Back to reality

My two and a half months of peace, happiness and serenity were eradicated by British Gas within half an hour. Unfortunately, it took them 5 days to fix the boiler but it's now up and running and I could have a shower for my birthday! A friend came over for dinner to help celebrate my being able to bath and I went to Oxford for the weekend and the weather couldn't have been more perfect and it was warm enough for us to sit outside until midnight.

I caught up with M for lunch and we took his narrow boat out for a quick spin and I then got the train back to London. The train was already running 20 minutes late but no sooner had we got 10 minutes out of Oxford, we ran into trouble. I was engrossed in my book but the train started to sound its horn and the driver began dabbing on the brakes and then it came: the thud. The collective look of horror on everyone's faces could only mean one thing - we had hit something or worse, someone. Everyone sat there in silence and the train came to a standstill and then the announcement came that there had been a track side fatality. Again, gasps resonated around the carriage and some people looked very shocked.

We had to wait for the emergency services to arrive and one insensitive woman saw the police collect a shoe from underneath the train and proceeded to ring her friend to tell them and also said '..I think they are looking for body parts.' I am pleased to say that someone told her off and pointed out to her that there were children on the train and neither them or anyone else wanted to her what she had to say on the matter.

Eventually, the train started again and I got in London feeling a bit worse for wear but I haven't managed to find anything on the incident on the net. Whoever it was, my thoughts are with their family.