#43 Bank

This week’s blog is also for the benefit of my bank manager, who was slightly concerned that my account would soon run out of cash.

That is, of course, an exaggeration, but this week has been another example of haemorrhaging cash at an alarming - albeit typically ‘student’ - rate. Thursday last was a day spent travelling home and, despite the fact it cost me 40p more to get from London to Dartford than from Sheffield to London, meant there wasn’t too much dinero lost. The weekend soon reversed this trend.

Friday night was my first trip on the mighty Fastrack (pronounced fast-rack) bus route. Handily, there’s a stop right outside my house, so the trip into Dartford is now able to be completed far more lazily than ever before. The route also takes you right past Dartford’s new stadium - it’s great to be able to see Princes Park taking shape.

From the “Royal Victoria Mill” stop (aka the bottom of East Hill - not quite as glamorous a name), it was to the Paper Moon where the whole crew met up again and enjoyed a few beers at a rather leisurely pace! Old habits die hard, clearly... Once we’d all got ourselves organised we could head up to Lahndahn and the Walkabout in Temple for Mandeep’s birthday celebrations.

It was a good night, topped with a journey to Mandeep’s Chelsea flat (via Trafalgar Square and the nearby Tesco Express), then a ridiculously early-morning trek to the train station to get back to Dartford. My attempts to board the night bus with a railcard were met with much mirth from the losers I had to accompany home, but then one of them did manage to fall off a bus shelter bench, and get stuck down the back. Once again, Fastrack proved its worth, with a surprisingly busy 06:40 getting us home.

Not much opportunity for sleep presented itself on Saturday before going out again to the legendary S&G Cricket Club Race Night presented by Racenite on a night of races™. A promising start to the evening saw us come within just one question of the Trivial Pursuit jackpot... Sadly, that question was “What is the international dialling code for Norway?”. Still in a fairly confident mood though, we took our seats for the evening’s racing. Although most of my bets could more accurately be called donations, we did manage to raise some money for the kitty which would be used for later in the week.

That use was for the taxi home from Amadeus, possibly the greatest nightclub in Rochester. It was my first time there, too, so the excitement was all the more intense... Whether it was the Turbo Stellas, or Deal Or No Deal, or just the darn good music, it was a top class night out.

Having played football on Tuesday too, I’ve pretty much caught up with everyone from back home now. Pretty much, because my plans to go and see Elyse and Adèle last night were scuppered by Ms. Sumner feeling poorly and my car deciding to stop working in the middle of Swaledale Road. Obviously, that’s not the best start to a journey through a busy road tunnel...