After another busy week, I finally got on the train home. 4 days away in Madrid and London and boy was I looking forward to getting home.
Unfortunately, the train ride home had some problems and I ended up sitting in a train on the tracks for 3 extra hours before the decision was made to ‘go back to Basingstoke’. You could hear the sighs of desperation from everyone on the train.
On our arrival,back at Basingstoke, it became clear that the authorities had not planned anything for the arrival of 400 people looking to get home. Quite poor….
No taxi’s or coaches arranged, even though we had been sat on the train for some time, possibly allowing, someone, somewhere, time to organise ‘something’.
Again the communication was poor and we struggled to hear what was being said as the poor policeman tried his best to shout out information. Queues formed but no-one really knew why they were queueing or what they were queueing for! It was a complete mess.
I wondered into town to see if I could grab something to eat but Basingstoke was closed! Londis was doing a great trade though! So, after a cheese sandwich and bottle of water, I realised nothing fast was going to happen and I called home to ask my wife to drive from Bournemouth to Basingstoke to get me. As you can imagine this was well received!
I got home just before midnight – time for bed!
I know that, sometimes things just don’t go to plan. I hope South West Trains have learnt a lot from this experience but wonder if this has ever happened before and, if so, why didn’t they have a process in place? (It can’t be the first time a track has been broken!)
I did go through my emotions rapidly on the evening, initially being annoyed that we were stopped on a track, not moving, but the film I watched did distract me and allowed me time to stay calm. The anger rose again and again as the evening progressed. I found myself swearing under my breath at the disbelief of the unfolding evening! Getting annoyed at things I couldn’t control – how bizarre!
As soon as I knew I was getting picked up and I was back in control, I calmed down.
We all know that is is pointless getting angry, frustrated and mad at things we can’t control but sometimes we get caught up in the moment and instantly have an emotional hijack.
Top tips to stay calm and in control:
- Be aware of your emotions
- Assess if they will affect the situation and, in anyway help
- Take control of the things you can control
- Plan your way forward
These helped me through a potentially very volatile, emotional time and, trust me, I was on the edge at times!