15 Minutes Delay

I took this picture when I was delayed coming back from a work trip back in May 2007.  This is Guildford Train Station just before the commuter rush hour, or should I say rush hours!  You often get a fair few people who try to get on their trains ahead of the commuter rush.  However, when you have delays this can put the kibosh on those plans.

Unfortunately on this day my train back to Salisbury was delayed.  There was lots of grumbles and annoyance amongst the surrounding crowd and from myself as I was very tired and just wanted to get home.  Then the tannoy system announced:

“We apologise for the delay to your service, there has been a death on line and we are working to get the service back running as soon as possible.”

It made me pause and feel a bit guilty for my grumbles only moments earlier, but sadly many of the people surrounding me only grumbled more, as if the life of a person meant nothing if it stopped them from getting home early or stuck in commuter traffic.

Suddenly a few lines of the poem I wrote about the experience came into my head and I got out my handy Pentax Optio 6 camera to capture the moment in pictures.  As it turned out my train was only delayed by a mere 15 minutes, which became the title of the poem that I finished off on the train home.

15 Min Delay - Copyright R.Weal 2007

FIFTEEN MINUTE DELAY

I was delayed today
Whether Murphy’s law or my bad luck
Me and trains don’t get on that much
Disgruntled faces
Impatient people, desperate to be other places
Just another cancelled train
Angry whispers mutter and complain
Just another fifteen minute delay
Fifteen minutes I’ll never get to replay
Lamenting the terrible state of British transport
The reason not given much thought
And then the announcement to which all should have paused
The answer, an untimely death my fifteen minute delay’s cause
A miniscule effect upon my day
But the tragedy left a mark that stays
And still I wonder why so few paused
A callous lack of sympathy for so tragic a cause
I was delayed today

Ruth Weal - 31 May 2007 5.41 pm
Copyright R.Weal 2007