Birmingham Sunday 24 March 2013

A good night’s sleep and I’m down at reception for 08:00 to open the coach up so the passengers can put their luggage on the bus and not have to traipse around with all day.

It has snowed heavily again during the night and even the roads are covered this morning. Not really what you expect at the end of March and the week leading up to Easter!

Once we have sorted the luggage I am then free for the day.

We are due to vacate our rooms at midday but I decide to pay extra to keep mine until 18:00 as I’m not walking around in the snow all day or sitting on a cold bus. It is dearer to pay for five more hours in the room (they charged me from 1pm) than it cost for the night’s stay with breakfast!

I don’t mind too much as I can relax and work in comfort during the day.

I work all morning and then decide to go for a walk at lunchtime. The shops are not far away and I soon find my way to the massive shopping centre called the Bullring. On the way I went into the nicest Waterstone’s bookshop I have ever been in with lots of space and sweeping staircase. Not often you take pictures from inside a bookshop!

Lunch was a coffee and a sandwich and I also purchased some shirts before going back to the hotel for a read and siesta. It may be cold but an afternoon siesta is a luxury I’m not passing up today especially as I won’t finish work until about 03:00 in the morning.

I move the coach to the National Indoor Arena at 19:00 and manage to park at the front of the queue of coaches which worked out well as my group are number one on the list to come out at 22:00.

There is a lot of snow on the pavements and I'm astonished that they haven't salted or gritted the pathways as 7000 people will be coming out very shortly.

Indeed when they come out a lot of people are slipping up and falling over.

I collect a coach full of children and drive the short distance back to our hotel where the parents are waiting to take their children home. Those travelling back with me stay on board and it looks like we shall be away by 22:30.

In the end we are not away until 23:15 as one of the dads has fallen over and cracked his head badly. In the end he goes off to hospital and we go home with his daughter on board.

We are back in Liphook at 02:15 and I then have to clean the coach as it is out in the morning. Washing a coach down at 03:00 in the morning is not a lot of fun!

Our other coach is due for its six weekly inspection at A1 Recovery in Havant at 08:00 in the morning so I drive that home and leave it in a bus stop close to home and finally get to bed at 04:00.

Am up again at 07:00 to drive the coach to Havant!