GATHER round, ghouls and boys, for a creeptastically scary Halloween edition of this weekly column, a tale I like to call… The Mystery of the Missing Passenger!

It all began normally enough last Friday – normal for me, at any rate. I had a long-standing engagement in London, talking about myself at the Petrie Museum of Egyptology, booked for Wednesday this week. This being organised many months ago, I of course left it to five days before the event to sort out some travel arrangements.

HORROR! I logged on to the train website to check times and, more importantly, prices. While there was a train that would get me there and back in one day, the price was eyewatering – in the same way that trying to pass a pumpkin would be.

SHRIEK! I then turned to coach company National Express, but while their prices were much more palatable, there was no way I’d make the last bus from Victoria Station after the end of my event at the museum.

SAVED! In desperation I turned to a company I’d never used before, Megabus. Not only could they get me to London and back in the required times, it would cost an astonishing eight quid each way. There was only one wrinkle, and that was that the journey would be half by coach to the East Midlands, then on to London by train. But where’s the problem in that? Two journeys for the price of one! So off I trotted to London, and I’m pleased to report that Megabus was great: picked me up in time in Bradford, delivered me early to East Midlands Parkway station (nestled beautifully in the shadow of the cooling towers of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station) and ensured I got on the right train to St Pancras. It all went swimmingly. As did my event at the Petrie Museum, where I talked about fantastical Egypt amid the cabinets holding artefacts that were thousands of years old. If you’re ever in London and want to see a skeleton sitting in a clay pot, then the Petrie is your place.

I even finished my event with time to spare for a leisurely stroll back to St Pancras, where I settled into my seat, texted home to say I was on the train, and opened my book to read until I had to get the connection.

And that was the last thought I had before I woke up, dribbling, as the train pulled into Nottingham, East Midlands Parkway far behind me and my Megabus to Bradford long departed. The next possible combination of trains that could get me to Bradford wouldn’t depart until after 5am… and would cost me big time.

On a hunch I ran to the bus station where, as luck would have it, a National Express coach was about to depart for Bradford for a nominal fee. SAVED AGAIN! But you know the really spooky thing, readers? The book I was reading when I dozed off was the latest from horror-meister Stephen King… entitled Doctor SLEEP!

Happy Halloween!