It's been an interesting morning.
Alarm went off at 05:27. Your correspondent leapt into action, out of bed and onto the floor. To make sure I was awake, I did this via the wall.
Opened the shutters. Marvellous things shutters: you can pretend the weather isn't happening.
Unfortunately the weather was happening, vertically. The patio showed evidence of flooding so it had clearly been happening vertically for some time.
Perusal of the local transport authority web site showed that n 8x ticket for the trip to work was 28€, offering a saving of 0.50€ per trip. Unfortunately, between 0600 and 0900 bikes cost an adult fare, presumably because it is so crowded.
Cycled to railway station. Pushed bike out of subway.
Köndringen railway station is not one of the main hubs of the German Railway network, in fact I'm not sure they realise it is still there: certainly it hasn't seen any paint within this century. It also appeared to lack a ticket machine. Eventually I spied one on the opposite platform, rode back down into subway, up the other side, pushed card in slot. Machine demanded pin number. Number pad is in a dark hole and my glasses are steamed up. Eventually machine agrees to give me tickets. Ride under railway to my platform again.
As train approaches I realise I should stamp tickets, but there isn't a stamp machine on my side of the track. Of course, it's next to the ticket machine over the other side. Get on train hoping that there's a machine there.
There isn't but fortunately the journey only takes 9 minutes and I don't have to explain this to the conductor. On the other hand, this "peak service" is nearly empty. I could ride my bike up and down the aisle and no-one would be bothered.
Arrive at work station, the fire department are pumping out the subway. Fortunately I don't need to use it, and it's only about 5 minutes to work. I'm particularly glad of this because I've discovered my "waterproof coat" isn't. One of the less obvious aspects of living in a car culture is that "waterproof" clothes actually mean "waterproof for the dash from car to office" but no more. See also: shoes. Thankfully my
Akubra is made for such conditions: there's a reason cowboys wear big leather hats.
Work is pretty warm as usual, thankfully. Steam gently in office, and ponder todays ethical problem: given that German Railways couldn't be bothered to put a stamp on my platform or in the train, do I bother making an extra effort to cancel two tickets?
