'Paddington Railway Band': view this photo in Flickr.

If you find yourself travelling through Paddington railway station between 19:30 and 21:30 on a Friday evening, I very much recommend that you pause for a while, and listen to the live music provided by the Great Western Paddington Railway Band. Similar in composition to a military band, with brass, woodwind and percussion, they are very good, and entertain travellers for 2 hours every Friday evening. Very relaxing start to the weekend.

Ho hum... no problems on the train into Paddington this morning - this time we've got severe delays on the Circle Line.

Late into the office again - signalling problems in the Ealing area, so all trains delayed in and out of Paddington.

Made me smile to see this in the window of a cut-price shoe shop today. When you buy one shoe, you do rather expect a second shoe to be thrown in as part of the deal! :)

When you get on a bus, you have a basic expectation that it'll take you somewhere, and you might even expect that it'll take you there reasonably quickly, always allowing for delays caused by other traffic on the road. What you don't expect, and shouldn't have to, is that, as happened to me just half an hour ago, the driver gets off the bus without a word of explanation or apology, in order to make a private phone call on his mobile phone. Just 2 stops before the bus stop outside Southall Railway Station, there were several of us who were hoping to catch the 10:52 train to London. We should have caught it with several minutes to spare. The only reason we did catch it was that it was running several minutes late.

Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old woman, but I'm increasingly fed up with paying for shoddy and sub-standard services!

'Almost home': view this photo in Flickr.

8.30pm - back in Southall and almost home. Lots of traffic as usual.

Yuck! This train is filled with rubbish from previous trips - newspapers, food wrappers, cardboard cups, etc. I'm disgusted at the way some people just dump their rubbish on the floor, on seats and on tables, and it's infuriating that the train companies (First Great Western Link in this case) think it's OK to inflict conditions like this on paying customers. This train arrived in Oxford from London over 15 minutes ago - plenty of time for a team of cleaners to have gone through it and given it a basic clean and tidy. I shudder to think what state the toilet is in, and can only hope that I don't have to use it.

Had a lovely afternoon with Lynn, even if it did pour with rain just after I arrived - didn't last long. Back at the railway station and guess what? The 18:30 to London is now 1 hour late. And that meant that there were loads of people trying to get on the 18:38 to Brighton in order to change at Reading. Didn't stand a chance of getting a seat, so now waiting for the 19:00, which starts here (so I'll have no problem getting a seat) and which also means I won't have to change en route. Swings and roundabouts...

'A patient sister awaits': view this photo in Flickr.

And met up with Lynn at last too!

'Made it!': view this photo in Flickr.

Oxford at last!

Off to Oxford to meet up with my sister Lynn for the afternoon. Nothing particular planned - just some time together to chat and enjoy each other's company.

But I was tired last night, and forgot to wrap the little presents I got for my two nieces. And everything this morning seemed to take twice as long as normal, so I texted Lynn to say I'd be on the 11am train rather than the 10am train.

But then - 11am train cancelled. Had to wait 30 mins and get the 11:30, which meant changing at Slough. And then the train from Slough was held there for over 10 mins because of signalling problems. Oh the joys of travelling by train in the UK on a Sunday! We've now just left Reading, 15 mins late. You need a lot of patience to deal with weekend rail travel!

'Cat thinks it's a parrot': view this photo in Flickr.

Poppy's never happier than when she can settle down on my shoulder. :)

'Kettle up in smoke!': view this photo in Flickr.

This is what our kettle looked like shortly after switching it on to make a cup of coffee yesterday morning! If I hadn't heard the horrendous buzzing and crackling noises it started to produce, and zoomed through to the kitchen to switch it off at the wall socket, it might well have gone up in flames (it was also producing a lot of smoke) and goodness knows what the result would have been.

'Our cat Poppy': view this photo in Flickr.

And to avoid any arguments or jealousy, here's a photo of Poppy. They both dislike eating their food at ground level, so the top of the washing machine has become cat feeding station.

'Our cat Thistle': view this photo in Flickr.

She used to be black, with white chest and paws, but after recovering from a rather severe skin condition earlier this year, her fur has grown quite brindled, rust and black.

Hardly what you expect to see prancing around in Paddington Station during the morning rush hour!