About 3 years ago, while living in London, I was standing on a crowded tube platform waiting for a train to take me to a play that I didn't want to see in the first place.
It was rush hour, or a bit after, and the platform was teeming with suits and smart phones.
The train which normally departed every 5 minutes from this particular platform was nowhere to be seen, and the natives were getting restless.
Finally a train arrived, packed with sweaty, angry office workers. As I tried to board a male commuter pushed me off the train and got on in my place. Barely disguising my indignation and disgust, I impatiently waited for the next train to arrive... and waited and waited.
Finally, an announcement rang out over the speaker system: "I regret to inform you that a passenger action at Cockfosters has temporarily interrupted service on this line, a replacement bus service is available above ground. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you."
In the UK "passenger action" usually means that a passenger has done something stupid like pulled the emergency brake, or vomited on another patron, but in this case it emerged that this passenger action was in fact a suicide. A man had thrown himself under the train at Cockfosters. As I walked away from the platform in shock to catch the "replacement bus service" I overheard a businessman mutter: "Inconsiderate twat, committing suicide at rush hour. Now I'm late for quiz night at the pub!"
Are we gonna make it, I wondered.
-- India M
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