MrGrumpy returns the Toymota Armchair

Today was the last day MrGrumpy would have the Toymota Armchair. He had been using the Mustang and done over 1000 miles, so was unperturbed about returning the rental.

MrGrumpy received his US SSN in the post today, he has booked an appointment for Monday 8:30am to apply for a driving licence / id card.

Before MrGrumpy could return the Toymota, he had to pump up the right rear tyre, it was flat again... So he put to use his 12v pump that he had brought, several minutes later and there was 35psi in the tyre, it still looked the same to MrGrumpy but at least the warning light went out on the dash.

With the Toymota returned, MrGrumpy's next challenge was to get back to Sunnyvale via the dreaded public transport. So air-train to BART, not well signed but only one change. Purchase ticket for SFO to Millbrae, $4, OK so far, then MrTrainAnnounce mumbles that trains are delayed... 20 mins later a train arrives, doors opened and people got off (on the other side of the train), but the doors do not open to let people on.  Several minutes pass and an announcement is mumbled by MrTrainAnnouncer, "Another train will arrive, going to all stations, on platform 3 in 2 minutes" and it did and this time the door opened to allow people on.

MrGrumpy only had to go one stop to Millbrae, so off he got and went to look at the timetable. The delay on the original train had now missed the connecting CalTrain to Sunnyvale, next one, 1 hour... Several other people were begrudgingly discussing how much the profiteering MrTaxiCab was going to charge them to get to PaloAlto / Stanford, $35 each seemed not to go down as the number of people in the cab went up, so 2 People = $35 each, 5 People = $30 each, uhm, MrGrumpy who is not the worlds greatest at maths but that sounded like a rip off to him as the CalTrain fare was only $4.75

Public Transport

Anyway MrGrumpy had no intention of getting a cab so he looked around and found there was a cafe just a few yards away, so time for a coffee then.

At the cafe MrGrumpy sat and ordered a coffee, he looked at the menu and decided he may as well eat here, safe looking for something later. After drinking his coffee and eating his burger and fries it was about ten minutes until the train was due, so MrGrumpy paid and walked back to the station.

The train arrived on time, a double decker, once on the train it reminded him of "Source Code", hopefully he would not have the same fate.  MrGrumpy sat on the train listening to music and watching the for Mountain View as the next station after that was Sunnyvale.

Along the route, a nice day for a stroll

MrGrumpy got off the train at Sunnyvale, he looked around expecting to see a CostCo nearby so he could get his bearings and work out which way to walk. He could not see it so he referred to MrIPhone and examined the map, "Oh... bother" (or word to that effect), the map was showing that he was about 3 miles from the office, the station near CostCo was Lawrence and not Sunnyvale...

The route did not look far on the map, but then nothing does in the US, but walking 3 miles in new(ish) shoes at a quick pase soon took its toll on MrGrumpy's feet. The fact there was no footpath for 30-40% of the route did not help his progress.  

The Cube Farm

Eventually he arrived back at the cube farm, as it was now gone 5:30pm he was in no rush to head home, the traffic was quite bad and his feet needed to recover prior to driving home. It had only taken him 4.5 hours to return the Toymota to the airport only 30 miles away.

So children and readers what is the moral of this story, always check and don't assume that the station with the name of the place you want to go is the one you want. (and don't assume it is possible to even walk from A to B in the US).