Tuesday 20 August 2013

The Virgin Trip to Exeter

Its been a month since I've last done a blog post and even a vlog. Nonetheless, there were things I've been busy with during this month, which is mostly working and when I'm free, I've been gaming, maybe even quite intense gaming. For example, finishing the story mode in Batman: Arkham Asylum in a week. 

So that resolution was to get my Virgin Prepaid MasterCard unlocked so I can actually use the money on it, although I've had it for 4 years, there as been a restriction of £1,600 per year. I've tried to do this over post or email before and although I had the right documents, virgin never unlocked it.
So I decided to think about getting unlocked with the help of actual virgin money staff in the closest store near me, Exeter. 

There was a plan to have me, Charley and the house go and make a day out of it. That plan went out the window when I changed it to Tuesday to suit Charley's day off and that partly caused arguments. So I finally set a date and here we are. The vlog for the day is below:


The Day begins

It was 6:30am, I woke up with sliding beat playing as my alarm. it took about 10 minutes to get up, then I got changed and left about 7:08am. I ran to Lidl, got on the bus, paid £6.20 for a return, then I got into Plymouth. The 83a was really quiet for what it used to be when I was on their everyday, although its still school holidays which is the reason.

Arriving at the Station. Beautiful weather surounding it

Since I was quite early before the train I was getting wasn't ready,  i decided to walk to the hoe to see the sea and enjoy a short bit of peace and quiet. It was in treat if that the fair was up there too. But there was a this haze over the sea by Plymouth sound. Enjoy some shots of it.


Notice the haze near the sea. But is makes it nice with the clear blue sky :)

The view of the Fair which started from the 19th August and ends just after the Bank Holiday. Also i noticed the Big wheel is actually in motion at this early point in the day.

Another view of the hoe and with the Haze above the sea

The Journey to Exeter

It was getting to 8:55, I ran to the station while passing into Wilko to find some good deals and there was some but I didn't feel like buying any. I got to the stationed, bought the tickets for £8.60. Then got on the train. On platform 8, the farthest away, Snapchatted me and the ticket the it was an easy ride, well after realising I was in 2 reserved seats. The views were ok, except when passing Dawlish, that was a beautiful view.

Passing by Dawlish Beach along the coast

Arriving and the time to explore and verify

Finally at 10:23 I got to Exeter St Davids, then went to platform 2 to transfer to Exeter central. That was a 3 minute ride, got to Central, left and browsed a games shop right next to the station. They were selling Wii's quite cheap in there, but after that, i left for the Virgin Money store.

The place was quite nice and relaxed and I was the only customer there. But the chap at the desk got me some water while he was chatting to a colleague who was going to serve me.
She then lead to her office, I explained everything, she understood what I was mentioning. Then she said I should call them prepaid card support number which I did and I was on hold for 15 minutes then transferred and to another department and the girl on the phone was basically saying theres nothing you can do except send it by post. But it was neat that the store stamped and verified the documents and sent it off 1st class. I hopefully should have it verified and then i full use the card :).


Afterwards, i had the rest of the day to look around and shop and the likewise. So i popped into a few stores like HMV, Poundland, Apple, Game, Sony Centre and John Lewis. Now that store is recent and was HUGE. In the vlog, you see me explore the Mens floor (Lower Ground Floor lol) which has expensive jeans, shirts, TVs, Laptops, Tablets (even a Surface RT & Pro which was nice, not worth the £££ however) and even kitchen appliances. It was funny how the store had brochures for "getting essentials for university". Which had a long list of items, from kettles to laptops and even offering a Galaxy Tab 3. When i was walking there, there was quite a cute bbw who asked me my age and then said i was too young, but it was for those charaity Direct debit options, so it wasn't much lost.
Viewing Exeter from outside the John Lewis Store


After browsing some more shops and walking around Exeter, i decided to have some lunch. So i went to the The Chevalier Inn which is a nice Weatherspoons pub just up the road from the Virgin money store and a 2 minutes from the Cathedral. I went in there, i took a good 10 minutes on what to decide to eat. So i then ordered a Chicken Tika Masala with the usual extras and i added a side order of chips. it was quite pricey but it tasted really nice. The serivce was really quick and the food was amazing.
The Chicken Tika Masala with rice, chips, poppadom, naan bread, mango chutney and mayo which cost me £10.29 and the Tap water with ice was free.
After eating that and resting, i walk around a bit more, even tested the GPS on my phone, browsed a few american sweet shops, funnily enough it had a less strong, nicer but similar smell to Oceana, which is usually sweat an alcahol. But there were some good sweets and drinks on offer, much like the store in plymouth. Also i saw a few slush puppy stands as well as alot of local cafes but the food was quite pricey.

Looking around a bit more and i walked down to the Quay and looked around, it was a nicer afternoon, the weather was hot and there was a nice wind, so i looked in a few shops and the visitor centre, saw a seagull get really vicious over a slice of pizza or bread, then i walked back into the city centre then killed an hour or so, but by 3pm i started heading back to the train station, while picking up a mixed phone cable for £1, lets me charge classic iPhone and iPods, anything micro and mini usb as well as a tablet DC connector.

The warm, quiet, sweaty journey back

The train at exeter central was late by about 15 minutes, about 15:42 (supposed to arrived 15:25) but it was incredibly quiet on the train, although there were some nice face looking blonde girls on the same coach. Then i got on and waited another 5 minutes at St Davids for the train to Plymouth, which arrived on time.


The journey was a quiet one, i made sure the seats i was in were not reserved and then when i got back to Plymouth, did a classic and started running partly home, it was hot, a run topless in the sun and passing the queued traffic mostly until Crownhill and as i just got to the bus stop, i got on the bus and relaxed. When the bus arrived in Tavi, i got off at the school stop and ran home from there.

Conclusion

The day turned out quite good. Yes, i was on my own and it was my own fault but it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be. At least i've made a good step to getting my card unlocked which will be useful for helping my attempt in my search for love and even getting a chance with Emma as well as bonding with friends a bit more. But for now, a small story ends here and life is back to its quiet self and summer is ending and i know i've missed a few opportunities this summer, i hope i can make up for it in the Winter and maybe get all the new years resolutions sorted. But as time passes, more and more chances in life with dating are dissappearing, like one i've even mentioned in the vlog. Nothing can be done, people made mistakes which can't be controlled.

Bye for now
omracer :)