Despite being on time, the 4.44 didn\u2019t come. It stopped at the previous station due to reports of a trespasser on the line between that station and us. A trespasser on the line can mean something as silly as someone looking for stray golf balls or kids out for a dare (as one young woman quipped to me, \u201cYou gotta love the idiots.\u201d) Or it can be as serious as someone threatening self-harm in which case the police have to be called. Since the control room didn\u2019t know which it was, I didn\u2019t know either. With train delays as with many things in this life, it\u2019s just wait and see.
\nI went around the station making sure everyone knew that they could make the slow journey into the city on the nearby tram if things got bad. When the announcement came that the delays might be up to 40 minutes there was a mass exodus to the tram stop.
\nFrom where you are cut off from the station by boom gates but where everyone could see the train when it came round the corner two minutes later and pulled up at the almost empty platform.
\nAs I watched people streaming back from the tram stop, I confess I hid in the office, but I did answer the knock on the door.
\nTwo angry ladies shouted at me. \u201cThis is outrageous,\u201d yelled one. \u201cWhat are you people playing at? You make us miss the train and now,\u201d she waved as the tram trundled past, \u201cYou\u2019ve made us miss the tram as well.\u201d
\nIt was like the bad old days when I used to do the rush hour shift. \u201cWe didn\u2019t do it on purpose,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m afraid I\u2019m only as good as the information I get,\u201d I said. \u201cThat\u2019s not good enough,\u201d she said and \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of your job then?\u201d The hardest thing about this situation is that she was in the right. \u201cI can only apologize,\u201d I said. Maybe I should have keep quiet about the tram.
\nNot the best work day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite being on time, the 4.44 didn\u2019t come. It stopped at the previous station due to reports of a trespasser on the line between that station and us. A trespasser on the line can mean something as silly as someone looking for stray golf balls or kids out for a dare (as one young woman …<\/p>\n