So the paperwork for this here wedding needed to be collected from the Chesterfield Registrars’ Office so it can be sent to the Bakewell Registrar’s Office. I’m still not sure why this can’t be done electronically, or even in the County Internal Post (I assume the county has an internal post). But it can’t.

It just so happened that my diary for this morning was unusually empty, so I arranged with Peter-the-Boss that I should come in late this morning and took myself on the bus into town, dodging the rain showers, presented myself at the Registrars’ Office and collected the paperwork. Now I have to work out how to get it to Bakewell. They don’t seem to think it would be a good plan to commit it to the post. If it gets lost – the Wedding Cannot Take Place!!!!!

I came into Sheffield on the bus. Usually if I’m not in the car, I come by train. But the bus station is right opposite the Registrars’ Office and I thought it might be fun. It was especially fun because the usual route the bus would take is closed for the next phase in Tesco’s Take Over The Whole Known Universe Plan (The big roundabout is having a development on which incorporates a Tesco – opposite and existing Tesco – a KFC, other things and, bizarrely, a football stadium). This meant that the bus had to go along roads that were entirely new to me. I rather enjoyed it.

I was surprised to find there were about 20 people on the bus. I was even more surprised when we stopped at the bottom of the Moor in Sheffield and about half the passengers got off. Two headed off in the general direction of Waitrose, which makes a kind of sense. The rest went in the direction of the Moor. I can’t help wondering what you can do on the Moor that you couldn’t more conveniently do in Chesterfield (if you live in Chesterfield). All the same sort of shops are available there – and there’s a much better market in Chesterfield.

Then there’s a bus stop near the station. That’s where I got off because it happens to be the closest stop to SHU. But most of the rest of the passengers also got off and appeared to head in the direction of the station. I can’t think of any reason at all why you would come from Chesterfield to Sheffield on a bus and then head to the railway station!!

I have just looked (somewhat forlornly) to see what the opening hours of the Bakewell Office are. And have discovered that they are open until 5:30 on a Friday. I think we might make a dash to Bakewell after work and see if we can get there before the office closes. Doesn’t matter if we miss it – we can always have a wander around Bakewell. And I’ll have to come up with another cunning plan for getting the paperwork there.

The Travelling Hippoberries have arrived, ready for a weekend jaunt in and around Worcestershire/Gloucestershire