Whatever the temperature is outside, standing around in it for 40mins in a thin coat and shirt is never going to be a good thing. I have only just begun to thaw on the train really. How I came to stand in these arse chillingly cold conditions is a matter at the forefront of my mind at present.

As is my custom on Fridays I was planning in getting into work about an hour before I need to. This works two fold. It means I get in in time to cover the early shift and it means I can get home normally in time to help with cubs, although today, just earlier.

Due to the time of year the trains are pretty fucked. They run a crap (reduced) service on the days between Christmas and new year. This is also the time they take to fix some of the bigger things they broke during the year. This has left me with long waits, slow, packed trains complete with more replacement buses than I want to shake a stick at.

Last night I looked at the train times online, all looked well. It seemed they had finished with the buses and I could get to work in a reasonable time. So this morning I left the house soon after 6:20 with the intention of getting the 6:27. I had to run rather faster than I wanted to. As I got there I read the board. My train was cancelled and the next train was at 7:05. I stood and weighed up the options for a moment. Given how cold it was this was a short moment.

I started walking home. I got to my front door, put my key in the lock, turned… Hmm, why isn’t it turning…. Wiggled the key a bit… Still no luck. The I realised there was a key in the other side of the lock. It was far too early to go knocking on the door. I was pissed off. Not least because as I walked home I was thinking at least I could grab the mince pie I had forgotten too…