Train journeys and show feedback..........

The past few days have been interesting to say the very least. I left Pontivy very early on Thurs morning by bus to Rennes which is one of the larger cities in Brittany. There I had to catch a train to Lille to connect with the Eurostar to London. All was going well until we stopped at a station for well over an hour. Fortunately as I had no idea of what this trip would involve, I had allowed myself a 2 hour wait at Lille. We did make up some time and arrived there some 55 mins late. Arrived in London in the late afternoon totally exhausted and then had to catch two trains followed by a longish walk to Megan's flat.
Friday was a day to catch up and get the bears ready for the show.
The weather for the past week had been lovely warm summer in both France and England. Foolishly I forgot how changeable weather in Europe can be and packed a minimum amount of cool clothing, no cardies and just a light jacket. Arrived in London to find cool weather and rain. By Sat morning it was very cold and we arrived in Stratford to pouring rain. Thankfully managed to borrow some more suitable clothing!
We dodged raindrops on Saturday afternoon and had a quick tour of Stratford, not much fun as the weather was rather miserable and not suitable to take photographs.
Sunday morning dawned with heavy rain, thunder and some lightening. We arrived at the town hall for the show somewhat damp to set up. It is a nice venue very conveniently situated in the centre of the town. This is a very well organised show with plenty of advance advertising. Samantha Potter and her extended family deserve a big thank thank you for all the work and effort they all put into this event. This is only the second year that this show has been held and attendance this year was excellent. The weather was kind enough to clear up by lunch time with some sunshine!
Trains to London are somewhat intermittent and we had the option of a 2 hour wait which would have meant arriving home at about 10pm or leaving the show a little early to catch a train at 4 pm. Of course Murphy's law dictated that we should be situated right by the stage where the competition results and raffle draws were taking place. We had to throw all our display items and remaining bears into the suitcase and literally run to the station, a good ten minutes walk.
Then it was home again after several trains and a bus!
Tomorrow a catch up time and some shopping then the marathon trip back to Pontivy on Tuesday!

Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein