Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 67 (Tuesday 8 March) - TAXI!

Cityrail, you won't be surprised to learn, let me and my friend Warren down yet again today.

We'd boarded the 5.38 from Wynyard, our favourite train of the evening peak period, primarily because it is airconditioned which in Summer in Sydney is a must for a pleasant trip home. Of course, Cityrail being Cityrail many of the trains heading west are older non air conditioned ones (the theory is that because Labor think western Sydney voters will always vote Labour that they don't try too hard with them, hence the awful, old trains; naturally the trains heading to mostly non-Labor voting North Shore are almost uniformly chilled and new) and so we have endured many a Summer trip home in trains that were so hot that it was like being trapped in a hot house with no way out.

So hot trains, while not pleasant, aren't exactly something we haven't experienced before, and so when we stepped into the train last night and the air con was on, we just shrugged sat down, and hoped for a speedy trip home. All went well till we got to Central, where traditionally the majority of commuters join the peak trains, and after the crowds had piled in, AFTER mind you, Cityrail said the train was terminating there because of defective air condtioning. Quite apart from waiting till the carriages were packed, which was typical of the ineptitude of Cityrail generally, I was amazed that after the trips we'd suffered through in wilting heat where no one seemed worried if we melted into sweaty puddles or not, that on this trip, this one (!!),  after a day so long and exhausting that I just wanted to crawk into bed and sleep, that Cityrail felt they needed to discontinue the service.

Naturally, eight carriages of people pouring onto a train created ridiculous crowding both on the platform, and no doubt on subsequent trains, when they could finally arrive, but we didn't wait around to find out, preferring to race outside before anyone else got the same idea and hire a taxi for a quick trip home.

We were home just 15 minutes later than normal, and while it cost us money, it sure beat enduring another one of Cityrail's shambolic delays.