Indeed. Another hour or so and I’m sure that we’d have started a few blitz spirit sing-songs to keep up the morale. There was a tangible, growing camaraderie.

I was also keeping minor track of the social developments and interactions among us strangers caught together. I mused quietly about who were the leaders that were starting to emerge as some of us started forming consensus on a strategy to approach the train driver with suggestions of a next step. I’m no social scientist but it is truly interesting to me, as it is to many people, to observe how we interact, form social structures, organise and communicate. A lot of this was starting to gather pace in the last 15 minutes before we finally made it safely to Sydenham station.

Thanks Applespider for the handy suggestion.

I called the Helpdesk after posting the initial ballad of my train trip. I poured out my version of events with the clinical facts so they could verify it. I also constructed my voice to register emotional suffering to appeal to the heart of the Oyster Helpdesk lady. I found just the right tone of whimpering because she refunded the full £8.60 and didn’t charge me for the train ride. Rejoice! The lady at the Oyster Helpdesk even said “Merry Christmas”.

I sat there for a few moments after putting down the phone with a dopey smile and a softness, even a moistness in my usually cold, calculating eyes.