The second Thursday of every other month is our service review meeting in London, It is a chance for all the managers to get together and raise and fix any issues that have transpired in the last 8 weeks. I attend in an engineering capacity to discuss the points that affect us at the work face. A task a world away from my daily look of combat trousers and polo shirts, screwdrivers and software media. Here I get my one opportunity to put on a shirt, trousers, a tie and shoes. For a day at least, my opinion matters and I'm not judged on my attire.
The meeting is always scheduled for 2pm, so this is like a half day for me as I do not have a morning booking. I do not use this as an opportunity to lie in bed, I like to get in fairly early, just after rush hour and soak a little of the London atmosphere I left behind me several years ago. That is the beauty of London so much to see and do. Some days I would spend the morning exploring, some weeks a 3 hour visit to one of the many museums or galleries, and on the few days of nice weather I would sit outside one of London's ever so many coffee shops. I would just sit and watch the world and people go by, there are people that fit so perfectly into the London ethos, but in any other city would look a million miles out of place.
The post rush hour journey worked well for me, and the timing of the bi-monthly meetings meant that I could purchase my train ticket weeks in advance. Anyone who buys tickets in advance would be aware how a first class ticket costs no more than a standard return on the day. I was not exactly what you would describe as a first class passenger but I enjoyed the guaranteed seat, the laptop power supply and the sparse, yet well-presented English breakfast. The biggest draw for me however is the endless cups of complimentary coffee. This was certainly worth any excess in the ticket price.
The carriage was very empty today, only a handful of passengers were in First Class and they were at the other end of the carriage. It was a quiet commute, only the odd mobile phone ringing would interrupt the sound of wheel on track. The only person I had spoken to was the breakfast lady and the ticket inspector, but that is not all that surprising on and UK transport.
The small commuter towns fell like dominoes, Welwyn Garden City made way for Hatfield, the train stopped and people got on and came off. Not in my carriage, but you could see them from the windows. Potters Bar would be the final stop before we would be into the m25 and just 20 minutes out of Kings Cross.
Here I would be packing away my laptop. To be honest today, I had wasted the journey reading the news as opposed to actually working. Still I shut down the laptop, folded the lid down and placed it in my shoulder bag. I always use an inconspicuous bag, especially whilst in London. As the train pulled away from the platform. I picked up my bag and made my way along the carriage to the toilet at the other end. Walking along a moving carriage is not always the best idea when using a shoulder bag, but I did manage to successfully navigate the few people in the carriage way to the toilet.
To anyone who has been on a modern train will know that technology has even been introduced to the train toilets, rather than a simple door, handle and lock, now you are faced with a myriad of buttons requiring gamer style skills to be able to open, close and lock the door. Ok so I am a computer engineer but some things have just been over-complicated, however I managed to open the door, complete with flashing leds, and close it behind me.
In my bag I always carry a tooth brush, now this is not due to an ocd style issue, but I just like to brush my teeth after breakfast, and certainly after several coffees, it's extra important when I am going to be in close proximity to others for the afternoon.
The toilets themselves, are not exactly nice places, the older style toilets that actually flushed onto the tracks seemed nicer than these new airport style toilets, complete with the suction flush. In dimensions I would say that a generous 1x2 metres, is all that allows. Stainless steel and grey plastic finishing, give the impression of sterility, but I somewhat doubt they are anything near that. Apart from all my reservations, there was a fully functioning basin with mirror, so for all intents and purposes, fully adequate for me to brush my teeth
I began to brush when all of a sudden the train came to a halt, we were only a minute out of Potters Bar, so just another typical delay. I heard a noise behind me as the door opened on me, I half expected to see a member of staff informing me that I had to evacuate the train or something, but no this was nothing like that. I was pushed ever so slightly against the sink as a woman rushed through the door, pressing the close button in the process. I was going to say something, but the words just completely escaped me. She had flipped up the toilet lid, pulled down her knickers and sat on the toilet.
"Lock the door" she said to me, the tooth brush still in my mouth, I just pulled a look on my face to say "what".
"Lock the door" she gestured to me press the lock button. For some reason I just went ahead and pressed the button. The red leds lit to indicate the door was locked. Ok I now realised that I had not done this the first time, but still you don't expect this.
She was a small lady, perhaps in mid-30's, quite busty, oh what was I doing? I was checking out this strange woman sat on the loo, she was having a wee and I was looking.
Ok so it must have been a slightly bemused look from me, but I was looking.
A wave of complete embarrassment flooded over me and I turned to the mirror. Not that this did much good, I was still looking right at her, but this time the mirror image.
I spat the paste from my mouth, and used the mouth wash I had to clean my mouth. I was trying to ignore what was going on behind me. I wiped my mouth, and put away my toothbrush. This should have been the end of my 'ordeal' but it couldn't be. I couldn't just open the door and expose her to the world, could I?
Now I began to notice the trickle sound, I just didn't know where to look.
"Don't look so uncomfortable" she said, with her fairly deep, yet alluring voice.
"I am uncomfortable" I replied accompanied by a nervous and obvious laugh.
"I'm sorry, I just had to go, and you left the door unlocked" it was a very light hearted and welcome tone. I felt immediately eased by the absolute absurdity of the situation.
She stood up, wiped and pulled her knickers back up, her dress covered her genitalia from my view.
"Well you know you are comfortable with each other when you can go to toilet in from of them" I joked to her.
"Well yes..." The tannoy announcer cut her off mid-sentence.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, due to an incident at Hadley Wood, we are being held at a red light. Oh great I thought, more delays.
