Today, I had to be at a meeting in London. Plan A was that I would be on the 07.50 train this morning, but the best laid plans etc., so I was actually at the station at 08.05 (having just missed the 08.04) waiting for the 08.28. Unfortunately, the 08.28 was running late. It was 'expected' at 08.37.
It was cold this morning, far colder than I had catered for. There was the kind of chill in the air that I associate with late Autumn, not Spring. I retreated to the coffee shop. A stranger and I sat at a table, both watching the approach of our train on our iPhones: thus the modern world.
When we boarded the train, I texted ahead to say I would be about half an hour late for the meeting and settled down to do some work. It transpired that the delay had been caused by somebody not turning up for work at 06.30 this morning. The train had had to wait more than half an hour for a replacement to arrive. Can you imagine how you would have felt if you had turned up for an 06.30 train on a cold morning only to discover that it was going to be delayed for half an hour? No wonder so many of my fellow passengers looked unhappy.
Sadly, things got worse. A little further down, there was 'an incident on the line'. A further 10 minute delay. Twenty minutes later, we stopped 'waiting for a platform'. Another 10 minutes. By the time we drew in to St. Pancras, we were forty minutes late. I made a bee-line for the taxi queue. Wouldn't you know it? We had arrived just after a Eurostar train and it was pouring with rain. The queue stretched for miles and there wasn't a taxi in sight.
Abandoning it, I headed for the taxi queue at King's Cross, which was a little better, since there were at least taxis, but not enough. Cursing the fact that I had neither umbrella nor hood (I had left home in bright sunshine) I headed for the main road and, happily, managed to flag down a cab. And the Cabby was a delight.
He cheerfully explained that the traffic East to West was dreadful, but that he'd take some short cuts. He went past everything, at one point up on the pavement! He made me laugh and threatened to tell the law/other cabbies that it was all my fault because I was being so unpleasant to him. By the time I arrived at my destination (only an hour late for the meeting) I was relaxed and had a smile on my face. So Mr Cabby, if you are reading this, thank you very much indeed. You really did make my day.
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