Re: Over 50's Club Scotland (part 3)
Right then ... here we go
It was a two night mystery trip and I found out a few days before that we were staying at an hotel I've stayed at before 4 miles from Coventry with an excursion to Stratford upon Avon and Worcester .... all good so far
I was picked up at 11.35 am (those from North Manchester were picked up at 9 am) ... the coach driver was a lovely young man in his 30's ... I had assumed that my pickup point would be the last and then we would be off to the hotel ... only about 3 hours away at the very most.
But No !!!!! We then went to Warrington and Liverpool to pick passengers up ... then we almost retraced our route back to Knutsford which is about 15 miles from where I live !!!!! .... arrived there at 3 pm ... had a 20 minute stop (first one for the 9 am crowd
) then off we went to the hotel and arrived at 5 pm.
Our excursions were on Saturday .... driver was leaving at 9.30 but two people were missing and he didn't want to go without them so when he found out who they were .... two women in their 30's ... off he went to find them ... he found out their room number and knocked on the door .... they were still asleep .... hungover from partying the night before ... they'd gone to a nightclub
.
Back on the coach he said ok off we go but then a driver from another coach came and asked if Mrs Suchabody was on our coach ? Yes she was !!!!
. That meant that another one of ours was missing ... off he goes to find him .... still asleep ... hungover ... not coming !!!
We finally got away 30 minutes later ... off to Stratford for 4 hours ... lovely despite the drizzly rain
. Next stop Worcester for 2 hours ... another nice place and gorgeous cathedral.
The coach was leaving at 5 pm .... one person missing ... a man in his 80's who was on his own ... no mobile phone !!! (The driver gave us his phone number in case of any problems). "We'll give him another 15 minutes" he said .... still no show .... "just a bit longer" he said
... after an hour we all persuaded the driver that the man couldn't be lost ... pick up was near the cathedral ... how can you not find that ?!!!
By this time we'd all become concerned for this man's safety ... the driver was ringing his boss to find out what he should do .... then I said we should contact the police which the driver did. " Could we say what he was wearing" asked the police ...
. Well his top went from red ... to blue ... etc
The police promised to check the CCTV cameras and also search the main shopping area ... then they came to the coach for a statement ...
and the driver rang the hotel to explain what had happened and to rearrange dinner for us all.
At 7pm the driver got a call from the hotel ... the man had got a taxi back to the hotel because he couldn't find the coach !!!!!! It cost him £80
We had all been concerned about him for the past 2 hours .... but now there was a lynch mob
We got back to the hotel at 8 pm and the man was sat enjoying a drink from the bar quite oblivious to the panic he had caused
. Quite a few people told him what they thought of him
After the journey on Friday I decided to plan my escape route on the homeward journey. I looked online at the trains from Coventry to Macclesfield ... a direct route .... cost £27 but when I did split ticketing it came up as £11.90 so I booked them online to collect at Coventry station.
On Sunday I waved everyone off on their journey home at 9 am .... left my case at the hotel reception ... 15 minute bus ride to Coventry ... spent 4 hours there ... lovely new cathedral next to the ruins of the original one which was bombed in WW2 ... tour of the city and transport museum ... back to hotel to collect my case ... back to Coventry to catch train at 4.30 pm .... arrived in Macc at 6.15 .... a perfect day ... and a great weekend despite everything
Zzzzzzzzz ... well you did ask