A grey-haired, bearded man with a walking stick and a laptop makes his way laboriously down the stairs to platform 5. Just in time, he gets on a Bank train. He chooses a seat in the corner and sits with his stick strategically placed so that no-one steps on his damaged foot. Just after Balham the driver announces that the train has been diverted via Charing Cross. He swears quietly under his breath.

At Kennington the grey-haired man gets out and hobbles across to the Bank branch platform, where there is a huge crowd of people waiting. Eventually a train arrives, but it is packed and few people can get on. After that no more trains appear but then several half full trains arrive and depart from the Charing Cross branch platform.

Eventually he decides to go to Euston and change there. That means going up and down more stairs to get to the southbound Bank branch. The first train that comes in is busy but not too crowded. He perches on the upholstered support (what do you call those things?) at the end of the carriage and gets off after three stops and walks slowly and sadly to the office.

(This rather uffish story is offered as a free contribution to: http://uffish.net/four/.)