I went to sunny Kew today - for an interview.
That was the plan: however there were train problems. An "electrical fault at Witley" meant that all London-bound trains were terminated at Haslemere and replaced with buses. I'd planned the trip to leave time to relax at Kew before the interview, then had to change things when I heard on the radio about the problems. I rang the agency to warn them I may be late and then decided to stick to my plan anyway rather than try to go to another station. A quick check showed there were delays at Bentley too anyway. I'd have to get a taxi to Guildford which seemed madness.
I went to the station anyway: walking to the bus stop for the rail-link. I forgot my signing on book so I had to dart back for that, but then had a few minutes wait for the rail-link bus. It didn't seem good after I was warned by the bus driver about long queues at Haslemere for the replacement coaches to Guildford. Then when we got to the station, while I was buying my ticket I was told that the power was now back on and there was a good chance my train would run through to London.
The 10:09 arrived at 10:21, so I knew that I'd missed my connection at Clapham Junction, but the trains to Kew Bridge from there are every 15 minutes so that didn't matter. I got to the office for my 12 noon interview at 11:55! If I'd left earlier I would probably still be sitting on a bus trying to get to Guildford.
Loads of stress and hassle, probably because someone wanted to steal some cables from the track to sell the copper as scrap.
I left the office soon after 1pm and grabbed this pic at the station. Then back to Clapham Junction, and down to Liphook again. This time the connections worked like a dream. I got the bus back to Bordon to sign on at the Jobcentre and then walked home from there.
County Councillor Adam Carew addresses the demo crowd outside Liphook Station. The Rail-Link bus can be seen behind him outside the "Railway Hotel". South West Trains plan to stop running the Rail-Link bus on 17th May. We had 50 people at the demo this evening at 6:30 pm - plus two policemen watching us.
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