I got back from London a bit later than expected yesterday. I left the Athenaeum in good time to get the 10.06 from London Victoria back to Brighton. It was a bit breezy but not raining so I walked to the station, past Buckingham Palace. When I got there the 10.06 was marked as “delayed” on the screen. It stayed that way until about 10.15 at which point it became “cancelled”. The next train was the 10.36 which until then was apparently “on time” but in no time that was “cancelled” too. Faced with the prospect of waiting until 11.06 for the next chance of seeing a train cancelled, I got on a slow train to Bognor Regis via Hove; the connection to Brighton from there was late and I arrived about a quarter past midnight.
The weather didn’t seem particularly bad and there wasn’t a word of explanation for the cancellations. There was no sign of flooding en route and although it was a bit windy there was nothing extreme. Not impressed with Southern Rail I can tell you…
UPDATE: it appears that the problem was caused by flooding very close to Brighton, in fact at Preston Park. Ground water levels were so high that they flooded the signals equipment, a story repeated elsewhere on the network. Not that they bothered to tell any passengers this.
Something more like a storm hit Brighton in the early hours of the morning, and it did cause some damage along the seafront. This afternoon I took a stroll along and took a few snaps. The poor old West Pier, which has been left to rot since it was closed in the 1970s, is now on its last legs. Part of it collapsed a few weeks ago in another storm, and it can’t be long before the entire Pavilion section collapses into the sea:
I wasn’t on campus yesterday as I was in London, but it seems there has been a bit of damage here too. This tree must have just fallen:
It’s been a rough winter so far – not cold but lots of gales and rain. Still, at least there are signs that spring is not too far off: the crocuses have started to appear…
In the Dark 