Day Thirty-eight

Another virtually sleepless night – I don't know why.

Felt unable to eat all my breakfast, which consisted of some fruit juice, a bit of porridge with maple syrup, and half a cup of coffee. I was given the gorgeous fresh fruit to take with me, plus a banana , which I ate at Edinburgh Bus Station.

I'm totally exhausted after a stressful bus journey back to Oban. Initially really great, and very pleased to be on a bus whose driver was excellent, a much quieter young chap than the guy on Friday afternoon, focused and circumspect.
But not pleased with the bus company, who failed to inform their drivers of a significant road closure affecting their services from Glasgow to Oban/Fort William/Dundee... This led to disruptions and delays, confusion and hassle at the meeting point of routes in Tyndrum. I was the only passenger for Oban on that particular journey but my driver had to wait for delayed passengers from Glasgow who were going to Fort William, so I went off for some quick hot food at the Good Food Café, which I love.

When I got back, all the other passengers had just transferred to another Ft. William bus. One of them – possibly one of the drivers – must have grabbed my bag and put it on the other bus, because when the Oban bus came in and I transferred, my bag was nowhere to be found.

My driver phoned the Ft. William office immediately. He was soo apologetic – not least because he could also have transferred me onto an Oban bound bus that left almost as soon as we arrived in Tyndrum. Only I didn't realise that and no-one told me. Armed with information and phone numbers, I travelled on to Oban on an uneventful journey.

The quieter drivers enabled me to read on in Delivered from Distraction, which I found riveting.

I even managed to be one of the first to arrive at the hall where Oban Gaelic choir had an extra practice.

But later in the afternoon, I was unimpressed by the bus office in Fort William, who informed me that my bag had not been found. And by the fact that the manager never bothered to call me back. I eventually managed to make contact with her at about 7pm, giving a few more details of my bag that, in Tyndrum, I hadn't thought of in the heat of the moment. She suggested I should call again after ten tomorrow morning, saying the bag might have gone on to Skye!

I live in hope of getting this bag back; totted up its value, including contents, which comes to about £500. Amazing. I'd be so stressed out if I had to re-print all my Gaelic lessons and yesterday's notes. Why oh why did I not leave them in my computer case? Because they were heavy.

Still fizzing with nerves and stress. But hoping to have a better night's sleep now I'm back in my own bed.

What went well? 

Glad I transferred colleagues' contact details onto my computer, which is with me, and even typed up a few e-mails to them which I'm planning to e-mail off tomorrow.
Got to the bus station early; could even have changed my itinerary to take a bus via Glasgow. In hindsight it might have saved me a lot of hassle.