Todays commute was interesting.

I should have known that todays commute was going to be an interesting experience when I was woken up 3 separate times by thunder & lightning last night. Instead, I blithely went to the train station to get my usual commute done – only to have a rude surprise. Firstly, there is a lot of water in the street, as in ‘its not clearing’ and its about 2 inches deep. I was (and remain) a mite concerned about this. Will I have a dry house when I get home?

 

Anyway, the train I got (that oddly turned up just as I walked onto the platform) had, in fact been delayed by 35 minutes and the platform was packed with expectant, cold commuters. Even stranger was the fact that we stopped at every single station in an attempt to beat the world record of number of irritated commuters on a slow-moving train.

 

I think we came close, and by the time we got to Duivendrecht, it was a relief to be able to have some space to breathe again. Only a quick trip up the escalators, for a tram to Amstel.

 

Or not, actually.

 

In fact, just about everyone had a similar plan and everyone piled up the escalators onto the main platform – and stopped dead because there was no space to move. Which caused a concertina crush on the escalator as there was no way of stopping those people who were on the escalator from reaching their destination.

 

Whilst there was no real trouble, several people did fall over in the crush at the top and for a few hairy seconds, there was a definite whiff of panic in the place. Fortunately for all concerned, the guards were on the ball and stopped people getting on the escalators, allowing the crush to ease & the clot to disperse. Its not much, I suppose, but another few seconds and there would have been people being knocked off the platforms & a genuine full-blown panic at the station.

It turns out that large sections of Amsterdam are without electricity today. No metros are running (hence the packed platform in Duivendrecht) and neither are any trams in the city. The traffic lights are down in sections – meaning that busses are also stuck in large queues.

 

So. I made it in for 9-20, which is pretty darn good, given that my section of the office is 16 people down…

 

S