Journey Home

Published on 21 July 2005 in , , , , ,

Shepherds Bush. What an odd place to target. And what a bloomin’ nuisance. The whole of Shepherd’s Bush Green was sealed off as I set off for home.

Which left me with an interesting problem – how to get to Kensington Olympia so I could get my train to Clapham?

With the roads down the end of Wood Lane sealed up, and there being no way of knowing what side streets would be open, I decided it wasn’t going to happen and instead joined a few colleagues on the walk to Willesden Junction.

So off we trogged, and whilst everyone else headed towards the North London Line platforms on the low level platforms, I meandered over to the high level to get my train down to Clapham, which would take me through Olympia.

It was only upon arriving at Clapham when I was walking towards platform 15, that I realised that it had all been a bit pointless. See, the Central Line station at Shepherds Bush had apparently remained open throughout the incident – only the Hammersmith and City line was affected – which must have meant there was access out of the station.

Going right towards Shepherds Bush Green would have been blocked off due to the cordon, which meant the only way to go would have been to go left.

All of which meant that instead of walking for 45 minutes to the station, I could merely have hoped on the Central Line at White City, got off minutes later at Shepherds Bush and then done the 15 minute walk to Olympia Station.

And if I’d done that, I would have got home on time instead of being half an hour late, eaten something more nutritious than pizza, and wouldn’t have bumped into that dog at Clapham Junction – the one that gave me a really evil, dog-like stare for doing so…