So Keith takes the day off work and we're planning to join our Aussie mates, Graham & Gayle, at Colchester Zoo. Everyone's raved about the place, and because I've driven up to Chelmsford before (and it was a crap journey), I know the train is the way-to-go. we check the times the night before and see that it'll be a mere 50 minutes from Stratford (our connection from the Jubilee line) to Colchester.
In summary it took us 3 and 3/4 hours to get there with the crap (read, 'staff attitude problems' and 'a lack of ticketing facilities') at Stratford station, too many changes to make, and eventually pulling into Colchester to discover that no-one there knew which bus to take to the Zoo. So we got a cab.
Things improved quite a lot from there: We spent a few hours with the mates (and their 3 children) and saw some great animals - tigers, lions, zebra, giraffes, rhino, crowned cranes, monkeys. Keith was delighted because we managed to stay until twilight and capture some lovely shots, including one of an aardvark.
We got a bus back into town, and then a connecting bus to the station where we'd (please God), get the train back to Stratford. Unfortunately the second bus was driven by minion of the dark lord, who felt that giving me lip while I was trying to pay for our tickets was the way forward. That's public service for you eh ?
What a bloody awful experience ! Why do we bother with public transport ? It cost us more than £40 for travel (PLUS entry to the zoo) and I feel like if we'd stayed at home, we'd have had a jolly nice time.
My advice : don't believe everything they promise you on websites. Most of the time it's just idle chatter. They've got nothing to lose telling you that the journey is easier than it turns out to be. Nothing.
do I sound angry ?
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