After the concert

After Becca and I had left The O2 Arena and proceeded to our respective trains, I caught my ride back home with several minutes to spare. At 23:00, it was the last train for the night; my only concern during the day had been the possibility of missing that train, but I hadn't let it become a distraction while in London. Once I was on board and was sat in a mostly empty coach, I patiently waited for the hour-and-a-half long ride to end, with the only pressing issue being to let Dad and my brother know when I was about to arrive at my stop.

What ultimately happened was not a problem I had envisioned.

When the announcement for my stop came, I made my way to the door. To my surprise, the door didn't open for me, and to my subsequent horror less than ten seconds later, the train started moving again. I noticed too late a small "open" button situated next to the door; I hadn't any need to press such a button in the past, because on the other trains I'd travelled in fellow passengers had already opened the doors before me. On this occasion, I was the only one who needed to exit the train at my stop.

I rapidly filled with dread, partially because I was wondering if there would be any penalties for going beyond the parameters of my train ticket (none, other than having to sort out my predicament), but also because of how I thought my brother and father were going to react, as they were waiting at the station to pick me up. Dad also had to travel in the morning and wanted to go back to bed.

My texts are usually typographically and grammatically correct, but the texts I sent to both of them and to Becca when I informed them all of my situation were littered with errors. Becca offered to research train times while Dad and my brother wanted me to get off at the next stop, which was already my plan; the City of Leicester was the next stop, and if I went beyond that I would have had to have contacted family in Nottingham to collect me.

I wandered around Leicester railway station for a couple of minutes before I went to the front of the building to wait for my brother and Dad. My wait lasted for around a quarter of an hour; when I got into the car, I was surprised to find them both in a good mood, as I expected a lecture! I later found out that they were initially angry but calmed down en route to Leicester. It took us around half an hour to return home.

That was my first visit to Leicester, which I didn't expect to take place at nearly 1:00am because I missed my stop on a train! I certainly won't make that mistake again the next time I use train travel.