The Bea Project - Chapter 7

Friday morning arrived and as I was putting the last little bits and bobs into my handbag and scraping my hair into a topknot, and Dexter bless him, popped his head around my bedroom door and offered me a lift to Swindon Train Station in his old banger of a car, he promised me that it would be quicker than waiting for a bus.  Dexter’s car is so old that sometimes it doesn’t always fire up and start first time and it does have the odd occasional tendency to conk out completely at the most inconvenient moment, but I agreed to a lift and we set off through the sleepy villages of the Cotswolds just a little bit earlier than I had originally anticipated just in case something went wrong and I missed the fast train to London Paddington.   
 
As we arrived at the mainline station in Swindon I got out of the car and opened the back door, lugged my guitar case along with my suitcase off the back seat and slammed the back door shut. 
 
Dexter called after me, ‘Enjoy your weekend, Sis.  Call me if you need me or let me know what time you intend coming back home on Sunday and I will drive down and collect you it’s no trouble, honestly.’ 
 
‘Okay, I will’ I mouthed back ‘See you Sunday. MWAH!’
 
I made my way into the station and looked up at the train departure boards, found the platform from which my train would be departing.  I also noticed that I had a good ten minutes to spare.  My suitcase was quite heavy as I had managed to squish my violin case into it on top of my clothes, good job it was on wheels.  My guitar case was quite light compared to the weight in the suitcase.  I had visions of my arms being twice as long by the end of the day, trailing around in Manchester like some sort of monkey or ape. 
 
An announcement was made over the station tennoy that the train for London Paddington was now pulling into the platform and that all the passengers were to stand clear of the platform edge until the train had come to a complete stop. 
 
I boarded the train and found my seat and made myself comfortable, sat back and enjoyed the ride.  I watched the scenery change as the train picked up speed and we travelled through the rural countryside and eventually raced along the tracks into the built up residential areas of the City.  Soon enough the train was pulling into London Paddington.  This is where I had to get on the underground train and go around to London Euston on the circle line before boarding the express train for Manchester, my final destination.  It was an easy journey, with no delays or hold ups.  I listened to the music on my iPod and my mind drifted with the rhythm of the train as it made it’s way swiftly up to Manchester in the north of England. 
 
The train arrived at Manchester Piccadilly Station just before three thirty in the afternoon.  I got off the train with all my baggage in tow and made my way to the station forecourt, hailed a cab to take me to my hotel which was supposedly just less than one hundred yards up the road from the Station.  When i arrived at the hotel I got out and paid the driver but as I was doing so a crowd of six or seven girls were walking past me and one of them stopped, turned around and called my name. 

‘Bea?’ she cried as she walked back towards me smiling.
 ‘Bea Lovett is it really you?’ 
 
‘Katy!’ I replied, ‘Crikey, I haven’t seen you for gosh, oh at least seven years. How are you?’
 
‘Yep, it’s me.’ She replied ‘I’ve only just returned to the UK.  I’m up here for a weekend with my girlfriends. We’re all going to a concert at the Arena tomorrow night.  What are you doing up this way then?’ she spotted the silver guitar case, well you couldn’t be off it really.
 
‘Well, I’m doing a musical show case here in Manchester tomorrow afternoon and it was better for me to travel up today and be bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for tomorrow.”  I told her. 

She dipped her hand into her handbag, pulled out a business card and handed it to me.

‘Bea, call me, it would be good to catch up with you at some point.  I shall be back home in London next Wednesday.’  Then she ran to catch up with her friends, who had walked on ahead of her. 
 
I picked up my case and guitar and walked into the hotel, made my way to the check-in desk and gave the young man on the desk my name.  He tapped some details into a computer and produced a keycard for me to use whilst I was staying at the hotel.  He also asked me if I wanted to book a table for dinner that evening, I told him that a table for 7.30pm would be great if they could find me a table around that time and he said it was not a problem.  I had decided earlier on the train that it would be easier for me if I ate at the hotel restaurant later in the evening, because I was beginning to feel tired after such a long journey.
 
I took the lift up to the fourth floor and used the keycard to enter the room, it was a basic room but it still quite cosy and was to be my home for the next couple of nights.  I unpacked my case and flopped down on the bed and flicked through the programs on the television using the remote control.  I flicked the TV off again and wandered across the room to look out of the window, well at least I had a decent view of the City.  I stood there for ages looking at the different architectural structures and just daydreaming really.  Eventually I trotted off to the bathroom to have a shower and freshen myself up before I went down to the restaurant for dinner. 
 
I returned to my room after dinner and pulled my mobile phone out of my pocket and made a quick call to my Mum to let her know that I had arrived safely and was now tucked away for the night and yes the door was locked on the double latch, so that the bogie man couldn’t come and take me away at midnight.  
 
At ten o’clock I was falling asleep so I decided it would be best if I went to bed and got some decent shuteye.  I got myself undressed, cleaned my teeth, washed my face and brushed my hair.  Set the alarm for the morning and snuggled down onto the bed with the cool white cotton sheet draped around my body and I slowly drifted off into a lovely peaceful slumber.