The longest journey begins with the first step..........

Notwithstanding the fact that it's still Thursday the 12th of October this blog is about events that took place on Friday the 8th of September. Mrs Norman and I were picked up around midday by our youngest daughter and driven to the station to catch our train to Gatwick. This marked the start of our longest holiday together ever, some twenty five days to be spent in our apartment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, slap opposite the East coast of Majorca. We got off to a somewhat inauspicious start at East Croydon station when some miscreant with a dog on a piece of string failed to produce the relevant travel receipt and was promptly gang tackled by a group of over enthusiastic ticket collectors. The dog, separated from his master, started running up and down the station barking furiously whilst most of the station staff were attempting to sit on the errant traveller. A very large bespectacled passenger with a stentorian voice chose this moment to intervene, shouting with great gusto, " Unhand this man, you do not have the power of arrest " over and over again until eventually the barking dog, the struggling captive and the shouting passenger proved too much for the flagging ticket collectors who slackened their grip and watched through narrowed eyes as their catch of the day shot off pursued gleefully by his barking companion. Following this amusing diversion Mrs Norman purchased our tickets and we proceeded to Gatwick.

My human contact on this the first day of our extended holiday included a cross section of travel staff both rail and air. My thoughts were on our impending holiday and my deed was to be in charge of heaving the cases about.