All Change Please
Yesterday evening, the ramifications of my move to rural Bedfordshire truly sunk in, at least as far as my daily commute is concerned.
I commute from my home in a village on a hill three miles west of Luton to Luton train station, either by Brompton or by bus. When I leave the train in London, I cycle (or get the bus or tube) about 1.5 miles to my office. In between those short journeys is the longest (both in terms of time and mileage) segment of my commute. This is by train.
Yesterday, an overhead power cable snapped over a train travelling London-bound near Radlett. One end of the broken cable was snagged by a train speeding northbound. The northbound train ripped out miles of power cable. Result? The entire Thameslink line from West Hampstead to Luton had to be shut down. Reports are conflicting as to the extent of the shut-down - the position I state here was true as at 7.30pm.
First I heard of it, I was on the platform at Farringdon, being told to get on the next train but get off at St Pancras, walk to Kings Cross and get a train there to a station on the Peterborough line, from which a bus replacement service would then run to Luton. (Information kept changing: one minute we were told to get a train to Welwyn Garden City, the next to Hitchin. I guess I was lucky that they didn't change their minds yet again while I was actually on the train to Hitchin!).
I'll give First Capital Connect their due: once we got to Hitchin, there were loads of coaches, the transfer went smoothly and the coach was comfortable. I arrived at Luton Airport Parkway not much later than I would have done had the trains been running normally.
However. While I peered off into the darkness from my warm seat on that coach, it dawned on me that having a Brompton with me -- indeed, having any bike at all with me, at any time of day, any day of the week -- would not have improved my situation. I was in the hands of the train company, at their mercy.
I've been there before. That kind of loss of autonomy, and the sheer misery and sense of degradation that builds up as a result, was a big factor in putting me on a bike in the first place, back in 2009 when I was sick of feeling helpless and decided to wrest some control back wherever I could.
When I was living in London, train failures simply meant I jumped on a bike and cycled into work. In truth, I cycled most days anyway. But still. Gone was the sense that I had no choice.
Now -- living 35 miles from central London -- cycling all the way to work isn't a viable option. Not when I'm expected to spend most of my day at work, not on a bike. More's the pity.
I commute from my home in a village on a hill three miles west of Luton to Luton train station, either by Brompton or by bus. When I leave the train in London, I cycle (or get the bus or tube) about 1.5 miles to my office. In between those short journeys is the longest (both in terms of time and mileage) segment of my commute. This is by train.
Yesterday, an overhead power cable snapped over a train travelling London-bound near Radlett. One end of the broken cable was snagged by a train speeding northbound. The northbound train ripped out miles of power cable. Result? The entire Thameslink line from West Hampstead to Luton had to be shut down. Reports are conflicting as to the extent of the shut-down - the position I state here was true as at 7.30pm.
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| Radlett cable failure causes major rail delays http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-21445532 |
I'll give First Capital Connect their due: once we got to Hitchin, there were loads of coaches, the transfer went smoothly and the coach was comfortable. I arrived at Luton Airport Parkway not much later than I would have done had the trains been running normally.
However. While I peered off into the darkness from my warm seat on that coach, it dawned on me that having a Brompton with me -- indeed, having any bike at all with me, at any time of day, any day of the week -- would not have improved my situation. I was in the hands of the train company, at their mercy.
I've been there before. That kind of loss of autonomy, and the sheer misery and sense of degradation that builds up as a result, was a big factor in putting me on a bike in the first place, back in 2009 when I was sick of feeling helpless and decided to wrest some control back wherever I could.
When I was living in London, train failures simply meant I jumped on a bike and cycled into work. In truth, I cycled most days anyway. But still. Gone was the sense that I had no choice.
Now -- living 35 miles from central London -- cycling all the way to work isn't a viable option. Not when I'm expected to spend most of my day at work, not on a bike. More's the pity.
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| "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz |
