When my friends and I took the train to Brussels which normally takes 20 min, as usual it was 15 min late because of an electrical problem. Of course we missed our correspondence to Liège and had to wait 40 min to take the next one. Apparently trains are a catastrophe and always late according to Chantal and what is well known by everybody who has to take a train each day.
Her son Michael a police inspector in Brussels takes the train every day to his office which is located in the center of Brussels. One evening on his return the train suddenly stopped so abruptly that the passangers nearly flew through the compartments and found themselves sitting on each other knees. Once the order re-established, they wondered what had happened. Michael not wearing his uniform in private and on his way home, only found out after more than half an hour that a guy had thrown himself on the rails and was dead of course.
By the time the whole police squad arrived to find out if it was a suicide or a crime the train was stuck there in the middle of nowhere. The mobile phones were working high speed and it rang everywhere, family and friends wanted to know why the train didn't arrive. After 3 hours finally they could continue. Fortunately there was a toilet in the train, because that isn't an evidence either in these very slow old trains which only serve the little towns around Brussels.
As soon as the train started to move, a lady fell off her seat and fainted. The train had to stop again to get her out and into an ambulance to be taken to the hospital. She had had a heart attack because of all these emotions. Meanwhile the train was 5 h late.
Dispite the fact that it was a rather sad story we 5 laughed our heads off. According to one of us the worst thing is that if the victim has family it has to pay for these "inconveniences ", which can be very very expensive. So you not only have the grief of loosing a husband or a father or whatever but you also have to pay for it.
Therefore Christie and I decided when we would come home to tell our husbands if ever they wanted to commit suicide to hang themselves on the chandelier and not to use a train, because it would be for free.
Poor Michael who had left his office at 6 pm arrived finally home after 1 am instead of a 30 min ride !
We have the same problems in France!
ReplyDeleteI know it very well since my husband works in the train compagny!!!!
Poor inspector! He never will forget his trip!!!
Have a nice sunday, Gattina! i couldn't sleep this night and post something on my blog! Now we go to my sister! It's her birthday! Hoping I won't sleep on the table!
Oh I love your sense of humour, it's as warped as mine is! I do hope your husbands took notice of your advice on where to commit suicide...lol
ReplyDeleteAs for Michael, I bet he was thoroughly fed up with arriving home at that hour of the morning, poor guy.
I hope the lady with the heart attack was ok, but I guess you'll never know.
Take care
Robyn x
I love public transport! As long as I am driving the bus that is and definitely not when I'm the passenger!
ReplyDeleteAbout that chandelier: what if the chandelier isn't as well fixed as it looks and the whole ceiling and upper floor come crashing down? That won't be cheap either... :)
You know they even have SMOKE ALARMS in the toilets in Welsh trains to stop people like me going in for a quick Marlboro!
ReplyDeleteTell Christie not to tell her husband to do it at home, she will have to clean up the mess.
ReplyDeleteSome one told me, the body orifice relax and open when a person is about to die. Also when he is about to die, he struggles, and the body moves about, like the shit hits the fan. Then the shit falls to the carpet.
The Japanese food was black and white, not the photo.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone ate, I think half of them did, but they were curious how I knew it was food eaten during the earthquake.
I haven't ridden on a train since I was a kid
ReplyDelete