LEEDS MORALE GRAPH
Final Destination: City of Leeds, 74 miles away by the quickest road route and located in North Yorkshire.
Duration of Journey: 10am 26/10/04- 12am 27/10/04
Notes: Fee unable to complete mish due to prior engagements (taking life guard course ) but will be replaced by David, a virgin in mishing terms. Fee will, however be joining us on the mish to London.
Proposed Transport: Astonishingly, we plan to travel once again using only one child's all day bus pass each, costing £1.60. We are prepared to buy a maximum of two if absolutly necessary.
Aims: Arrive safely in Leeds via the above transport, Get pie ;-) in Leeds, smoke the remains of the Cuban cigar, phone Mrs. Derby and perform a song, busk and collect enough money to cover travel costs (£1.60 each), have manliness competition.
All aims were completed. Furthermore, it was decided half way to Leeds (round about Oldham) that it would be a sensible idea to spend the night in Leeds, with precious little to do, in order to leave is better prepared for London.
The revised trio of mishketeers met at Paradise Street at 10.30 and proceeded to hand out business cards advertising this here website, leaving them behind CDs in HMV, in phone boxes etc.
Then the mishing really begun as we caught the 6 bus to Warrington. We were off. We arrived in Warrington only to find that the next step in the plan, a bus to Manchester, was impossible as the only buses were not Arriva and therefore not covered by our all day pass.
The decision was therefore taken to get the number 38 bus to Altringham, before catching a bus to Manchester from there. In Manchester we took a break before buying a 'First North Western' all day pass, and catching a bus to Oldham. In Oldham we spent £2 on food in Home and Bargain and then swiftly caught a bus to Huddersfield, through a very nice bus station and on to Leeds.
All objectives were completed very quickly, and by 10 o'clock we found ourselves with nothing to do but sit and be cold. So we decided to catch the next train home and sleep at David's. But fate was to conspire against us. We were told there were no trains to Liverpool until morning, and no coaches until 5am. So we got the train to Manchester instead, thinking "It'll be OK, we'll get home somehow from there."
After a pleasant but disjointed train ride from Leeds to Manchester (via Bradford :-S) we arrived, only to be told that there were no remaining trains to Liverpool. By this stage we were genuinely knackered, but "don't panic" we thought, we'll get a night bus to Warrington and then one to David's (in Huyton). No. Night buses only ran from Manchester on Friday and Saturday nights. Oh-o.
We continued to see options and hopes evaporate before our eyes (no coaches til morning, taxis £60) until we finally accepted our fate. We were stuck in manchester, with nothing to do and nowhere to go until 05:45. Five long hours away.
Spirits were low. This so far most enjoyable mish was turning increasingly sur. We tried to sleep in shifts on a bench in Piccadilly Square. For 5 minutes. Then gave up. We then started wandering the streets and had a brainwave. We found a kebab shop, where we spent our final pennies on a pizza, and we sat warma nd comfortable making playing cards out of fat mish business cards. Fantastic? No. Because after an hour, the kebab shop shut. We wandered the streets once again, however we were now in high spirits and entirely ready to enjoy our time here. I seriously can't remember what we did for those 3 hours. I remember brief games of cheat with poorly made playing cards in Victoria Station, a visit to the MEN arena and to the Boddingtons factory. All I know is that it was Ok and perfectly bareable, although perishingly cold. We were glad of our sexy scarfes.
We did indeed catch the train at 05:45, meanin the cost of the trip had skyrocketed to £60 (£20 each) and we returned with 27p left between us. Phew.
The spiralling costs aside, this mish was not only the most enjoyable and idiotic to date, but also an example of (unnecessary) triumph in the face of (unnecessary) adversity and proof that London is perfectly feesable.
View the pictures to get a better idea of the mish.