:: Jules' Blog ::

:: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 ::

Sodding trains! I had the good fortune to get out of work on time yesterday. If I'm just 5 minutes later than 6pm, I don't get to Charing Cross in time to get the 18:16 to New Eltham, and I have to catch the 18:23 to Eltham instead, and get the bus home, which I usually do. But yesterday, there was a run to do at about ten to six, so Sean said I might as well do it and go straight home afterwards. "Great", thought I, "I'll get home marginally earlier than usual". Ha! I should be so lucky. I caught the 18:16 with time to spare, and everything was fine until we got half way between New Cross and Hither Green, and the train stopped, presumably for a red light or something...and didn't go again! After about 5 minutes of sitting there we had an announcement:

"Sorry for the delay...eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (sound of feedback)...soon as possible."

Riiight, thought we. That explained a lot. Still, a couple of minutes later we did get an explanation:

"Er, apologies for the delay, I still can't get the brakes off...um, I'll keep trying...sorry."

So it seems he had stopped, put on the brakes, and they'd got stuck! Minutes passed...

"Um, again, sorry for the delay. I'm still trying to get the brakes off. I'm not quite sure what to do...I'll keep you posted"

More minutes passed...

"Right, erm, sorry about this ladies and gentlemen, I still can't get the brakes off, so, um, as a last resort I'm going to try to reset the system. Er...I'll turn the power off and on again which means all the lights will go off for a bit...yeah - sorry about this."

Off went the lights. On came the lights. Off went the lights again. On again.

"Um, that doesn't seem to have worked. There's a fault in the system" (duh!) "but I don't know what it is. Er, I'll let you know what's wrong when I figure it out..."

Then, about 30 seconds later:

"Well, the brakes seem to have come off now, so we can carry on, but there's a fault with the train so I'll have to terminate it at Hither Green."

(Groans from passengers)

"Sorry."

So off we trundled to Hither Green. Hither Green is a small station, with only one footbridge to the platform that we all had to get on to continue our journey. Our train was full. No seats. People standing. It took about 20 minutes for everyone to get over that bridge and bundle onto the other platform. And the train that came to take us the rest of the way was half full already! Surprisingly enough I got a seat, but it was really only half a seat, as I was sat next to the man with the largest arse in the world!
So that was a fun day!

Since Zandra, I've not seen any more famous people on the streets of Soho. But I've heard tales of those who have this week. On Monday, James came back from lunch and said that Noel Gallagher had walked into the guitar shop that he was perusing. He was spotted again walking along Tottenham Court Road by Simon, who also saw Jeremy Edwards (of Holby City and Rachel 'S Club' fame) yesterday. And to top it all off, Sean returned from lunch, and said that on the music listening post next to him had been...Kane Dingle from Emmerdale! I was in awe, I really was!!

:: Jules 8:40 PM [+] ::
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