Commuter Boy 3

It wasn't TOO bad today I suppose...

The 8:06 turned up at 8:20 - no explanation was given as to why it was running so late, and when it did turn up, despite having been one of the first people waiting for the train, I couldn't fit in as everyone else seemed to have positioned themselves miraculously in front of the doors.

The next train that turned up wasn't supposed to stop at Mortlake. It stopped. And sat there. For a good couple of minutes. But the doors remained resolutely shut. So "officially" it didn't stop there.

The 8:24 was a vast improvement however. More-or-less on time, it was fairly quiet (by which I mean there were a couple of empty seats). I had to ask a girl to move her feet from the opposite seat so I could sit down, which did NOT make her happy at all, and resulted in tutting and sighing until she got off in Putney (and hopefully stepped into a large pile of dog poo, which seems to be all pervading in Putney). However, by this time the train had already stopped unexpectedly between Mortlake and Barnes.

Luckily we had a driver with at least an ounce of compassion for his passengers, and he kept us fully informed.

"Apologies for the delay. There is a train ahead performing an illegal emergency shunting manoeuvre."

I could almost sense him going "WHAT is this MUPPET doing?!!!!!" But he was very calm and professional. So this made the journey quite pleasurable, despite it being delayed. But then it seemed we were deposited at Waterloo in the middle of a mini-hurricane. As I stepped out into the street in front of the station, huge swirls of detritus were blown up from the street and into our faces. A strip of toilet roll missed my face by inches and landed on someone's suit (Dear GOD, I hope it was clean). The usual stale urine smell assailed our nostrils meaning that we really couldn't breathe until the Royal Festival Hall. I swear I could see fellow commuters collapsing from voluntary asphyxiation either side of me.

But these are just silly whinges. It wasn't too bad today in the scheme of things (apart from me being half an hour later into work than normal). And I do have a fairly pleasant day in front of me. I like having a big project or two to get my teeth stuck into. And when I can lock myself away in my office to do this while listening to some good music (Chopin Sonatas this morning), you really can't complain.