Karma is a wonderful thing, the idea that things will cosmically balance out, that for every bad thing something good happens and vice versa.

I picked up my second half yesterday at LES and when I changed ends at WER I noticed a huge crack in the offside windscreen.  I looked through the defect log to see if it had been reported but there was no mention, just the usual traction faults, ATP problems and dodgy porter buttons on Car 2.  I noted it and carried on, went up to EPP then headed back to LES to finish, it had been a long shift and I was already dreaming of my duvet.

When I arrived at LES there was no one waiting to take me off so I waited for a couple of minutes before calling the DTSM on the desk to let them know that my relief was a no-show.  After another wait the DTSM eventually called back to say that it was meant to be a HAI night turn, they’d not booked on, HAI had no idea where they were, there were no spares available again and I’d have to take the train empty to WOO sidings.

I went back car by car, giving the passengers the bad news, closing up as I went and when the next WB train came into sight I’d closed up everything apart from the front two cars.  I hurried to get the last passengers across, hit the porter buttons, jumped in the cab and called up Wood Lane to let them know I was ready to move.  Wood Lane waited for a suitable gap in the service then cleared the signal, I pushed out the TBC and nothing happened.

I tried all the things I could think of that could be wrong but still nothing.  I called Wood Lane to let them know that I wasn’t getting any movement and they took a release on the signal while I sorted things out so that trains could run around me.  I tried everything again with no success and it was only then that I noticed that I didn’t have a “door closed visual”.  Then I remembered that note in the defect log about dodgy porter buttons on Car 2 and yes, in my hurry to get the passengers over to the arriving train I’d left the doors open.  Bugger.

So I closed the doors on Car 2, called Wood Lane to let them know I’d sorted things out, not mentioning that I’d made the simplest mistake it is possible to make, waited for another gap in the service, put the train in the sidings at WOO, waited for a train back to LES and dumped my equipment back in my locker just slightly over 45 minutes late.  Ain’t karma great.