Journey mercies

An accounting of everything. That I may never forget. Especially my passport.

7.04pm

This is West Hampstead Thameslink station. It is where I change trains to and from Gunnersbury, where it takes me 5-10 minutes walk to and from my office. It takes me over an hour of train commute one way.

England has taught me to be more time-conscious, because though there are times when Silverlink trains disappoint me by having its trains delayed, it is for the most part very reliable in following its time schedules.

I usually leave the office to catch the 6.41pm train because that gives me time to close off the day without having to rush to catch the 6.21pm train. The problem however with the 6.41pm train is, I have exactly 1 minute to dash from the West Hampstead station, which is a 5 minute walk away from the West Hampstead Thameslink station, to catch my connecting train back to St Albans from the latter.

It means, I have to be among the first to jump off the train, dash up the stairs, run through the streets (carefully - don't want to be falling and hurting myself) to reach the stairs at West Hampstead Thameslink station in time before the flood of people getting off the train I want to get on, reach the stairs themselves. Because if I am 3 seconds late, they will crowd the staircase, barring me from going down the staircase to reach the doors of the train in time, making me miss the 7.04pm train back to St Albans and make me wait another 20 minutes before the next one comes along.

And the reason why I like to catch the 6.41pm train is because this way, I don't have to waste time waiting for my connecting train when all it takes is a mere 1 minute run in between.