The great Inundation

The British summer is barely turning out to be worth the name with quite ridiculous quantities of rain falling over the last couple of months. As is usual when ever this country is hit with a little weather out of the ordinary the entire system collapses and the events of last week proved that beyond any doubt.

Of course our subject was good enough to get caught up in the bother when on a train from Brum to Bristol. With a derailment ahead the train had to be diverted to Gloucester (where it was then cancelled). The scenes at Gloucester station were somewhat farcical as, with the Severn having burst its banks, the entire city was devoid of power (power station underwater) and water.

The staff at the station were thus unable to use the board or loudspeakers to keep the passengers informed and so that task was delegated to two in breds from the Forest of Dean wandering up and down the platform yelling in some incomprehensible regional accent. In truth it was not much more incomprehensible than the public address systems at most stations.

Eventually, and somewhat sadly, a replacement train turned up (although this one had to go via Newport) and he made it to Bristol only some 2 hours late.