Russell Gallery

"Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations."
Oliver Goldsmith

Returning home today, but first I wander out into Victoria Park to enjoy the morning sun and watch the world go by, busy on its way who knows where.  Breakfast at Elbows cafe before packing my bags to head in to London for the train home this afternoon.  I had a few ideas floating around for what to do today, the first of which was a visit to see PW's paintings at the Russell Gallery.  Dropped a bag off at Paddington left luggage to lighten my load then headed off. Straightforward journey on the tube to Putney Bridge then over into Wandsworth and a 10-15 minute amble to the gallery.  Found them soon enough and as ever got talking, then realised I'd better hoof it back or I'd miss my train.

With literally five minutes to spare I retrieved my bag and headed over to the platform.  Grouchy people complained about the barriers not working; I queued patiently and managed to get onto the platform with about 3 minutes left.  I had a seat reservation so was definitely in smug mode as I strode up the platform to the far end of the train, the quiet carriage, and could not help but notice how full the rest of the train was.  As I reached the end of the train I pressed the button to open the door, and was met by a solid mass of people crammed into the carriage.  A quick glance at the clock showed about 30 seconds before they'd lock the doors - "I'm coming aboard" I said and just waded in.  As the door slid closed behind me - barely - I was perched on the end of the carriage floor.  No room to put my bag down even, I was wedged between the mass of humanity inside. and the carriage door, which clunked ominously as we left the platform on time.  I hoped it was the door locks engaging.  The first of many announcements explained that the train was 5 carriages short, I saw several of them attached to whole trains standing idly in sidings as we left London.  This meant a ridiculously overcrowded train with seat reservations cancelled - I doubt I'd have been able to get through to mine anyway.  A group of men heading for Swansea decided to cut their losses and get off at Reading and find another way of getting there; the Severn tunnel was closed apparently and trains were diverted via Gloucester, adding another half an hour onto the journey.  That was before a passenger got locked in the toilet at Swindon causing another 25 minute delay.  The strains of "Oh dear what can the matter be..." - you have to be a certain age to get this reference.  They would have carried on with him locked in but he was getting out [or not] at Swindon, so we had to wait while the driver rummaged around for a crow bar and checked fuses etc.  What a journey, what a few days.