Train trouble

**Warning** This is a rant.

Don’t you just love snow? I do, as long as I get to stay indoors. Unfortunately, from time to time one has to go to this thing called work, unless there is this thing called snow and you can’t even get there.

If anyone who reads/ understands Dutch has been reading my tweets today, you already know that today I failed to make it to work due to train trouble. I was at the station at 7.45 AM and by 10.45 AM I was still not even done with half of my daily journey. So I just gave up and went home, which again was quite a feat as there are no express trains running. The weather forecast for later today/ tonight is more snow and possible ice rain, which will most likely turn this country into one big ice track. I’m already scared what tomorrow morning is going to be like!

Yesterday, it also took me more than 2,5 hours to get to work (instead of the usual less than 1,5) due to a broken down train and on the way home the train was delayed by almost 30 minutes because it was too short and couldn’t carry all the people who wanted to be on it. But today I really hit the jackpot. Some time during my walk from home to the station, a problem arose near a very important station not too far from Leiden. So I had to take a detour. No biggy! Only problem is that there were NO trains going anywhere, expect for one small local train so we had to squeeze ourselves into that train and got hoarded like cattle to get to The Hague Central Station.

When I got there, there were not trains as they were stuck somewhere else, so I had to wait until there was actually a train that could take me anywhere. That train of course had a major delay and when it finally left it was jam packed to the brim as well. I finally arrived at Rotterdam a little while after 10 AM, but the train won’t leave! Another problem was caused further down the road and so the train wasn’t going anywhere until they knew what was up. By this time I really had to use the bathroom, but all the bathrooms on the train had broken down. So I packed my bag, grabbed my stuff and decided to go find a bathroom in the station instead. I was late anyway.

I got to the train about 15 minutes later and it was still there, only by this time all the people that were on it were standing on the platform. They had all been told to get off the train and take the next one. By this time it was around 10.45 and I had had it. I called work for the second time that morning and my colleague literally told me to go home. Which is what I did. That also took almost 1,5 hours because there were no express trains, but only local trains.

So, this morning I spent about 4,5 hours on trains or freezing my butt off on a train station platform.

Q: And how is your week going?

P.S. Just when I think I had it bad this morning I just read that a train is stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere without any lighting or heat as the power supply has broken down. Today is not the Dutch Railways lucky day. Nor is it mine.