Waiting at a station for your girlfriend
January 7th 2008
There is a lot of hate for Britain’s train network at the moment. One London station completely failed to open after the new year, which added to an already over crowded network, did not really help matters.
Many years ago in 1892, the Great Western Railway pulled up all 177 miles of track and replaced it with new, standard gauge tracks that the rest of the country was using. This took one weekend and the network opened, on time, at 4.40 am on the Monday morning.
Now, with so many companies controlling different parts of the track, nobody is really sure what to do and projects cost billions and take decades.
Maybe we should all go back to a time when things were simpler and things got done. We wouldn’t have to worry about signal failures if the railway children where still around.
In those days, though, there was little communication. Not many people had telephones and post was the only real means of contacting people. The railways provided a way for family and loved ones to meet, and so they developed over the years as a romantic greeting or parting.
Airports have taken over as the way to get around. But airports are stale and harsh. You can’t see the planes from the arrivals lounge, just lots of signs for “Mr. Lewis”, a McDonald’s and a Travelex. It’s wonderful to see your loved ones again, but there is no real excitement – it’s all lost in the hour it takes to have your passport checked and collect your baggage from the giant roulette wheel.
Pacing up and down the platform, on a cold Sunday evening, I can see the station clock counting down the seconds until the train arrives. The announcements made aren’t for anybody else, they’re for the train with my girlfriend on. We talked on Christmas Day and at New Year’s day, but since then only the occasional text.
From around the corner, the lights shine and rails start clicking as the train approaches. The station manager appears in his yellow jacket with his light. The train rushes past, with the noise of the breaks and the diesel engine beating. Can I see her? Where is she? Was that her? There she is!