As someone who relies on public transport to move around London, I'm used to regular delays caused by signal failures and the like - it's not usually a big deal.
However, a gruelling commute to the office this morning was not helped by a breakdown in communications between the driver of my marooned underground train and the controller at Kennington station on the northern line.
"Apologies ladies and gentlemen, but I still haven't been able to get hold of the controller at Kennington," was the announcement after 20 minutes of being stranded somewhere underground between two stations.
For those not familiar with the London Underground, there is no mobile network coverage!
So, after sitting there like lemons for 40 minutes we were told of a signal failure, but we still had no idea when we might be moving again.
As the temperature in the carriage continued to rise, and people stood in the aisles began to sit down, eventually even the driver lost patience and declared that he was taking it upon himself to drive us up to the next station!
The atmosphere among the passengers was a heady blend of frustration, and those scenes in disaster movies where they know there's an alien mothership outside, but they're yet to establish whether or not it's come in peace.
Upon reaching slightly fresher air above ground, us hapless commuters were then greeted with the sight of a police car and an ambulance parked up outside, both with their lights flashing. Great.
Keeping in mind the date was September 11, I decided it would be prudent to do a bit of investigating before hopping on a bus. Luckily the one thing working was my 3G connection, so I was able to use my mobile to check that nothing cataclysmic was unfolding, which of course, it wasn't.
Still, getting to the office an hour late after a journey like that has one overriding benefit when you've got ready access to a blog - venting steam!
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