Business As Usual?

The Hammersmith & City line started running again yesterday. It was one of the lines that runs through Edgware Road station and so was affected by the tragic events of July 7th.

This finally gives me a route into work that doesn’t involve having to get off at Hyde Park Corner on the Piccadilly Line and walking down to Green Park on The Jubilee braving all weathers.

I’m sad to say that I’ve started sitting at the back end of trains as I figure if you want to cause as much disruption to a train, you do it at the front. Truth is I feel safer doing this, whether or not it makes a difference…Well…It works for me…That’s all.

I’m off to Hungary next week for a fortnight to stay with relatives. My parents have both died. My dad when I was 18 and my mum when I was 29 (3 years ago). They were both from Hungary but met over here back in the late 60s.

I grew up going to school knowing 80% Hungarian and 20% English. By the time I left school, I spoke 100% English and little Hungarian. My mum and dad would converse in Hungarian and I would reply back in English. As a result up until a few years ago, when my mum passed away, I could understand conversational Hungarian really well but was woefully ill equipped to speak it. The Easter of 2003, after my mum died, I went to Hungary to see my remaining family. I hadn’t been to Hungary since 1991.

As I really wanted to make an effort I started taking evening classes in Hungarian at Westminster Uni. (just down the road from work.) It improved massively. I hadn’t realised how much I knew but also how little I knew. Grammar rules were unknown to me as I had never learnt anything formally. And it was tough going! I made it through the class and passed but still find it hard to find the confidence factor when I go to Hungary to keep on making mistakes as I try to get across what I want to say.

So for the past fortnight I’ve been refreshing my Hungarian by reading a ‘Learn Hungarian’ book on the train to and from work. Hopefully it impresses commuters around me :)

Yesterday, as we passed through Edgware Road I felt a tangible vibe of something that I find hard to describe. I wondered which part of the tunnel had been affected a few weeks earlier. I felt others were were thinking similar thoughts. It felt strange. Almost as if we were holding our breaths collectively until we had passed through and were at the station.

Today, I was so engrossed in my Hungarian book that I didn’t realise that we had gone through until I was at Baker Street and getting off. That’s when I remembered.

Work flew by as I was mega-busy. I’m looking forward to the beer festival tomorrow. I need a bit of evening chilling out !

The picture is taken from a window at work. It’s the globe on the dome of the Planetarium by Madame Tussauds Waxworks Museum.