Replacement Bus Service

I’m not having much luck travelling home from work this week. At least it has given me something to write about. It’s Tuesday night and I’m writing this on a bus. The reason I’m writing this on a bus is because earlier today someone stupidly decided to drive their campervan into the path of an oncoming train at a level crossing in Littleport. Thankfully no one died but if you ignore the lights at a level crossing then you probably deserve what’s coming for you. This bus is on its way from Ely to Littleport and then to Downham Market. The damage to the railway line is bad enough that it’s unlikely to be fixed tonight so there will also be the joys of a bus from Downham Market to Ely tomorrow morning.

It’s a bit weird how replacement bus services call at train stations, just like a train. It’s weird because a bus isn’t a replacement for a train. A bus is, well a bus. It’s without a toilet, leftover newspapers and (relatively) high speed travel. It would be just as easy and perhaps more convenient for bus to drop people off in a respective town centre, just like a bus normally does. But the bus is a replacement for the train and therefore has to call at all of the train stations that the train would normally call at.

The 18:44 Kings Cross train I got calls at Ely, Littleport and Downham Market. My normal 18:14 train from Kings Cross doesn’t call at Littleport. The reason why the 18:14 doesn’t stop at Littleport is because it is an 8 carriage train, too big for the platform at Littleport station. So if I got the replacement bus service for the 18:14 from Ely would it have stopped at Littleport? You can see how the whole replacement bus service thing is a bit weird.

The reason why I missed the 18:14 train is because I walked from my office to Kings Cross, about a 30 minute walk. I did this because Covent Garden Station was crowded with people trying to get in, so I decided to walk to Holborn where the crowds were even worse, literally spilling out onto a busy road. It’s quite a nice change to walk in London, you do get a greater feel for the city and its myriad of wonderfully different people. So I felt quite good until I found out that the train was terminating at Ely. Along with Stevenage and King’s Lynn, Ely is the third train station in 2 days that I’ve been to despite not wanting to. Let’s see if I manage any more this week…