Stop

I've been travelling to Bristol to work for exactly a year and today was the first time the train had let me down.

"We apologise for the delay. We are waiting for a platform to become available at Bristol Parkway."

Oh no you are not, because five minutes later you tell us:

"We apologise for the delay. There is a problem on the line ahead with a piece of trackside equipment."

And what, pray, might that equipment be? Has a has a tiny screw fallen out of a drinks machine, upsetting 'Health and Safety'? Or has a gantry crashed onto the track, blocking it completely?

Anyway, we were stuck for half an hour or so and I ended up very late for work.

But it's interesting to see how people react in situations like this.

First of all, there is the quiet resignation, followed not long afterwards by a flurry of mobile phones being whipped out of pockets - like the Magnificent Seven producing Colt pistols from their holsters in the blink of an eye.

Then just when you expect a moan-fest, the opposite happens.

"It's that Dunkirk spirit all over again," said my colleague, sitting alongside me. "Strangers are suddenly talking to each other. It never would have happened if we hadn't stopped for ages."

So what might have been an awful metal prison for half an hour or so actually turned into a pleasant love-in.

Thanks Network Rail for the delay.