Strictly business
Yesterday didn’t go entirely to plan.
At 11.10 I boarded a Thameslink train to London where I was scheduled to have a meeting followed by lunch with Ranald Macdonald, MD of Boisdale Restaurants.
The journey to Kings Cross (or St Pancras) normally takes an hour. However, 30 minutes into the journey the train stopped at Arlesey, a small station north of Stevenage, where we were told someone had been hit by a train (at Stevenage) and there would be a delay.
An hour later we were still sitting there, although a lot of passengers had got off in search of alternative transport. I wasn’t one of them because I’ve been stranded at Arlesey before and it’s difficult to get a taxi, especially when scores of passengers are competing for the few that are available, so I thought I was better off staying on the train in the hope it would eventually move.
Some two hours after it stopped the train did start moving again, but as soon as we reached Finsbury Park in north London the driver announced that it wouldn’t be going any further unless they could find a relief driver. (Its destination was Horsham in Sussex.)
The handful of passengers that were still on board then sat for another 20 minutes before the driver apologised and suggested it might better if those who were going into central London got off and used the Underground, which is what I did.
I eventually arrived at Boisdale four-and-a-half hours after I left Huntingdon and three hours late for my meeting. Ranald however was in good spirits because several of the wines he sells under the Boisdale name have just won international recognition in a prestigious wine contest.
Three bottles (red, white, and rose) duly appeared on our table in the Back Bar which was being set up for a negroni event at six o’clock. So in addition to several glasses of wine, I was also given a red and a white negroni to sample. Oh, and a generous portion of devilled whitebait, with fried haggis bon-bons and wild venison bresaola on the side.
Thankfully the return journey went without mishap but I had to ask my wife to pick me up at the station. “Have you been drinking?” she asked. Yes, I replied, but it was strictly business.
PS. I am in two minds whether to leave this post up because I have just read that the person who was hit by a train at Stevenage died and I wouldn’t want anyone to think I am taking such a tragic incident lightly.
I don’t know any details beyond ‘the incident is not being treated as suspicious’, but I’m pleased to say that, on the train at least, there were no complaints about people’s journeys being delayed or abandoned because it’s very easy, in that situation, to think only of the inconvenience to oneself.
I don’t deny that such thoughts did flash through my mind, but in the words of Boisdale’s events manager, sent in response to a text in which I explained why I would be late for our meeting, “Sorry to hear that, especially for the person who was hit by train”. She was right, of course.
