Tryphoon’s Lair

 

Yesterday was the day I  was meant to use my visit to London to attend some of my best friends’ wedding…

All stars seemed to have aligned correctly… Work was done. Shopping for Sarah and Thia was done… Even my timing was good (even has planned for an extra hour contingency plan)…

One thing I hadn’t planned with was a huge thunderstorm and a close to total failure of the London Underground… 

So here I am, shortly before 12, bags on my shoulder, leaving our Hammersmith office, having checked tube maps (and possible issue on the network) & the Stansted Express timetable, just about to get out of the building to get on the Hammersmith & City line… and then I see a major thunderstorm above London, streets are filled with water, cars are stopping and I hear that one of my former colleague has had to leave in a hurry because his house might have been flooded! 

So I rush to the tube station, only to find out that the Hammersmith & City line (pink) is closed due to flooding. I am then advised to cross the road and hop on the Picadilly line…

No stress…

Timing is still good and I have extra time built in… Only issue at this point in time, the rain is so strong that my blackberry got totally wet and seems to have died as a result of that forced shower! 

Once in the tube station, I am told that the eastbound Picadilly line platform is flooded and that I have to go westbound for one stop and change train to come back. No biggie! I hence find myself going towards Heathrow, planning to change in Acton Town and resume my route towards Liverpool Street… The only problem is that once in Acton Town, we are told that the Picadilly line is flooded as well and are told to get on the District Line… The slowest line in the world… So back towards Hammersmith and hopefully Earl’s Court. Arrived in Hammersmith, we are instructed to abandon the District Line and go on the Picadilly again. A train is waiting there for us. I board the train and off we go… and stop… Time is getting tight but I have faith!Next stop, we are once again told that the Picadilly line is now totally dead and that we need to go back on the District line!!!! About to lose my temper but hey, I am going to Caro and Momo’s wedding!

And then the best part of it… Earl’s Court is now closed to all trains and the next stop is Gloucester Road. Great!Until our train simply stops between West Kensington and Gloucester Road and remains there for well above an hour… Signal failure, flooding, track failure, despatch gone silent (resulting in our driver using the track telephone)… The full monty!

Over 2 1/2 hour to finally having ended up only 2 tube stops away from where I initially started! Result: Flight at 3:00PM, 45 minutes are required to get to the airport from Liverpool street. Need to be there an hour in advance, or in my usual case, 30 minutes… and it is now 2:30PM… so even if I can travel at the speed of light, I have missed my check-in window and hence my flight!

Time for Plan B!

Once in Gloucester Road (actually where my hotel was), the driver strongly suggests to us to change train. We are then told that anyways, the District Line is shut down past Gloucester Road and the same applies to the Central Line… Leaving me with going back to the Picadilly Line… Horror!

Well, the Picadilly seems to work OK at that point in time! Decision in made to stop at Green Park (very central location), find a Starbucks and try to book some other method of transportation to reach Nantes… Only issue with that… One way ticket, late booking, etc… Fees are ridiculously high and the best option would left me stranded in Nantes (France) at approximately midnight, with no place to stay and the next available ferry to the “Ile d’Yeu” 40 miles and 8 hours away all that for a whooping $600 on top of the $500 I already paid for my missed return flight, not even including the 2 nights at the local hotel.

So call made to Sarah at home, Jef, Caroline (the Bride) ; all of these courtesy of Skype ; and the new plan is to stay with Jef until Sunday and fly home, simply passing on the wedding!

I am totally and utterly gutted to say the least, being so close and still unable to make it! I guess I won’t see Caro, Momo, Kate and Alexis, flown in from HK and many other friends from either Paris or London this time…

So plan C is now going back to Jef’s place and flying back home on Sunday (well, today’s flight HAD to be fully booked)