suspense

I forgot that I haven’t published the part two for “In Suspense…” so here it goes… for a recap check out the earlier post:

Enjoying the beauty of the station while waiting for the train

We arrived in London… but our train just left (literally!!!). *DUN DUN DUN!* It was the LAST train that night and the next one was not till 9am. We had seven hours till the next train, which we got for free (since we explained the whole thing and the kind people at the station understood us, so thank you to the two women who really helped us, sorry I didn’t get your names).

while waiting for our train back to London

the closest I got to see a hot air ballon

So we were in suspense for a the whole night. Mind you, we were in central London, late night, on a weekend. These are the ingredients I do not want to be stuck in. We didn’t have a choice, but to stay within the vicinity of Liverpool Street Station. The hotels around the area were booked so we decided to wait by the entrance of the station. Yes, we did that. It was cold, still bearable since it was summer, and we were tired. I was just praying that God protect us since there were lots of drunks in and around the station. The time came when we had to leave the station since it was closing for the night. The polite workers at the station told us they were going to close and clean the station, but they will be open again in four hours.

The Kindertransport Statue- this serves as a reminder when children were transported through trains during world war

“FOUR HOURS?!”, I thought to myself. What do we do in the next four hours in the middle of the night? Well, here’s what we did. We walked around the area really trying to find a hotel that still had rooms. To be honest, deep inside I was worried, but then God reminded me that He is with me so I just prayed. In our walk around the area, we passed by several groups of late night drunks, a couple of scuffles, and lots of dark, seemingly sketchy alleyways. This felt like the Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”.

My friend and I finally settled at the 24 hour cafe across the station. It was a cozy yet busy cafe where they served warm meals, drinks, snacks, and many more. The place is called Polo Bar. According to their website: polo24hourbar.co.uk , they have been around since 1953! They had wifi and a great warm atmosphere. Being there was a treat and served as shelter in the wee hours of the morning.

tea for warmth

we had the delicious burger. We were to tired to take photos, but it was GOOD!!

After a few hours, the station was open, but again our train was still at 9am so we had four hours or so before we could take a trip back home. So we sat on the cold steel chairs of the station. There was a point wherein we felt like one of the homeless people (and some of them did sit and sleep beside us). We were sitting on the cold chairs exchanging stories, trying to stay warm, and trying to rest. When the sun finally came out, we walked around exploring the station. FINALLY IT WAS 9AM! We boarded our train, got a good nap along the way and arrived safely in Norwich. All in all the 24 hour suspenseful day taught me a lot. I enjoyed every part of it.

early morning sunshine making its way to the station

With the new day I realised something, no matter what happened the night before, a new day is a new day. People in the station were wearing work coats, walking upright, and ready to conquer the day. I realised its the same with life whatever happened the day, the month, the year before is gone, learn from it and then face the new day because it is God’s gift to you. Another thing I learned from the experience is to keep cool. A lot of times people, including myself, would be impatient and would complain when things don’t go as planned. Keep cool because your situation or experience right now might not be the one you intended to be in, but God have placed you there to learn something or to be a blessing to someone. I realised God allowed me to be early in Bristol to see the beauty of the place. God allowed me to go through a cold night at the station to be thankful of the comfort I take for granted and to pray for those who have less. God allowed me to miss the train to teach me to be patient and to show me that no matter what He provides and protects.

Till next time,

-Dot

P.S. The photos are personally owned by the author. Kindly ask permission before using or at least cite the source. Thank you! 🙂

Finally convinced myself to write again… I’ve been in writing hiatus for various reasons which I will divulge next time. For now let me reminisce and tell you of my (suspenseful) experience during last year’s Bristol International Balloon Fiesta…

Around the same time last year I was getting ready to go to Bristol to experience the Bristol International Ballon Fiesta. I have always wanted to see lots of hot air balloons, but I never had a chance to go to such events. SO to reward ourselves and to take a break from writing our dissertations, my friend (Bas) and I decided to take a day-off and visit Bristol.

Our day began very early in the morning to catch a train from Norwich to London then London to Bristol. Let me remind you that the title of this entry is about suspense so I will be sharing several instances of suspense and frequent use of the word 🙂 . The first suspense of the day began very early in the morning as my friend and I headed to Norwich Railway Station. As we were about to get our tickets, my friend realised that she left her railcard (we had the 18-25 railcard for discounts) which might mean that I was the only one who could go if ever they asked for our railcards. So my friend was frantically looking for the railcard. We could not go back to campus because it was far and it was about time to board. My friend was so kind and said I could go alone if she would not be allowed to board, but I told her we could try to ask. SO the time came where we had to board and we got in with no one asking us for anything, just the tickets. First suspense of the day was done.

Upon arriving in London, we had to transfer to another railway station that was headed to Bristol and that railway station happened to be Paddington Station. I always wanted to visit the station since it was this place where a certain bear got its name… Paddington Bear! Of course, I had to take photos.

with the bear himself

Everything was fine and wonderful when we got to Bristol. The temperature was nice and summery with a light breeze and the place had a different energy than Norwich. It’s more fast paced and bigger than Norwich. Since my friend and I arrived early for the Afternoon Balloon Lifts, we decided to go around the city and after lunch head to the area where the Ballon Fiesta was being held.

We decided to go and see the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the beautiful Avon Gorge. This would be the literal experience of the word “suspense”. The bridge did not disappoint. It was awesome and getting to walk on it was a plus. Amazing and beautiful engineering indeed. We were there pretty early so people were still doing morning jogs and walks around Clifton Observatory. Afterwards, we went for brunch at the city centre and went around for a short walk around the area.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

awesome view from the bridge

We then decided it was time to head to the balloon fiesta, so we rode a bus which took us to the venue, Ashton Court Estate. The main area for the event was still a few meters uphill from the bus stop, so we had to walk for about 20-30 minutes. (I wasn’t sure how far it was from the bus stop since I was excited, but it is UPHILL and you can only access it by walking or by private car, so if you plan to go bring water and snacks for the uphill battle 🙂 )

Suspense was building as we got closer to the location where everything was happening. Once we got there we saw lots of people, stalls, rides, but no hot air balloons yet. We arrived early for the scheduled balloon lifts. So we did what everyone else did, we went around and ate 🙂 . Here are a few things there…

a helter skelter

people waiting for the Balloon lifts

that daily fix

sweeeeetttssss

The scheduled balloon lift was supposed to happen at around 6pm. When it was nearing the time, my friend and I started looking for a spot where we could watch the main event for that afternoon. We did find a nice elevated place to stand and have decent photos, however minutes passed and we heard some announcements that there is a probability that the balloon lift would be cancelled due to the weather (something about the air and temperature, or something). Our hearts sank, we were disappointed because this was the one thing that we planned for more than a month. We decided to wait it out for an hour (we had to catch a train Bristol going to London to be able to catch the last train to Norwich). Nothing, there was nothing for an hour. No further announcements. Knowing that people in UK stick to schedules, this worried us and everyone else. We then decided to just go around the city since the event wasn’t happening.

After a nice, yet tiring, walk around Bristol’s city centre, we headed to the railway station. I kid you not, but another suspenseful thing happened. Our train was delayed. The suspense was really killing us because if we were late there is a chance that we could miss our ride to Norwich. The 5 minute delay turned to 10 then to 20. We were calculating that if we were delayed for less than an hour we could run our way through the different railway stations in London to catch our train. Unfortunately, we were delayed by 50- 60 minutes! This meant that we had to run through various stations and pretend we were in an Amazing Race episode. It really felt like it. All this time, I kept my cool and I was just praying because there was nothing I can do.

Stay tuned for the next entry as the real-life story continues. This post will be too long if I write everything here, so yeah read on to part two.

– Dot

P.S. The photos are personally owned by the author. Kindly ask permission before using or at least cite the source. Thank you! 🙂