First day back, very quiet apart from some little scrote activated a Passenger Emergency Alarm (PEA though more commonly known as a “handle”) at the start of my second half as I pulled into REB heading towards HAI. The PEAs on the Central Line trains have a neat little radio so the T.Op can speak to whoever’s pulled the handle down and find out what the emergency is.

There was no answer so the next thing to do is tell Control what’s going on so that they can hold all the trains behind you while you go back, reset the handle and deal with whatever the problem is. Fortunately I only had to go back three cars and at 14:00hrs RED was empty; I once had to go back to Car 7 to reinflate the suspension at 08:30 at OXO, took me an age to get down the crowded platform and back.

Car 3 was utterly devoid of passengers and no one in the adjacent cars had seen anything. The handle by the first door was down, I reset it and then checked all the others; a novice mistake is to reset the first handle you find, go back to the cab and then discover that the brakes are still on as the culprit has pulled down two handles in the same car. Normally we get this thing during the school holidays, during the Notting Hill Festival or around Christmas.

One encouraging rumour is that the latest timetable will only be with us till March 2011 when the Roster will be expanded again and I’ll get out of the Pool. Ah sweet logic, something we learn to live without at LUL…..