I am writing this is a cafe in St Ives looking out at the sea twinkling in the winter sunlight. It is idyllic. Getting here was quite an event beginning with the numnut at the railway station printing out the wrong train times.
Thinking I had a 2 hour gap between trains at Plymouth I settled with a coffee when along came Eileen who shared that she had a half hour wait until her train to Penzance. Ha! Half an hour - I had 2. The next leg of my journey was to St Erth, which is the stop before Penzance. I braved the ticket office despite the numnut instruction playing in my brain, "You are committed to these trains!"
As it happens I could get a train at any time from Plymouth and so thrilled at saving a big lump of time I boarded with Eileen. We chatted and the journey seemed quick and pleasing.
Arriving at St Erth so much earlier than expected I skipped over the bridge to the platform to get the toy train to St Ives but I seemed to be carrying less than before. I was. My Macbook was still sitting on the train. How can anyone forget things of importance ... I've always wondered. It's easy. A moment of distraction; that nano-second of not thinking and it happens.
Not to be fazed by the trauma of losing a computer I did what any sensible person would do. I ran up and down the platform waving at the passengers trying to alert them to find a guard. Not able to work out how to mime that, to them I looked like a madwoman running along the platform, super nanny cape billowing, arms flapping probably hoping to take off. Several waved back with pained looks of sympathy and a few looked about to see if I had a carer.
The driver's door was open but he had pressed the go button before I reached him and calmly said, "You can get it from Penzance."
Please remember all of this was done from the opposite platform to where the train was sitting.
And then it went. The train. Eileen and my beautiful pink Macbook.
Time to phone Mick who was getting ready to meet me at St Ives.
To be continued ...
