On the Saturday, we left Luton to go the train station (Liz had pre-booked our tickets). We had stripped down the buggy as much as we could, but grabbed the rain cover just after stepping out the house as it was raining a little too much for our liking. We weren't going to be outside all that much, but the walk to the station would be long enough to get the buggy (and potentially Kaleb) fairly wet.
As we were running early, by the time we got to London, we had enough time to have a wander around the new concord at Kings Cross (mainly somewhat expensive food places). We were amused that the Starbucks there couldn't serve drinks due to an issue they had with their water supply...
As soon as our train's platforms was announced we headed over there so we could get set up (I mainly wanted to find somewhere to set the pram). For some reason we couldn't figure out, when Liz booked the tickets online, it had been adamant in putting us on the quiet coach. With a 6 week old baby...
Luckily, after a feed he settled down for a sleep.
Kaleb was a good boy in the quiet coach, the loudest noise he made there was farting once in his sleep. I did have a new experience with him on this journey; I've changed him before, and I've changed him while we've been out, but not on a train. That's moving...
The changing area was 4 carriages down, and I managed to pick the best time to go: just before we got into a station. So I was delayed a little by people getting off, and again with a group of people faffing around getting luggage into the luggage rack. Getting to the toilet with the baby changing unit (it doubled as a disabled toilet), I paused for a moment to ensure I pressed the right buttons (one opened or closed the door, one locked it and one set off an alarm - that was the one I didn't want to accidentally press.
The changing area folded down above the toilet, and I juggled holding Kaleb, and getting the mat out of the changing bag (there was a surface to put him down on, but the rest of the toilet didn't look overly pleasant, and I've heard stories about baby changing tables in public toilets having cocaine residue over them). What I hadn't seen before (nor, to be honest, expected to see) was a Velcro strap to keep the baby in place and avoid falling off the changing area. I strapped Kaleb in and changed him, then juggled everything around again afterwards.
About 4 and a half hours after we had left, we finally arrived in Middlesbrough, ready to go to a party for one of Liz's friends. Kaleb made a new friend meeting her son before we went to the party. Towards the end, Kaleb was starting to get a bit unsettled, probably due to all the people and the music, so I gave him a cuddle on a sofa outside the party area, where he dozed off.
That night, we got Kaleb to bed a bit later than we do most nights (mainly due to staying up for the party), but after settling at 12:30, he slept through till about 6, so had a good long sleep (we did too!). After getting up, we got Kaleb's new friend to pick out an outfit to wear for the day, and went off to the train station.
We had seats reserved for the first train we were on, but the conductor came up to us after we got on and said there was a larger area at the end of the train that we could use to park the pram and sit next to it, so we went there instead.
The second train was the long train of the journey again (no quiet coach this time). Kaleb took a little longer to settle, but it was noisier on that carriage. Our change in London was Kings Cross to St Pancreas, but we took a longer detour to near Euston to say hello to Jason at the Games Club as they were doing a prerelease. Liz also picked up a few books from a bookshop we went past.
Our final train was a super fast one, first stop was Luton Airport Parkway, passing through St Albans and Harpenden (which was usually stops for the semi-fast train), so 20 minutes from London to Luton was pretty nice. Kaleb had been sleeping most the time, but woke up while we were walking back.
After being home for a little while, we left the house with Kaleb to watch the Olympic torch go through Luton. In traditional British style, it was late and wet. There was a mini procession (little advertising moment for the sponsors I guess), and while holding Kaleb, he managed to distract one of the enthusiastic people encouraging the crowd. Not that Kaleb will remember anything, but at least we can say he was there when the torch went past (most people there seemed to be a little too excited for a couple of people walking past with a stick on fire, but there we go).
Back home, Kaleb had a calmer bath that some of his other ones, before eventually going to bed.
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