It snowed this morning for a few hours. For us English folk who rarely get to see snow, it was quite a bit (+-10 cm of the lovely white stuff). I bet you guys in proper snow areas must be laughing right now at that pathetic statement. (you laugh all you like).

Anyway, I left home at the normal time (6am), and slid my way down to the bus stop at the end of my street. The bus was late but the driver gave no explanation as to why he was late. I figured he had trouble getting out of bed this morning, or perhaps the bus driver was waiting for his company to say "they will not be driving in snow".

I eventually got to the station 10 minutes later, missed my usual train at 6:21, so I caught the next train to Cannon street, thinking I would change at London Bridge for Charing Cross. Everything was fine until we passed Crayford, then the train stopped. It wasn’t snowing, it was more like a mix of rain and sleet and it wasn’t heavy, and visibility was clear. After about ten minutes the train driver announces that there are 4 trains ahead of us, and the front train has broken down… GREAT!

{I always thought train operators were a bit thick – Sorry 🙂 Perception is a dangerous thing} but after today I have changed my mind. They are Geniuses. Well our train operator or train controller was a genius, because suddenly the train driver came back on the air and announced he was going to reverse and go back to Crayford, and then take the route via Lewisham, which he did in about 5 minutes. There was no delays, and surprisingly I got to work only 15 minute late. So well done to South Eastern Trains.

Sadly though the rest of the line was badly disrupted. You wonder how? It’s just a bit of snow. These big heavy trains weighing thousands of tons can’t handle fluffy water on the track.  It’s really pathetic. How do countries like Norway, Sweden, Canada cope during winters where the temperature drops to below -10.

And how can the underground trains be disrupted as well?