And we’re off on the Great Strike of 2014 Part 2. It seems that everyone decided to follow TfL’s
advice and get home as soon as they could, the peak was extra busy with
passengers cramming themselves on my train like it was the last lifeboat on the
Titanic. When I went back through the Pipe
on my second half London seemed deserted but while other lines
were reporting delays and serious delays due to strike action the Central
seemed to be unaffected.
It was only as I approached NOA on the EB that Wood Lane
told me to tip out at WHC, run empty to LES and then go
back into service as all the Section 12 stations were closing down. I don’t know if this was because they didn’t
have enough staff or simply as a precaution in case the night duty Supers didn’t
show up but after 22:00 Central London was shut down.
I tipped out at WHC, explained to the dozen or so
passengers waiting on the platform what was going on and headed off empty
across London. At SHB there were three
passengers on the platform looking hopefully as I approached, at HOP two passengers
were being ushered out by a member of station staff but after that the
platforms were deserted apart from the mice who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying
the absence of humans.
At STR there were a good two dozen people waiting as I sailed
through the station but between LES and EPP I only picked up three passengers,
one of which was a LOU TOp who’d stabled their train at WOO. I put my train away at LOU just after midnight
and caught the last train back to LES, all the other last trains were running so as far as train staff are concerned the Central Line seems to have been unaffected. Things could be quite different when I get
into work later today.
The only other thing I noticed yesterday was that there
appears to be an upsurge in graffiti, the last LES train had been tagged and someone
has been busy between SOW and SNA; they’ve even sprayed two of the billboards
on the WB platform at SNA and one of the roundels on the west end of the EB. I was off over the weekend but I’m pretty
sure that wasn’t there last week, knowing that SNA is one of the stations that occasional
gets left unstaffed I’m wondering if some little git noticed this and decided
to do a bit of freestyle decorating. Wonder how much unwanted paint will have been added after the strike?
Was that run empty through the pipe done in Coded? Would make a nice change, I suppose. I take it trains are heading through in Coded BAN - HOL today, with STP and CHL both closed?
ReplyDeleteI'd say at a guess that someone has just been released from prison. And that someone is a graffiti vandal. Snaresbrook and South Woodford and much in between has been sprayed with ugly silver scrawl. All rather pointless as eventually all that trouble the vandal went to to impress us is blotted out with chocolate brown paint. I absolutely hate it with a passion. The true art is the wall - The symmetry of the placed bricks, the mortar, the pointing and the overall workmanship of a craftsman is blotted out by a moron.
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