First blood

I took a trip last night from Hersham rail station to Turnham Green so I could meet an old friend for a wine tasting at High Road House. I hadn't seen him in a year and was really looking forward to it, not least because the tiny terror means I don't often get an evening off.

TfL's published journey time for my exact trains and tubes was 56 minutes. In reality, the trip took 1 hour and 41 minutes - nearly double what was advertised.

To be fair to my train driver, he kept up a nearly running commentary on the progress of the delay and reasons for it. Sadly, he hadn't bothered to calibrate the PA system so most of what he said was inaudible. I think it had something to do with some kind of medical issue on a train in front of us. Obviously, I hope those involved are OK now and, without further details, I can't really claim that's TfL's fault. However, a 45 minute delay seems excessive nonetheless.


EDIT: in the interests of fairness, the journey home (via tube and night bus) was spot on at 41 minutes.