Train Disaster / Waiting for Ootp

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

Kathryn wrote:

> The train didn't explode - the explosion-like noise people heard
> was the fourth carriage jumping in the air turning through 90
> degrees, sliding along the platform and demolishing the waiting 
> room. It is currently sat off the ground with one end on each 
> platform. It's in Potter's Bar, btw. It also partially demolished
> a bridge over the High Street so I guess it's a miracle only 6
> people died. 

Oh, my gods, how horrible a crash. We (Greater Los Angeles) recently 
had a freight train run through a red-light to head-on hit a commuter 
train, 2 deaths. Before that, I had thought that all rail switches 
were made so that the track was automatically switched to a siding 
when the light was set to red, to prevent these bad results of human 
error about the light. Is it the 'interlocking' that is the only 
switch with that safety feature?

Btw, this name Potter's Bar means nothing to me except wondering if 
it's connected to *our* Potter.  

> Frankly I'm sitting here being incredibly grateful that I'm a lazy
> sod since I was supposed to be going home today and that might well 
> have been my train. As it was I hadn't even managed to leave 
> Windsor when the news broke. 

You can use that as an excuse for lateness in the future.

> Most of my thoughts are with the families etc etc, but there is 
> one, relatively small, and incredibly selfish part of my brain, 
> which is bemoaning the fact that it's my birthday this weekend and
> I want to go home damn it. Instead I'm stuck here till someone can
> come and get me. However, things could be much worse so I'll just 
> have to stop being such a brat and get over it. 

I admire your courage in saying something so honest.

Bernadette wrote:

> I don't recall the railways being anywhere near that bad
> when I lived in London back from '85 through '88... 

Yes, there has been a lot on the news for like a year about the UK 
rail system having bunches of accidents as result of the tracks, 
cars, and so on have deteriorated to the point of being unsafe as 
a result of years and years of 'deferred maintenance'. I remember the 
same thing with the NYC subways when I lived here in early 1980s.  

Melissa Critelli wrote:

> I found out why HP #5 will NOT be out until next year. Apparantly 
> JKR hasnt even finished half of the book yet!WHAT IS SHE DOING WITH 
> HER TIME, I ask you? She said that this book is proving much harder 
> to composed then the other four, could this be writers block?

Probably not BLOCK exactly... probably writing gruesome scenes of 
death and horror, and then tearing them up because they don't hurt 
enough, and writing the scene again, and tearing it up because it 
will traumatise too many readers, adult readers.... Btw, like David I 
would like a link or something to the source of your information, so 
I could read all the tragic details for myself.

Bernadette wrote:

> I've waited over 15 years for a book to come out from one of my
> favorite authors and over a decade for another... and they were
> both worth the wait! 

I remember having a very bad experience when an author suddenly, 
after like 15 years, wrote the no-longer-expected last novel in a 
series I had liked (but I don't remember which author, which series: 
memory is the first to go) and the new volume was totally different 
than what I had like, the characters' personalities had changed to be 
more cruel and violent and the authorial voice had changed to be 
bitter and cynical... So I'm scared of books that come out after a 
LONG wait (three or four years is not long!), in case the author has 
changed so much that it's like the series being continued by a new 
author.

--Dicentra, hoping against hope, wrote:

> Which could mean that we'll get Books 5, 6, and 7 in fairly quick 
> succession.

<g>

Melissa Critelli wrote:

> Hello! Sorry I said anything about the book being late! I will
> NEVER mention anything like that on here again.

No! I'm glad to have heard your information, and the resulting thread 
was interesting.