The weather forecast was for rain from 10 a.m. onwards, so faced with the prospect of having a severe case of cabin fever I decided to spent the day in the newly opened archives in Halifax. Well, it couldn’t be worse than New Year’s Day. Could it? I dressed accordingly. I’ve found that all the libraries are kept at a constantly warm temperature which means that in two layers of jumpers I overheat immediately. I just guess they have to stop the books catching cold!
Walking through the Piece Hall towards the East gate there was a placard in the walkway stating that the library would be closed today from 9.30 til 12.30 for staff training. Darn it. Well I guess I can wander around the town and look aimlessly at the shops – not something I particularly relish, but it’s ok for once. At least the rain hadn’t started. And yes, yes, that’s blue sky overhead. Well, just a few centimetres showing. So two hours, a coffee and scone later I returned to the library only to find the placard still in place. For one nasty moment I thought the library was still closed, but someone was just coming out so I thought Ah, they’ve forgotten to remove the sign. The lady coming out handed me a leaflet and said, ‘Library closed today.’ Two other customers arrived. ‘But the sign said it was closed til 12.30 today’ said the man. ‘Yes, that’s right ‘ said the leaflet lady. ‘It’s closed all day on Wednesdays. Here’s a leaflet to show you the new opening hours. see? It says closed on Wednesdays!’ ‘Well, you need to remove the sign. It’s misleading,’ we all tried to explain to her, but she didn’t understand.
Well, now what to do? er . . . .hm . . . Go to the bus station and find out where my day rover will allow me to go for free. I arrive at the bus station information desk. A sign on the door states we are closed today until 1.30. It was 12.45. Note to self. Avoid Halifax on Wednesdays! I had toward the first bus I see. ‘Is my Day rover ticket valid on this bus?’ ‘Yes, get on.’ ‘But where is this bus going to?’ ‘Huddersfield.’ So 40 minutes later I found myself in Huddersfield. So it’s over 40 years ago that I went to college here, and I had planned to go tomorrow! Oh well. It was a nice ride, through Elland where some of my ancestors had lived. I didn’t recognise anything in the town, which didn’t surprise me. It has a swanky new bus station. When I got the bus back to Halifax it took a completely different route, all around the houses through Rastrick and Brighouse. I enjoyed my 2 hour ride to Huddersfield and back, looking at the different styles of architecture over three centuries. Back in Halifax it was almost dark. Well, it was 3.30 by now! On impulse I thought I should take a look in Poundland. I’ve always had a soft spot for the place ever since Simon Armitage was so scathing about it. There’s usually something I can find in there to treat myself without breaking the bank, and today was no exception. For the first thing I saw was a knee- length jacket. Having bought it, and three balls of wool, there was no way it was going to fit into the tiny plastic carrier bag I was supplied with. Never fear. Put it on – underneath my raincoat.Ha!
Perhaps I’ll wear it tonight when I go to see Jane – the new movie. It’s new footage of Jane Goodall but I’m really just going for the music: a brand new score by Philip Glass.
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