Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Boarding tube trains in style ...

.
Passing through the ticket barrier at Cockfosters tube station yesterday, I saw that a train was about to leave. I sprinted towards the beeping doors, hit a greasy patch and skidded onto my arse.
.

'Ha!' I thought 'My legs, bum, and jacket are covered in stinking platform goo. I won't have that happen and miss the train'.
.

So, still lying flat along the platform, I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled over onto my front then back onto my rear, commando-style, neatly entering the train just as the doors closed. Several of the passengers who had boarded by more conventional means were duly impressed and stared at me suspiciously for the rest of our time together.
.

Maybe it's one of those things you’d have to see in person to appreciate.
.

Fortunately for me, Cockfosters is one of those stations where there is no significant gap between the train and the edge of the platform. I didn't know that in advance. I was just lucky.
.
In a few days time I will be turning forty ...
.

3 comments:

Rambling Rose Cottage said...

Things are bound to get better. Happy Birthday!

Anonymous said...

So, you write a treatise on immigration problems and no-one comments, but you write a short story about falling on your arse and instantly get a comment. Your customer profile dynamic is shifting.

Stef said...

yes, the treatise should probably go somewhere else - but I had a mental blockage that had to be cleared.

the falling on my arse thing was funny - maybe the other passengers thought I was going to shoot them when I got to my feet

re, customer dynamics ... mmmm, I have about four customers and one of them's you (Ian) so it wouldn't take much for the demographic to change. As we've discussed before it would be impossible for a blog like mine to sustain a regular customer base as it flits between a variety of different subjects and the posts vary wildly in size. If I was looking to attract a crowd I would do things very differently. The Derelict London photography site comes to mind for some reason. It's frequently down because it is so popular that it exceeds its bandwidth allowance, yet most of the pictures are poor. Packaging and marketing are the most important things ...

anyway, it was nice of Gina to wish me a happy birthday - thank you Gina