Travelling when you’re exhausted is a nightmare.

We drove to a tube station where at the weekend there is free parking near by. Even on this leg of the journey I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I couldn’t hold a conversation as that took brain power I just didn’t have. James was chauffeur, but still noticed I was spent. But I ploughed on and we began the tube journey the to Excel centre.

As the London underground is quieter at the weekend than it is during the week I was coping. But I felt like I was existing instead of living. It went down hill when we changed at Canning Town to get the Docklands Light Railway or DLR. (The DLR is still part of the underground, except it’s overground without being “The Overground line”. Confused?)

These trains are one long beast. The carriages are joined by sections which can twist and turn with the track, whilst allowing it to be wall free between the carriages. This part of the journey was the busiest, as the Excel centre always gets good attendance when it holds events.

So as we tried to find a space, we found ourselves standing in one these connecting sections. But I didn’t notice I had one foot in the carriage, and one on the twisting floor. I stood, hanging on to a hanging strap for standing passengers. Next to me was some guy who smelt like he hadn’t had a wash for a week. As he too was hanging on a strap, but was taller than me, my nose was almost in one of the offending armpits. The odour was overpowering that even when the train started moving, I still couldn’t sense my legs were moving in different directions.  I was thrown all over the place. I survived, but if I hadn’t been so exhausted I don’t think I would have made this error. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Adrenaline is like making a pact with the devil.

Once inside I loaded up on coffee. And the excitement of seeing the amazing creatures got my adrenaline going. Soon I was more like me, and was pleased I’d come. Although I would say in my opinion Birmingham did it better than London. They created a better environment and atmosphere, but the birds and animals were what I came for.

But whilst adrenaline gives a welcome boost, it comes at a price. Days after the event I’m still exhausted. All it means is you have energy up front, but like a loan shark it makes you pay with interest. You pay for it many times over.