London Blitz Spirit

It is an old cliche that London is at its best when faced with adversity. Hence the term "Blitz spirit" to refer to the comeraderie and neighbourliness that broke out during the German Blitz of London in WW2.

I sensed a bit of that appearing on July 7th 2005 when the transport network was paralysed and over 50 people killed in a wave of suicide bombings. Mrs. Donatella and I, newly married, met up and got a free boat home from the centre of London to Greenwich where we then lived. Despite the sombreness of the day, the boat ride for those not normally used to commuting via the Thames was accompanied by a commentary from one of the boat's crew on the sights we were passing. He even managed to get in some entirely suitable and well received jokes.

Today, in an entirely benign bout of chaos, the blitz spirit again started to break out. A fire under the railway in Bermondsey South London resulted in the major rail artery that passes through London Bridge to the south being completely closed.

An attempt to shift the strain onto trains from Victoria largely backfired as the crowds that massed around Victoria station meant the station and underground had to be shut.

I made my way on a packed DLR train out of the City. Normally the DLR is not the friendliest of lines. While it has a superficial veneer of civilisation, the mix of city boys and girls on the make, scurrying to and from work does not make for a very friendly atmosphere.

Today all was changed. The DLR was swamped with commuters from all sorts of places. I was crammed between a group of secretaries bound for Kentish towns, a scouser cracked jokes and a bald well spoken man in his 60s asked "Is it always like this". The journey was horrendous in physical terms. The burst of warm sunshine and packed conditions meant most people were dripping in sweat and completely wedged against each other.

The usual requests to "move down please" from people trying to get on the train were futile and were met with a chorus of about 50 people shouting "NO" from my carriage as we met fellow frustrated commuters at Canary Wharf. A few used other varients !

Despite the grim conditions people were unusually cheerful and most unusually talked to each other !

I can only draw from this that when London faces it daily pressures and troubles it does so glummly and in a surly way. However once the "pain" reaches a certain level the Blitz spirit kicks in and Londoners rediscover their humanity. That was how it seemed this evening at least.

London Bridge may well be closed again tomorrow so that is another day and I am not sure if the Blitz spirit is too easily awakened in the mornings !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6683641.stm

A discussion at the station

I was surprised upon arrival at my favourite London station this morning by the announcement "Managers are available on the concourse for discussion and to answer any questions from customers".

I had a job to get to and in any case I was caught so by surprise that I didn't have any questions. Later I wondered if I should have asked about the empty trains that race past the platform in the morning when the ones that carry passengers are often late and always crowded.

I guess it was just too early for me to have a discussion. I did however go and see what the managers looked like.

In the main they looked quite normal- much like the average passenger but wearing a sort of uniform. They had a stall and were milling around it. Surprisingly a number of passengers had stopped to "discuss" matters- presumably relating to train travel.

I couldn't work out the expression on the managers faces but they seemed to be smiling and open. I suspected that inside they were thinking "some of these passengers are really sad to think that it is worthwhile coming for a discussion".

That is my cynicism but it all seems very un-British to have a discussion at the end of the platform with railway managers.

There did seem an awful lot of managers-about 20 I would say. Despite the enthusiasm of some passengers, managers still outnumbered passengers in the discussion area. They only thing that was missing was refreshments- maybe there will "sherry and nibbles" on the way home this evening ?!

The trains are still frequently late but I suppose we should be very grateful that there are a smiling group of managers available for a chat every so often. Maybe they will next be offering therapy for passengers traumatised by the morning commute into London !

For now, I nerdily record delays to my trains on this website. I doubt it does much good but I am keen for my train company to appear bad in the league table against other train companies.............

http://www.traindelays.co.uk/