There is a mid-point, accessed by train, where I can meet with my far away friend for the day. We discovered how easy it was when my mother died and I needed to buy an outfit for the funeral. I was traumatised and in a grief kerfuffle. That’s when we realised, it was a completely doable train journey and has become our quick meeting point since 2009.
So after a day of talking, coffee and mooching, we made our way back to the station to discover all the trains were delayed & then very quickly cancelled. It was a Saturday evening, the station was full of teenagers who had been shopping, football fans, party revellers and families, all trying to get home, go out or make the next leg of the journey. The announcement was very clear, we are sorry that the trains have been cancelled, this is because a person has been hit by a train.
It’s shocking to here those words but I guess it’s so people really understand that actually no one at the station can do much about it. That we are all going to have to wait for the emergency services to do their thing before the trains are up and running again.
So here’s the thing………..
90% of the people on the platform couldn’t give a flying monkeys & were simply unaccepting of the situation. Some were downright rude to the station staff, some were very vocal, some were just plain aggressive. The transport police joined the platform to try and get some level of calm.
In fairness, the station staff did their best. They prioritised and got people into taxis. First the lady with the guide dog, the gaggle of 14 year old girls who were identified by a very large birthday badge, people with very young children. My far away friend managed to get a train home about an hour in. I am not sure I should leave you she said. You better had, this might be your only opportunity, I said.
Eventually, about 3 hours later, onward travel was arranged and I was put in a taxi and sent back from whence I came.
And this is what I thought. On that evening in Potters Bar, someone’s life ended by getting hit by a train. A train – how absolutely hideous. Whether by design or by accident, how absolutely fucking hideous. Someone will have to track down that persons family and shatter their Saturday evening by telling them what has happened. The emergency services will have the nightmare situation of getting the body to an undertaker, to make the scene safe and to gather all the evidence they need to determine what happened. I can’t even begin to imagine the trauma of the train driver – I hope they shut their eyes, I hope they didn’t see. And far away on a station, where the trains were cancelled a middle aged man was shouting at the station staff saying – you can sort this out, you just don’t want to, it’s a joke, you are a joke.
When really it was a tragedy and we all got where we needed to be, just a bit later than we thought we would.
Much love xxx
The Frank Journals 