So, you have a train to catch. You’re carrying your double bass in its semi-soft case and your musician’s stool, plus a backpack containing a music stand and personal belongings. As you’re not able to fit through the turnstiles you look for some official person to let you through the wide barrier. Your train is arriving on the platform. It’s a long one with many carriages, scheduled to wait for just 3 minutes at this station.
Since double basses obstruct passenger access in carriages, they must be stowed in the designated luggage or guard’s van, but these vans are usually locked, so someone must be found in a hurry to unlock it. You run along the crowded platform as best as you can with your ponderous load, scanning both ends for a station official. It’s difficult to guess at which end of the train the brake van might be coupled. Whistles blow, carriage doors begin to slam shut. Oh dear, where in the world is the man……..?
Phew! You just make it, just in the nick of time!
Now you need to secure the precious instrument to a pole, positioning it in such a way that it won’t fall over onto the rack of bikes or the stowed freight boxes the when the train sways around sharp corners. You wedge your bass stool firmly under the barred window. Finally! You’re now ready to find your pre-booked seat and for the remainder of the journey. That’s when it dawns on you that this waggon is not linked to the main body of the train and can’t be accessed from it. So you sit, resignedly, on the cold floor, waiting for the train’s next stop. That will be the cue to leap out, sprint along the station platform to reach your designated seat in the economy carriage much further down the train.
Please don’t keep asking: “Ever thought of taking up the flute?”
Great story Frith bringing back old memories for me …. From 1984 arriving at Waterloo. I had amassed a lot of Christmas shopping as I had the useful handles of a McLaren buggy to hang it all from! But I had forgotten it was rush hour so I thought I’d wait for the next train and then get in first.
However, a kind guard beckoned me into the guard van (he left) and I and the buggy with presents (oh and I forgot to mention the beloved child) travelled home without collapsing anything and I sat on the pull down guard seat!
Yes Jill, I remember that buggy model well. The handles were so useful for attaching schoolbags, swimming kit, and loads of shopping…and if you released the child from the seat in an unguarded moment, the whole lot would tip over backwards onto the pavement!