I Missed My Stop

I'm on the roll here about train rides.

Two weeks ago I was doing an audit in Leipzig. We left at 3pm to get to Berlin airport. There was a traffic jam and we barely made it for our flight. We arrive Brussels at 8 plus. I dumped my bags at the hotel and dashed off to catch the 922 train to the city centre to grab some dinner. At that hour, the train comes only hourly.

I settle down to read. The next time I looked up, I had missed the stop at Centraal. Drat. I peer outside the window. We were passing station after station, all dark and deserted. I had no idea where the train was headed. My colleagues had been telling me bout the crimes in Brussels, so I decided it was safest for me to remain in the train. It would eventually take me back to Diegem where the hotel is.

But the train seemed to head further out to the suburbs. It's disconcerting not knowing where you're headed and how long that would take. There weren't many people to ask but I settled for the most decent looking one. He tells me that the last stop was another half hour away. My gawd.

It's not like I had a lot of choice. At the end of the line, the train stops and I am all alone. I look for the conductor. Did you fall asleep? He looks amused but assures me that the train would depart in 15 minutes, back to Diegem.

I go back to reading. Some time after the train left the station, I was alarmed by what I thought sounded like gun shots. I am still alone in the carriage. A young man barges in. Both of us were shocked. He looked like he was hiding something in his fists. I avoid eye-contact. He stayed between the carriages and jumped off at the next stop.

I was glad he was gone and resumed staring into space. We approached the Central station again and finally I had some fellow passengers. Next thing I know, the conductor hurries about speaking urgently into his mobile phone. He shepherds passengers from the other carriage into mine. And the train comes to a halt. All of us had to get off. And then I discover what the fuss was about. And what mischief the young man had engaged in.

The hero had smashed a grand total of 10 windows in several carriages. All in the name of fun? Rebellion? Boredom?

We had to wait for another train. I get back to the hotel close to midnight, more hungry than ever. And I had been on the move since 3pm. Car, aeroplane and train. But no food.