Wednesday, December 1, 2010

It is no joke....

We can all joke about the how namby pamby some people are for not being able to make it in to work but for some commuters it really is snow joke. It's not that long ago since I used to make the dreaded journey into London Town every day and, let's face it, even at the best of times it was only just bearable. But when you add in snow and the resultant disrupted services it becomes soul-destroying. Enough to make you give it all up and open a bookshop in Tonbridge! So walking past the railway station this snowy morning gave me a bit of a flashback and made me feel all warm inside and a bit smug. The train time table had obviously become irrelevant as people stood around arguing with staff and getting pretty agitated. I only lingered for a few seconds but that was enough to send a cold shiver down my spine and make me glad that I'm out of all that. I'm hearing reports last night of 3 hour train journeys back from London and people having to spend the night in waiting rooms. I hope they all have jobs which are worth all that hassle!... 

1 comment:

Tonyspurs81 said...

I got the 17:00 service from Waterloo East last night. I got home at past 8pm. Spent nearly 2 hours stopped at Elmstead Wood. They even opened the doors so smokers could go outside. The staff on train didn't know what was going on and were relying on platform updates. We heard stories of faulty trains blocking Orpington and trees on the line at Chelsfield. As it turns out I got lucky. A friend of mine took 8 hours to get back to Staplehurst and there were people who had to sleep on trains at night.

Went to Tonbridge today to get a train, but gave up. There were simply no trains to get to London and the ones that did go would have been dangerously overcrowded. I don't want another day off tomorrow but with the snow still coming down and subzero temperatures tonight I fear of more of the same. My fear like many commuters is getting home.

Still at least we have the fare rises to look forward to in January.

I see there is a story from another Tonbridge resident on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11888988