Today did not get off to the best of starts. I arrived at the station to see a hastily-scrawled notice that services are subject to severe delay. OK, I’ll take a chance and wait. I thought my gamble had paid off as a train (to Sandhills only) arrived 15 minutes late. Goody, I thought, I’ll still just about get to work in time.
Then we stopped between Brunswick and Liverpool Central.
And waited…
And waited…
The train is full and, because we’re not moving, no air is coming in through the open windows. All the time it is getting warmer and warmer. People start to take off their jackets. The breathing of a woman sitting near me becomes alarmingly shallow. An angry man shouts loudly into his mobile phone.
Eventually an apologetic announcement comes over the tannoy: we’re going back to Brunswick. A collective groan goes up. There’s more shouting from angry mobile phone man.
We run, wrong-line, back to Brunswick, to the bemusement of a few hopeful passengers waiting on the platform for a train.
Your resourceful webmaster managed to get on board an Arriva bus outside the station, waving his Trio ticket at a harrassed driver who was fielding a long list of inquiries from irrated commuters.
I was one of the lucky ones: as anyone can see, 600 train passengers cannot fit onto 1 single-decker bus. As we pulled out of the bus stop, a long line of pissed-off looking people were making their way up the dock road, facing a long walk into town.
Normal door-to-door journey time to work: 15 minutes
Total journey time today: 1 hour 20 minutes.
What a way to start my birthday! 🙁