They've all got it in for me... or at least the Tube has.
For thirty years I have been one of the several thousands of CivilServants and ex-Civil Servants who are subjects of the largest and longest health study in the world, the Stress and Health study, which, every three years or so puts the participants through a series of health (blood pressure, ECG, physical movement, blood tests) and mental tests and collects lots of other data via a written, verbal and, latterly, computer questions.
So not long ago I got the usual got round of letter (we will be calling), phone call to make an appointment (we called), letter confirming (plus loads of bumpf including massive health and lifestyle questionnaire and consent form) and final let's jog your mind telephone call - they are nothing if not thorough - I arranged the appointment for early yesterday morning, made sure I had filled in everything and written everything and set off rather too early, because I commuted on the Tube for over twenty years and I am not sanguine about their service and, with TCR (sorry, Tottenham Court Road station) closed, it meant a change of line.
You might have known that the whole journey went swimmingly, and I had time to top up my Oyster card, do a bit of shopping at two different pharmacies, and walk not only from Warren Street to the University Polyclinic - and that's another thing: why the heck does a highly respectable and respected scientific study always find itself in 'complementary medicine' venues such as the Polyclinic or the Homeopathic hospital? - but have a stroll around and still arrive 25 minutes early.
As usual, I quite enjoyed the actual medical examination and tests, and was done by 11:30, so I wandered back to Warren Street picking up lunch on the way.
So, having made allowances for the tube problems coming in an encountering none, I stepped blithely into Warren Street, glanced up at the electronic board that shows the level of service and...uhuh. The red block (the dear old Central Line) informed me cheerfully that it wasn't running past Liverpool Street (another suicide or, as LRT so cheerfully puts it, "person under a train.")
This is the moment when, despite being retired nearly six years, old instincts cut right in. I was standing next to a Victoria Line station. If I could get Ina to pick me up by car at Walthamstow station I wouldn't be much later than I would be if the Central Line was running. Phoned home. No answer. Phoned Ina's mobile. Switched off.
The journey home by bus from the Victoria Line stations is long and torturous. So, best Mainline to Ilford, then bus, which means getting to Liverpool Street avoiding the Central Line. Up to King's Cross on the Victoria, then change to the Circle, Met or Hammersmith and City and on to Liverpool Street.
At Liverpool Street I checked the Central Line but, though trains were starting to run again it was 'subject to severe delays' on the entire line. So I wandered over to the far platforms, picked up a Shenfield train about to leave, and, at Ilford, caught a 150 within a couple of minutes. It took me an hour and a half instead of the hour and ten it ought to have, but that isn't bad.
Once a London commuter, always a London commuter. I'm glad I haven't forgotten...