Passacaglia and Fugue

We were warned it was going to be bad, but somehow we didn't believe the experts, or though it wouldn't happen to us. It's the first severe snowy weather in this area since 2010/11 I think, though there were bad floods in 2013/14.

It was an awkward week at work for this to happen. Wednesday was book-sale day, so for entirely self-indulgent reasons, I was determined to go in, despite GWR cancelling the 0745 train from Mortimer, giving me a half-hour of quality time in the waiting room (which is, at least, heated). Of course the following train turned out to be a short train, so it was cosy, though I reckon enough people had already written off the day and it wasn't the worst it has been for overcrowding. Following on from that, the train in to Paddington was delayed because of a broken-down Heathrow Express service; then the tube was unusually awkward as well. Door-to-door was about 3 hours. Fortunately the book sale was worth it. The journey back was smooth as far as Reading, where it all went wrong because of a broken-down freight train on the line between Mortimer and Reading West. I endured an additional hour in the rather chilly waiting room at Reading station, leading to a 3-hour duration for my return trip too.

On Thursday I had an all-day training session, and I didn't want to be the one to cancel it, so I got up early and checked all the travel websites. The 0745 was cancelled - again - but the trains from Reading to Paddington appeared to be running as scheduled - and so I skipped half of breakfast and caught the bus into Reading instead. The roads were snowy but not too bad - clearly gritting and so on had been done appropriately. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Reading station, a quiet chaos ensued. Much of the station concourse was taped off, and powdery snow was swirling all around inside and on the (covered) footbridge. Again, many people had clearly abandoned plans for the day, otherwise it would have been much busier. By now (around 0800) all the trains to Paddington were listed as cancelled or delayed; as usual, information was scarce and you tend not to believe what little the staff tell you. It later emerged that Paddington station had been closed due to slippery platforms. It's a really poor fitting choice to cover the platforms with highly polished tiling and there are regular announcements warning passengers about slippery surfaces. At this point I logged on to work email and discovered that the course had, after all, been cancelled, so there was no point waiting and battling in on a slow train to Ealing Broadway, and I decided to return home. Unfortunately by this time Reading Buses were running 25 minutes late on a half-hourly service, but they got me home safely. It took me 2.5 hours to get to work - from home.

I'd guess we've had 2-3 inches of snow here, much lighter than some parts of the country. Given the forecast I had always intended to work from home on Friday. In the end, Storm Emma turned out to be a bit of a non-event here, though it kept things cold. Today the snow is thawing fast, and I reckon it will almost all be gone tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have sympathy for the actions of passengers who abandoned their train at Lewisham, although it is crazy and dangerous. Instead of getting steamed up about passengers doing the wrong thing, I would suggest train operating companies should actually take a look at how they are perceived and what the root cause of such desperation is. To some extent, I accept that the operators can't win: they will be damned if they cancel a service, and damned if they don't but it then fails before reaching its destination. However, the reaction of passengers doesn't seem so irrational after the reports of passengers stuck on freezing trains overnight the previous day. In a situation where the level of care is inadequate and untrusted, it's inevitable that people will eventually take matters into their own hands.