ready for bed. I wonder how many times I’ll ‘snooze’ the alarm tomorrow?

Related posts:

1. Home Sweet Home So, on Tuesday evening all the paperwork was formalized and...
2. Back In Time I read an interesting piece on the BBC News site...
3. New York, Part 1 Thankfully, my taxi did arrive on time and I had...
4. Arctic Monkeys & Them Crooked Vultures @ Brixton Academy Just a few piccies from a gig I went to...
5. All Change “Change is the law of life. And those who look...