Glastonbury to London

Thursday 12 October

Today I spent the morning in Glastonbury town centre and went into a shop called Venus. There I met Lisa and George who were very mystical and friendly - great to talk to. I told them of my return here and the adventures I've had this time around.

I went out onto the High Street and a man from one of the bookshops recognised me and gave me a warm and friendly smile. Great to have some friendliness here on my last day to counter the negative vibes from shopkeepers over the past week!

I had lunch at a cafe staffed by intellectually handicapped people and got awesome service.

Then it was time to leave and Anna kindly drove me to Castle Cary, the nearest town with a railway station. It was lovely to spend some more time with her before leaving Somerset.

Before we left, I had a great laugh with Anna and her friend about the talking toilet in St John's carpark in Glastonbury. I know toilets are becoming a feature of this blog but I feel I should share this. I told them that when I visited these toilets, just as you sit down a polite lady comes over the loudspeaker and booms 'This facility is monitored by a security system and you may only remain in the facility for a limited time. You will be told when to leave'. Then you get some stirring classical music to assist you.

Now, I didn't stay long enough to see what would happen if I ignored the warnings. I wondered if the polite lady would slowly raise her voice, get agitated then eventually start making threats. Anna, her friend and I mused about what would happen if all the warnings were ignored. Would the seat be ejected through the roof? Would a trap door open? Worse - would the toilet door open for all to see? Anna's friend thought that your photo would get taken but we then all wondered, where would it be published? Anna was going to ask her elder son Frankie to wait around in the gents and find out! If she lets me know what happened, I'll post it on the blog as a special posting!

The train trip to London from Castle Cary was stressful. My bag was heavy, my back hurt and there was nowhere to put my bag when I boarded the train. One of the staff eventually let me store it by the door. I was on edge the whole time and of course, I had to get up and move the luggage at every stop! When I got to Paddington, luckily a porter saw me waddling along and lagging behind everyone. He ported my luggage to the taxi rank and I tipped him generously. The only gentleman I met all day. I know it's his job but I really appreciated his help and so did my back and bum!

I got to the apartment in Marylebone quickly and there met Jean my host for the next two weeks and her dog Charlie. Jean's nice (a tad eccentric as is Charlie) but friendly. I settled in quickly then went to search for some food as it was about 6pm by this stage. I bought a sandwich and I've also managed to find a cordial here that is not artificially sweetened which I mix with bottled water to try to replicate Mi Zone.

I got an early night as I had another train journey the next day - this time to Southport to meet John.