Now begins the struggle, after what I hope will prove to be a successful day, to get back to Bremen from Wuppertal.
Repairs along the route, a broken signal box, a broken signal. I'm in a train to Essen which should have left about an hour ago...
Fingers crossed, but if it goes south, I'll be in a hotel again tonight.
And now I hear that my connecting train, the RE2 to Osnabrück, is running about forty-six minutes late....
Joy
DB lies like a cheap digital watch. I had just got myself a coffee and was making a move on a succulent slice of pizza when....
My train to Osnabrück is delayed eight minutes.
I can live with that. And I can live without the pizza slice, too...
#life #travel #train #bahn #Bremen #Osnabrück #Essen #DBFail
One minute later and we're off. I even managed to get a decent seat.
Next changeover is in Osnabrück and I have eleven minutes. We're running nine minutes late, and the platforms to change over at are not together....
We're not yet at the booking a hotel room for the night stage....
The driver has 90 minutes in which to make up for lost time. Whether they will manage to gain, or add to the delay remains to be seen.
Osnabrück is not that bad a place to stay, not that I want to.
We're not going to make the connection. Too many sections where we have to drive slower because of the work being carried out here. The delay is up to fifteen minutes, and I am quietly considering various possibilities for either travelling on into the night, or getting out in Osnabrück, booking a hotel room, and having a night out on the town.
After all, I haven't had a good night out since, let me think now, ah yes, Hildesheim on Saturday.
We're at over twenty minutes now, so I can either stay or catch a train half an hour later. Arrival time in Bremen, if there are no further delays, would be quarter to ten. Manageable.
Listening to other people reorganising all their travel plans. A couple on the way to Bremerhaven, another to Hamburg.
We're all going to be there later than planned, but no one is panicking, and I hear no complaints. Whether anyone has looked at their watch or not, I can not say.
#life #travel #train #Bremen #Bremerhaven #Hamburg #Osnabrück
@uc The deteriorating Deutsche Bahn has done a lot of good work on the unhealthy German fixation on punctuality. People are learning to find their inner Zen
(I am not sure myself whether this post is sarcastic or not).
I've certainly found mine, but there are those who have not yet seen the light.
Urban Camera
axel.