Epic Journey
I went up to Darlington for an important meeting with a couple of colleagues.
Our journey back was the stuff of legends.
We were two trains behind one that was trapped beneath fallen overhead wires. Nothing could move north or south on the very busy East Coast main line. After sitting in the station for an hour, and having a free cup of coffee, we were all put off the train so it could be sent back north and another brought in. Peterborough station was becoming dangerous with trains full of people arriving every few minutes, with no way to go further south, and indications that the line would be closed for at least a day. The railway found buses to start ferrying people past the problem, but it was obvious that there would never be enough buses to cope, and that as it was already mid-evening, the bus drivers would soon reach their maximum hours and the buses would stop running.
Our spirits lifted when an enterprising train crew with a diesel decided to make a break down a branch line to Cambridge where we could find a train to London on a different line, and hundreds of us piled aboard for a free trip across the fens, only to be turned back a few miles from Cambridge as network rail refused permission for us to go any further.
Back at Peterborough, we ambushed a taxi and we headed across the fens again to Cambridge where, eventually, after another train was cancelled, we got on a train that stopped 22 times before finally reaching London, and was filled to the brim with other refugees who had found all sorts of interesting ways to get across to Cambridge too.
There was a real outbreak of “blitz spirit”, with relaxed chatter and humour as well as helpfulness from complete strangers who were “in it together” and our cross-country adventure still got us into London many hours before those who waited for the “bus replacement” services. I managed to reach home about 6 hours late.
I cannot help the feeling that the country is falling apart. Accidents happen, but our public systems have been so starved that there is no capacity for sensible or quick response when things go wrong.