The Most Pointless Journeys of My Life
Created | Updated Mar 31, 2005
I'm sure everyone has had their fair share of pointless journeys, but at the same time I'm convinced that no-one else in the world has them quite as often as I do. Ironically enough, writing an article about each of these journeys does in fact give them a purpose, albeit a simple and previously unintended one.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a student with any degree of spare time on their hands must be in want of a field trip. And so goes our next story, one of such strangeness that on relating a summary of it to friends I have gained such replies as 'and what the h**l was the point in doing that?' This story is one of a trip to an observatory during the day.
St Pancras to Warren Street
I may be a medical student, but for some strange reason we must all learn lots of wonderful things that often will have nothing to do with us passing our exams or helping us to learn how many layers of mesentry there are in the greater omentum1. Due to our Physics teacher greatly mistrusting our abilities to not get 'lost' and end up having to spend the day having fun instead, we were all told to meet up in the classroom so that we could walk from Euston Square to St Pancras mainline station in the driving rain, blowing wind and occasional spray from passing taxis.
Upon reaching the station we were shepherded in and instructed to buy tickets to Mill Hill Broadway via Thameslink. So I marched bravely up to the ticket booth and asked if I could use my Oyster Card. 'Er... just a moment' comes the reply, shortly followed by the much expected 'No'. So I asked if I could use my student card to get cheaper tickets. Of course I couldn't. After all, why on earth would these people want to charge me less? In the end I settled for an ordinary return ticket, and then followed the umbrella to the platforms to catch the train.
It is probably important to mention at this point that although my general planning skills have improved over the years, my foresight is still lacking. So much so that I can end up going on a trip in the middle of winter to a freezing cold observatory wearing nothing more than a jumper. When we got to Mill Hill it was freezing. By the time we reached the observatory I was starting to shiver. When the nice people there started talking about things, some of which contained words I hadn't ever heard before, I was busy concentrating on how stupid I had been rather than actually paying attention and learning something.
Having become practically comatose, we were told that we could make our own ways back home. I practically sprinted back to Mill Hill Broadway and caught the train back to St Pancras, sitting huddled in a corner with my hands inside the sleeves of my jumper. I took the tube back to Warren Street, and I went home. My fingers have only just thawed out enough to type this.
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