a relatively rare post which sees me not complaining about the sorry state of public transport in this country. well, fair's fair, look you see, and it's not unreasonable to give credit when it is (at the least) half or partially due.
fairly recently we had a quite bad storm. it was one of them named ones, i believe they called it Storm Bolero or Storm Bono or something. they have reasons for giving them names, but (alas) i cannot recall what such are and, to be honest, i am not particularly interested. likely some marketing thing, or just a bit of fun for those who like to keep journals and what have you.
usually, as i have discussed (oh so) frequently here, them what do the trains normally don't need a perfectly valid reason to not do what they are paid an insane amount to do. in previous posts, for instance, there has been cases where a train being cancelled was because one (1) staff member declined to come into work. far be it from me to suggest that you would expect a combination of a growing unemployment situation and a fairly large corporation would mean that they could easily employ people to cover for such. also that their entire service appears to hinge on just one person is alarming.
still, that day was a rare instance of them actually having a decent reason to cancel. whereas trains are quite heavy and could (in all likelihood) withstand a bit of rain and wind, being fair there was the safety of people going to and from stations to consider. when i saw the information board (pictured above) move from an "expected" actual arrival to "delayed", i thought, well, i have been here before, this would usually end in cancellation.
wishing to avoid the costs of alternate transport i waited for a bit. for those alternates, well, in the name of "efficiency" or what have you, there are no buses where i need to go on a Sunday (or public holidays for that matter), so it would have been a (very) expensive taxi or slightly less ("fewer") expensive uber thing. so yes, i took some selfies, and the next picture is one so you have been warned.
no that is not how my hair would usually (or normally) look, as eager as i would be to wander around with it all looking quite Sigue Sigue Sputnik. the picture emphasises just how windy it was, i suppose. also the coat was required due to it being somewhat nippy, with the odd flourish of rain.
merrily, or if you will surprisingly, the train did (indeed) turn up. only (or just) 8 (eight) minutes after the scheduled time. since there was no connecting train i needed to get this wasn't all that much of an issue, so i was mostly simply relieved to see it arrive. which again is a sorry statement on exactly how bad public transport has become, for one feels relief and joy at it actually turning up. for those keen on such things here you go, a bit of video of the train arriving.
it was with some (curiosity based) interest i observed, at the next station, three or four blokes dressed in safety gear and carrying chainsaws got on board. as it turns out this was quite ominous, or for those that like such terms a bit of "foreshadowing" what was to be.
anyway, on with the journey. pretty decent (by the usual standards, they use the oldest, barely serviceable trains they can find for the route i use) trip, and as usual i took a picture of a landmark that would be familiar for family around the world. well, why would i not also add it here.
giving credit once more they "made up" time on the journey, presumably by going a bit faster than would be usual from (as it were) station to station. brief chat with the lady what checks tickets, and i suspect that it is such a person who is routinely "off" when they cancel trains, but otherwise no real concerns or points of interest on the ride.
sadly (or alas) no such joy was mine for getting back to my lodgings in this era of exile. as would be usual i checked to see if my return train was running at all (and if so was it close to on time) when i got this message saying no, it was not.
hmn. was, i wondered, the tree blocking the railway anything (at all) to do with the chaps with the chainsaws that i saw? possibly. likely not, to be fair, as on my strolls i had seen quite a few trees torn from the ground. evidently the storm was a good deal stronger ("less fewer") overnight. would i be shocked if the tree on the tracks and the blokes with chainsaws on my earlier train were in some way connected? not really, not really, no. but i can't prove anything.
yes, i did indeed get home to lodgings, with thanks to my now former (considerably) better half. again, then, one can hope that once our brilliant new prime minister has urgently addressed the most pressing problem in society - that of football fans not being able to drink alcohol whilst sat in a stadium - he has at least a gander at issues such as a lack of reliable public transport.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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