Back at the launderette for the light wash. I've already been into work today so I'm fit to drop now, but have to take advantage of these early starts to get the odd jobs done.
This is going to be another one of those odds and ends entries. Didn't plan it that way, but a couple of odd things worth mentioning (you may think otherwise...) happened at work today.
The first began last night. A woman came in to buy a ticket from Seamer to York for the next day, i.e. this morning. For those who don't know, Seamer is a halt 5 mins up the road from Scarborough with no ticket office. Consequently, you are allowed to buy your tickets on the train - at staffed stations you must buy before boarding. This woman had come into town to buy her ticket so I thought it would be rude to say something along the lines of 'You've wasted your time - you could get that on the train' and promptly sold her her ticket.
She paid with a gold Amex card that needed to be swiped so she handed it to me through my window. We chatted and I gave her the details of her complete journey which turned out to be to Peterborough (sorry, this is going on a bit isn't it? I'm boring myself here. Half these details aren't relevant, but this is how my brain works stuff through. Let's liven things up with a picture of a jet truck racing a plane.
You've probably figured out what comes next by now, haven't you? I'll give you a clue. She either: a) leaves her Amex card behind; or b) spontaneously combusts while a mysterious ghostly voice whispers 'Anglesey...').
She left her Amex card behind (good on you if you chose b) - sorry the reality's a bit more mundane). More truthfully I forgot to give it back to her, but let's not split hairs. I tried to see if there was a contact number with her Peterborough booking but all it had was an address in Spain (I think it was Spain - it looked Spanish. Could have been from South America (like America - only South), I suppose. Yes, isn't Peterborough twinned with Guadalajara? Anyway, all I knew was that she would be travelling on the first train in the morning.
Since I was following a late with an early shift I was in to give the conductor the card and a description of the woman. And so she was reunited with her plastic when she got on at Seamer without even realising it had gone.
Then she spontaneously combusted.
Hmm, two quick, slightly less anti-climactic stories now. First, a woman came to me early doors with an off-peak ticket for London and asked if there was any way of leaving as soon as poss. We looked at all the options but it turned out it would cost another seventy quid or so. The reason she had to get away? 'I've got to get back to my duck - my husband leaves for work soon and it'll be on its own for too long.'
Shu Shu grew up in Derbyshire and there's a habit I'd picked up from her. As the woman thanked me and left, I replied 'You're welcome, duck,' without even realising. Oh, how we laughed. A bit.
Also: at one of the places I used to work there was a bloke who used wink in an 'all right, kid' kind of way when he was passing on friendly comments (he had some tales to tell. One of them was entitled 'Fireball XR3i' - I can say no more). Having no personality of my own (see above re 'duck') I sometimes find myself doing the same. Weird, really. Anyhoo, I did this to one of the people I served today and they had - wait for it - only one eye. Don't think any offence was caused, but I felt a bit of a berk.
'Anglesey...'
Sigh.
Here's the jet truck again...
More soonliest.
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