The venue was set, the date was set, and the time was set. The Ice Wharf, Camden, 16th August, 1pm. But, before I could actually make the venture I needed a new phone, I was simply not prepared to stick £10 of credit onto my old phone for one day of use, that would have been an epic waste of money.
With that in my mind, I set off for O2 the evening before hand to see if they’d let me have an iPhone… They had stock and I had passed the credit check but, apparently my house, which I’ve been living in for 3 years doesn’t exist according to them, despite them sending my sister mail every month. I was annoyed, simple as, very annoyed. It was 17:00 by this point, and the next nearest O2 store was a 30 minute drive away, and convienitently closing at that time. I’d need to wait for a second go Saturday morning.
This time, I gave Carphone Warehouse a go… “You know it’s contract only right…?” Yes, I bloody know that, I’m not stupid! They had stock, they knew my house existed, but… They wanted me to pay them a £300 deposit, returnable in 6-9 months. I certainly wasn’t falling for that shit. The woman insisted it was because of the credit check the day before, later I’d find out that it was that coupled with greed. So, with the second try a fail too, it was on for the third attempt at scoring me a new phone…
Usefully, phone shops tend to crown together, so O2 was just over the road, in I went, someone was already in there buying one and discussing roaming charges. After deciding if it was even worth going for a third try, I gave it a shot, using the same lines I’d use previously, “Hi, do you have any black, 16Gb iPhones in stock..” “Yes..?” “Can I buy one then, please..?” “Yes..?”. It was rather frustrating repeating the same two lines three times in such a short ammount of time, but even more so when I got the exact same respsonses from each person. Either way, they had stock, O2 apparently now knew my house existed, and the deposit was still there, but not the £300 Greedphone Warehouse wanted, a mere £100 to be returned in 3 months. Not bad I thought as I rubbed my chin and pondered if the money I payed into the bank the day before had cleared or not. I explained that I might not have the cash, so the order was suspended for a few minutes after the suggestion was made to run down to the bank and check. Check I did, the money was in there. Off back to O2 I went, and soon after, out I came with a temporary number and a “Got it” bag.
The time was now around 10:30, the train I was after to get to Charing cross was at 11:26. Time was going to be tight. Activation in iTunes went fine, but the sim wasn’t active yet. In the end I made the decision to go despite not having a working phone at the time, I knew it would probably be up and running in a few hours.
Upon arrival at the station, the next slow train on the board was now 11:57, a 20 minute wait. Ticket in hand, I wondered up to the platform, waited for the train, got on it, sat down and watched as others decided if it was the train they wanted or not… As it happens, a fast train was coming in 5 minutes later, time I could make up by not stopping every 2 miles or so. The journey to the first station in Tunbridge seemed to go past like a flash, and within a few more minutes I was in Charing Cross, following others to the tube station like a sheep. Northern line was the one I was after, going north to Camden Town. Certainly not a marathon journey, but as with the train, it was my first time navigating the intetubes solo.
As I traversed the escalator up to Camden high street, I started trying to dodge the masses, it was certainly packed that Saturday afternoon. I found the canal, and shortly after, found The Ice Wharf. “Look for me in my Caldari T-shirt” Dym had muttered that morning. Unfortunately, spotting that in a pub with several sections proved interesting to say the least. So, I had one more walk round without trying to look like I was about to mug someone and then went back down the high street to find an O2 store to see why the sim wasn’t active. Apparently it was, and all I needed was a restart. Back down to The Ice Wharf I went…
This time I had Twinkle operational on my iPhone, with a waiting message – “In The Ice Wharf, EVE logo on display” round I went again, several times, only on my final sweep did I see three people glancing up at me, and then the Caldari T-Shirt.
The afternoon could now begin. However, as all the stress from the morning had given me a wonderful headache, coupled with the fact that I needed to use my brain somewhat to get home, I decided to lay off the drink, a wise choice looking back, despite the redicule it caused. 
Lots of drinks, along with a BLT Baguette were consumed, and at about 6 ish the guys decided to move off to Islington to get some more food, as possibly go to the Cinema after. Something I would have loved to do given the chance, but because of the previously mentioned headache, and the fact that I had no clue of the train times to get home, I decided to pass on the offer. And I’m especially glad I gave the drink a miss, I nearly got on the wrong train back to Charing Cross without it clouding my map reading skills!
Unluckily for me, it seems that everyone wants to use the tube at that time of night, it was most certainly busy, and I’d hate to commute on it daily. The heat down there is weird to say the least.
Anyhow, I got back to Charing Cross at 19:00… Just as the fast train back to Ashford International was leaving. Off to the schedule boards I wandered, a mere 30 minute wait for a slow train. That’ll do I thought. While I was waiting, I decided that perhaps I should visit the little boys room, well, it’s not much of that, no little boy could afford to even get in, 30p, I had a 50, and of course, the machine gave no change. 
And for that 50p, I got the worst smelling public toilet I’ve ever been in. Wonderful, isn’t it?
As soon as the train turned up, I was rushing to get a decent seat, I’m very particular with seating on trains, window seat facing forward or no seat at all as far as I’m concered. Shortly after I sat down, I noticed a familiar face, my cousin and previous employer had just got on, and was sat two rows in front of me. Thankfully, he didn’t notice me until we got back into Ashford. There was, of course another problem by this point. A woman had oddly decided to sit next to me, for me, this meant giving up what little leg room I had gained by sitting at an angle and going back to having my knees touch the seat in front of me. A joyful journey, that’s for sure.
Just for comparrison sake, in Camden, the only person to be rude was a woman who decided to just barge past me. In Ashford, I needed to pass 4 chavs in a dark road who just so happened to be shouting expletives at each other like there was no tomorrow. Either way, even those scum couldn’t ruin the great time I had meeting Rich, Rich, Cath and Darren. Cheers.
And, that was Saturday in 1337 words.
