Some authors love going on school visits and I’m one of them! The only thing I hate is the journey there. If it involves more than two hours of travel and includes the M25, I prefer to take the train. Now, as I live in the deep south (of Kent!) if I’m going anywhere north-ish of London I drive to my local station then have a train journey of an hour and five minutes to London, followed by the underground, then another train journey and finally a walk or a taxi. I know that sounds complicated but if all the trains are on time it works like a dream and I get to read or work or sleep or listen to music or whatever on the journeys, which I find so much better than driving, or worse, being stuck in a traffic jam!
When I did a school visit to Kingshott School in Hertfordshire recently, I felt a nice surge of relief that the first train was beautifully on time, and from then I was confident that nothing could go wrong because I’d allowed plenty of time to make the connection. But when I got to London Bridge underground I found myself faced with a wall of about 300 silent, still people, and an announcement repeated every thirty seconds apologising for holding customers at the ticket barriers and explaining that it was in order to prevent overcrowding on the platforms.
After ten minutes of standing like a statue with the silent throng and feeling horribly boxed in as others joined, my heart started banging away, and grew louder with every subsequent passing minute. I was going to miss my connection. But there was nothing I could do. It was too late to leave and get a taxi.
Finally the crowd began to move. I can’t say that it surged. It kind of shuffled with urgency. I was certain I’d never get through in the first ‘wave’ of people but I was lucky, they shut the barriers just behind me and I ran down the escalator. I then managed to squeeze myself and my big ‘author bag’ onto the already crowded underground train and started counting manically because this is the only way for me to avoid claustrophobia or worry that the air’s going to run out!
Finally I got to Kings Cross and power walked what felt like miles to the mainline station and subsequently to platform zero – the furthest away – it had to be – and got on the train with one minute to spare. I was then picked up at the station at the other end and taken to the school. But what a horrible journey! Does anyone else get neurotic about being late?
Here are some snap shots of the perfect day that followed the nightmare journey!
I like to bring drama into my presentations! Check out the boy at the front!
Talking about some of the books
Comparing the front cover design on a foreign copy
And of course, we always have to dance!
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