While Francis Joyon has just beaten the world record for crossing the globe in a sailboat, I am set to beat the records for long delays. After a super Paris –Dublin trip by plane for christmas which took me 9 hours, I've just beaten my own record with a 12 hour trip from Geneva to Paris!
This feat followed my ski weekend, during which the vision of my 100 kilos hurtling at top speed down the icy slopes put the fear of God in even the most hard-skinned mountain men.
On our way back to Paris, we had just passed the station at Macon when an enormous bang followed by a more modest thump came from the roof of the TGV (high speed train). Everyone looked very concerned, such was the ferocity of the noise.
The train immediately began to slow down and took about 3 km to come to a complete standstill. As you would expect, rumours were rife. Some said it was an Al-Qaida attack, others a sucide, some said Hillary had just thrown Barack Obama over a bridge. Only 2 hours later did we learn the truth. Apparently one of the overhead electric rails had become detached and had fallen on the train, causing impressive electric sparks as well as some 300 metres of rail to fall down (I quote the words of the inspector, in a state of shock). We then waited 3 further hours in complete darkness, until another TVG arrived from the opposite direction and the fire-brigade helped us down onto the rails to mount the new train, and thereby continue our journey towards the city of lights.
Despite a good 5 minutes searching on Google trying to find some report of this incident, I have not been able to find the slightest mention of it. I'm sure there was some plot afoot to ensure that the good people of France were not disturbed while watching their Star Academy (French version of X-Factor) with something minor like what could have been a serious TGV malfunction! Still, all's well that ends well and at least the good folks at the SNCF provided each of us with a snack box when we finally arrived starving at 2am to Gare de Lyon!
This leads me to an obvious transition with this Reggae track from the seventies which reminds me that life can be as fragile as an electrical overhead.
Keith and Tex - "Stop that Train" from "Stop That Train" (1970, Dynamic Sound)
