Wort - trains to - hing

This past saturday I travelled down to Worthing, on the coast, to go to Oli's 21st birthday party. It was good to see him, to see where he lived, to meet some of his family, to catch up with a few Bristol people...A very good day overall. (We also went on a quick tour of Worthing as we arrived slightly early).

However, it is good that we did make it down there ! There was a point during our journey when this seemed like this may not occur ! I was travelling down from London by train with Graham. When the train first appeared on the departure board, we were a little confused, wondering how a train to Worthing could go via Hastings. It then transpired that the train was going to split after the first part of the journey, and what was actually happening was that the 4 front carriages were going to Hastings, and the rear 4 were going to Littlehampton (via Worthing). This was my first encounter with such a train (although Graham had been on one before down to Canterbury). We tried to get on an appropriate carriage but, as you do, we wondered if we were in the right bit. We passed through Clapham, East Croyden, Gatwick...last station which both parts were passing through. We were at this point envisioning the possibility of having to jump - James Bond style - between carriages that were splitting, having realised we were on the wrong side. Everyone in the train was as confused as we were, especially as both parts of the train insisted that they were going to Hastings...After several consultations, and several changes of carriage, we at last found a ticket inspector, who gruffly told us that we were fine, and in the right bit. We still weren't convinced until we did actually reach our destination in one piece (and between us we have many photos to prove it !) Having therefore had a most eventful journey, and being thankful to not have ended up in Hastings (nice as it is, but would have defeated the entire point of the trip), we were then free to find Worthing Beach for the detour before heading to Oli's house to enjoy his party. The trip back, in contrast, went very smoothly and I arrived home safely, a little tired but it was well worth it :-)

p.s. do you see what I did in the title? Hehe. (Credit goes to G-amer though - I could never be that creative, lol.)