Juxtapostion

The attempt by an 800 ton train and a human being to occupy the same physical space at the same time rarely ends well for the human being. This was the case earlier when the coming together a train and human being near Streatham Common caused the railway lines to be closed and train services disrupted.

The Gorse Fox had made his way across to Victoria in time for his normal train, but the concourse was a chaotic mass of commuters trying to determine their best course of action. GF retreated to a quiet corner and watched the message boards and tried to make out words from the sounds that emanated from the public address system. It was clear that the Gorse Fox and Victoria were likely to be spending some time together...

Every now and then sufficient clarity would allow "London Bridge" and "Sussex Coast" to be picked out from the public address system. GF decided that this was likely to be a hint and took himself off to the tube and returned across town to Monument where he walked across the bridge to London Bridge. Again the concourse seemed like utter chaos, but GF headed for platforms and saw a Littlehampton train scheduled to leave almost immediately.

It would be unseemly to run, blasting comuter out of the way without say "I'm Sorry" or "Excuse me", so GF strode out a little more purposefully - and climbed into the end carriage. He had to stand, but at least he was aboard. Some ten minutes later the train finally left, and despite everything GF was still home within 30 minutes of his usual time.