Alone and lost in a strange land

I could tell that something was not quite right even as the old and decrepid train pulled into the station. There was no mistaking the mix of confusion, fear and panic in the faces of the others around me wherever I looked. Why the train was even allowed to pull in and had not been held up further back along the tracksbaffled me, but what was immediately clear to me was that I needed to get away.

Although I could not smell or detect any combustion in the air, already a mass of sweaty men wearing brightly lit thick jackets and hard hats were rushing past me, all towards the very place where until seconds ago I had desperately wanted to be myself.

The general hubbub from those around me had made little sense to me before this frightening scene, but now they made no sense whatsoever and all I could think of was finding the quickest way out and away from the growing pandemonium. However this was a place that I had never been to before, had no map to guide me and was miles away of where I had planned and expected to be. Heck, most of the people here weren't uttering noises that even closely resembled a language as far as I could gather.

'I have to get out of here', the thought echoing around and around in my head, 'I can't take this any longer', and without wasting a moment more I decided to try and make a dash for it on foot. Pushing through the croud I made slow but steady progress til I finaly emerged into the dim morning light, the air fresh away from the reak of so many bodied being crammed together.

Only once I was round the corner and heading off in what I hoped was a northerly direction did I risk getting my phone out to check if I could get any reception. Cursing its befuddled software that had only recently stopped its web browser from working I was now all alone and seemingly helpless to finding a route.

Conscious of how fast the time that was slipping away, time that I did not have freely to give, I continued to walk in as straight a direction as I could manage. For perhaps the hundreth time I regretted not making more of an effort to find a cheap watch with a compass on it, something which would be worth its weight in gold in a tight spot like this.

In the distance I could occasionally see the banks of the river, however no matter how hard I tried I could not seem to make headway towards it. This also compounded my stress levels as all of the bridges that did cross it did so above the level at what I was currently, and so ironically even if I could get closer to locate one, I would then also have to do a significant amount of backtracking in order to actually get on the damn thing.

I had hoped to spot a taxi whilst walking, but my luck was still as poor as ever, and not knowing if there were any buses that ran nearby let alone what route it would take if I was able to get on one, meant that my journey continued on foot for some time. Far behind me now I could not hear the chaos and furore of the train station, but as I could not spot any smoke or flames in the early morning sky I guessed that the fire was either contained or no more than a false alarm.

Heading deeper into the city I passed strange buildlings, one even with the image of a masked man distplayed proudly on its side. Not wishing to delay myself in such a place as this I quickened my step and tried to avoid the fertive gaze of anyone that passed by.

Finally, after almost all hope was gone, I rounded a corner and came face to face with the tube stop for Elephant & Castle. Relief flooded through me as I was now only a few short stops away from Oxford Circus, and with luck the false fire alarm has not spread along the track so I would be no more than twenty minutes late for work this day. Thus ended a most extraordinary morning.