Afternoon tube

I had to take a trip to the doctor's this morning and, as a result, I didn't end up going to class; but I was meeting a friend, so I was still on the railways today - just not until the afternoon. Oh I do much prefer travelling a little later in the day. I had no problem getting to ROV early but not too early and, consequently, had a brief, pleasant (if nippy) 6 minute wait. I noticed that there was also a LES (Leytonstone) through train set to come through ROV 7 minutes after the WOO train. Not being on the through train, I was back in the cold at WOO (although I'd've had to get out into the cold at LES even if I had been intending to leave a little later). Still, no problem, I was soon on my way and made LIS (Liverpool Street) in good time, although - on the way - my NOR (Northolt) train became an EAB (Ealing Broadway) train. I'm guessing this was due to disruption on the Central line. I myself had no problems at all, but when I arrived at Euston Square, I noticed that it was part suspended LES - NEP (Newbury Park) (clockwise only) and there were minor delays everywhere else, I believe. This was due to a one under I'm afraid to report. There were also minor delays on the Met, although I can't quite recall why. When I arrived at LIS I was able to walk onto a Hammersmith & City line train to Hammersmith which seemed to have been there for some time, since passenger door operation was on. It was soon on its way, but we were very slow up to Barbican. I wondered if they were reversing a train at Moorgate. Well, to be precise, I think a train may have been leaving platform 3 or 4, delaying the westbound while this move (which has to be done at relatively low speed, so that the points are traversed safely) was carried out. Then, of course, you have another train in the mix, suddenly, which needs to get well on its way before the trains behind it can start getting up to speed again, so that they're all a safe distance apart. I dunno if that's true, though, but I did notice a Metropolitan line train due to terminate in Moorgate as we approached Barbican. In fact, I do believe it was held at a signal waiting for us to get out of the way before it could work into platform 3 or 4.

On the way home I ended up going from Russell Square, necessitating a wait for the lift and a cramped journey down to the platform. As we headed for STR (Stratford) we got the following more novel PA:

"I know it must be pretty cramped in the back two cars, but please try to avoid leaning on the doors; it'll make our journey into Stratford a lot easier"

:P We were then warned that there was some congestion around LES and that we might have a fairly stop-start journey there. We were slow on the way to STR but, after that, it was fine. I still managed to just miss the HAI train, though. We were stuck at the signal controlling entry to WOO on the eastbound waiting for it to leave without me :(