Orion

I’ve been trying to imagine how Mr T might have reported various activities this week.  The working week would have started on Tuesday and he would have seen F off early – she’s going to London (she says).  Mr B is a late riser so it is best to get breakfast when F gets up even if it means going back to bed afterwards.

Great Old Nana needed company on Tuesday, but she has that silly fluffy k9 so Mr T never joined in when Mr B went round there; and then the day all went to pot.  F didn’t come home and there were lots of phone calls.  The weather had been a bit blowy and wet but that makes for good viewing out the window (on the side where the rain isn’t being driven against the panes), and Mr T could have watched the crows all sitting in the gingko tree; hanging on for dear life.  There must be somewhere better they could go and seek shelter.

Mr B would have bundled Mr T into the van around 21:45 and set off on a long drive north.  Mr T had taken only 2 journeys up the A3 and although the Hindhead tunnel created great consternation on the first trip through it, tunnels were ‘old hat’ by the time of his second excursion that way.  There are hundreds of tunnels in Greece, and he had transited dozens of others crossing Europe; twice.

Even so this trip would have been developing into more than just a trip to the station to collect F off the train.  It was in fact a trip to the station to collect F off the train – just not the usual station.  About 70 miles north of Havant, F was lingering around outside the station at Shepperton – in outer London. Using the weather of that day as the excuse, the train company that serves Havant had cancelled all services south of Guildford, and west of Woking.  After a 4 and half hour wait at Waterloo during which time train after train was promised and train after train was cancelled, it became apparent that although the worst of the weather had abated late afternoon, the train company had no train crew at Waterloo to take train loads of passengers out of the station.

Assurances were given that taxis could be taken as an alternative and reimbursement of the fare sought, but it seems they were unable or unwilling to taxi their drivers INTO London to resume rail service.

Having been stung £120 a few years ago for a taxi from London Heathrow to Central London, F wasn’t prepared to even contemplate what a 75 mile taxi ride to Havant might cost!  As sporadic train services were still operating within the greater London area, Mr B suggested getting a train as far south as she could and he would pick her up from there.  At that moment a train, with a driver, was departing for Shepperton – so Shepperton it was, and Mr T would have found himself patting Mr B on the face to stay awake up the A3, across the M25, and further up the M3 to the deserted streets around the Shepperton railway station.

After weeks or relentless grey sky, the storm that blew through had cleared the clouds away and on the drive back we had an uninterrupted, dark sky view of Orion as it hung over the South Downs.  Complete.  Upright. Glowing.  

Image from Britannica

I love Orion.  You can see it from both northern and southern hemispheres.

By Petersfield however the cloud had coagulated again and heavy rain greeted our arrival at the Waterlooville turn-off.

There is not much that Mr T could have told you about Shepperton – at 2300 on a damp Tuesday night in early January it is closed up, locked down, deserted, silent, end-of-the-line.  Glistening a bit from recent rain, a few bedraggled festive season decorations hanging on to shop fronts and doors, there was nothing to recommend it.  Maybe some train drivers live there.  At least two trains arrived within 5 minutes of each other while F was waiting around, which, on a night when few trains had been moving suggested Shepperton-approaching-midnight had a certain attraction for train crews.

Weather forecasts are now checked rigorously before embarking on the trip to London each morning – snow is anticipated in a few days’ time – heavy rain (and flooding is being forecast), potential for landslides, more strong winds..….any excuse to stop the trains again.